How to Make Tea
Tea is the second most consumed beverage in the world after water. Research shows that tea was discovered in China in the 30th century BC (De Bruin et al., 2011). They initially used it for medicinal purpose. They would chew on the leaves for their refreshment before they learnt how to boil it in water and drink it. It was not until 722 BC that they began adding other ingredients like cornel, ginger, and tangerine peel to add flavor. As De Bruin et al. (2011) highlights, tea reached other continents in 16th century after undergoing various changes and many types of tea being discovered.
The process of making tea requires various ingredients such as water, milk, sugar, tea leaves or tea powder and an optional ginger, mint, cinnamon, cardamom to add flavor (Keenan et al., 2011). Firstly, adding fresh water into a kettle or a tea pot and boil it. This is followed by adding the tea leaves or the tea powder and letting the mixture to boil for 1 minute. Thirdly, sugar is added as the mixture boils for the sugar to dissolve completely. Milk is then added and the mixture is left to boil for between 3 to 4 minutes before adding the optional flavor either ginger, mint, cinnamon, cardamom. The mixture is then left to boil for 1 minute. The Last process involves filtering the mixture through a sieve or tea strainer to collect the tea in a cup. The tea is ready for drinking.
Further research has discovered that the key to the best testing brew is to let the tea sit for about six minutes before drinking (Keenan et al., 2011). This method prevents the tea from scolding as it would have cooled to the optimum temperature of 140 F/60 C for all the flavors to flow.
References
De Bruin, E. A., Rowson, M. J., Van Buren, L., Rycroft, J. A., & Owen, G. N. (2011). Black tea improves attention and self-reported alertness. Appetite, 56(2), 235–240. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2010.12.011
Keenan, E. K., Finnie, M. D. A., Jones, P. S., Rogers, P. J., & Priestley, C. M. (2011). How much theanine in a cup of tea? Effects of tea type and method of preparation. Food Chemistry, 125(2), 588–594. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2010.08.071