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How to Make an Awesome Pot of Tea

By Mitch.Kocen
updated 12 days ago

Yeah, I know. We're rolling into Spring here. It's getting warm and it's not exactly tea season. It's still cold in the morning and the evenings, and that means it's still perfect tea season. Pull up a chair and let me show you how to do it right.

The Basics

Ok, to make a good pot of tea, you’re going to need a couple things, no matter what kind of tea you’re making.

A Kettle
Mugs or tea cups (one per person)
Some tea (loose leaf. If you want to use tea bags, this guide will be a lot shorter. Step one, heat some water. Step two, add tea bag. Step three, be disappointed.)
A tea strainer
A tea pot

For the purposes of this guide, I’m going to assume everyone you’re serving is drinking the same kind of tea. If everyone wants something different, just sub out the tea pot and give everyone their own strainer. Awesome time!

Lupicia

2855 Stevens Creek Blvd, Santa Clara, CA 95050

I buy all my loose tea here. No matter what kind of tea you like (black, red, white, green, etc. etc.) you’ll find a couple different flavors. I’m not huge on black tea, but during winter time they sell a cookie blend that is out of control good.

They keep samples of all the loose tea in little jars so you can smell it before you buy. They’ll also brew up a cup of tea for you if you want to try it. I dig their Grapefruit Green. They also sell a lot of their most popular teas in tea bags if you want to have an inferior cup of tea. The bags are convenient to bring to work, though.

You can also buy all kinds of tea making and serving stuff here, but I’m less crazy about their tea pots.

How to Do It

It’s super easy to make great tea, but it’s also super easy to mess up and make lame tea that no one really wants. Follow these steps and you’ll have awesome tea all the time.

Fill your kettle up with water. I always boil way more water than I really need to fill the tea cups, but that’s good. You’ll need all the hot water you can get for this. Pretend you’re helping someone give birth in a sitcom.
While the water is boiling, fill your tea pot with hot water from your tap.
Also while the water is boiling, fill your tea ball or strainer with some tea. This isn’t an exact science, but I like to use a teaspoon of tea for every cup of tea I’m going to want, plus one extra teaspoon. The more tea you put in, the stronger the final cup will be, so let that be your guide.
When the kettle is just about ready, it’ll let out some pretty quiet squeaks. Pour the hot tap water out of the tea pot. Filling the tea pot with hot water heats the pot, so that you maintain a consistent temperature when you add the boiling water. Adding boiling water to a cold tea pot will make the boiling water colder, which kind of defeats the purpose.
Pour the boiling water from the kettle into your tea pot.
Add the tea ball or strainer to tea pot and let it steep for the prescribed amount of time. Your tea’s packaging should tell you how long to let it step on the package. The longer you let it steep, the stronger your tea will be.
While the tea is steeping, add some more of the boiling water (remember how I told you to boil more water than you’d think you would need? Here’s why) to each mug/tea cup. This will keep the cups warm, so that the tea wont cool down when we pour it into our mugs.
After the steeping time is over, pour some tea into each cup/mug. Some leaves might get in, but that’s OK.
Here is where you can add your cream/sugar/honey/what have you directly into your own tea cup. I like herbal and green teas, so I don’t tend to add stuff. If you’re doing red or black tea you may want to add some cream and sugar. You’ll need a lot less of either than you would in coffee. I recommend starting out with just a dash of cream and a lump or packet of sugar. You can always add more if you need to.
Enjoy your tea.

Bed Bath & Beyond

515 E Hamilton Ave, Campbell, CA 95008

The kettle is probably the least difficult item to get. You can find one pretty much anywhere. You need something that will heat the water quickly without making the handle too hot, so look for one with a rubber coated handle. A kettle with a whistle that doesn’t bug you too much is nice, but it’s hard to tell before you buy it. I like Bed Bath and Beyond because I almost always have a 20% off coupon laying around my house somewhere. You can also get your tea strainers here, but they wont be as nice as if you get them from a fancy place.

Lisa's Tea Treasures

1875 S Bascom Ave Ste 165, Campbell, CA 95008

This place has all kinds of super fancy tea accessories. I like their selection of tea strainers, but their tea pots and cups are a bit too country kitchen for my tastes. If you dig that sort of thing, this place may be your best stop.

This is also the place to go if you want to DO tea instead of just make it. They do a full service tea, complete with little sandwiches and tea cookies with lemon curd. My girlfriend loves going here. Every time I have gone to tea here I’ve been the only guy in the building, so if that’s an issue to all you tea loving men out there, be warned.

Advanced Technique: Making Ice Tea

When it’s warmer outside, you can turn this cold weather treat into some hot weather refreshment by adding ice. You can use pretty much any tea for this, but white tea tends to be a little delicate for ice tea hijinx. I find that either black tea or tea with fruit flavors work best, but mint ice tea is also pretty great.

Brew the tea normally (including filling the tea pot with hot water while the kettle boils), but instead of filling the mugs with steeped tea, pour the tea directly into a large pitcher full of ice. Most of the ice will melt as soon as it meets the hot tea, so add less tea than you think you’ll need, because the melted ice will add volume.

By that same logic, you’ll also want to make the tea a bit stronger than you would for hot tea, because you’ll be watering it down. Steep it longer and use just a little bit more loose tea. You can also add things that will complement your tea flavor, like fresh mint or berries. Leave the pitcher in the fridge and add ice to the glasses when you serve it so that you don’t further water down the tea.

Target Stores

533 Coleman Ave, San Jose, CA 95110

I really dig the tea sets at Target. If you’re starting from scratch, it’s not a bad idea to get a matching tea pot and tea cups. Target’s tend to be pretty inexpensive, and look basically awesome. Here’s one that caught my eye on their website, but you can find similar stuff at the store.