Brew Guides

Herbal Infusions Brew Guide

Apr 01, 2024
SHOP Herbal Infusions

Our current collection of herbs and botanicals are all deeply flavorful and sourced in their prime from friends around the world. It takes an uncommonly high number of ingredients to concoct our signature blends because we use certain things like osmanthus flower petals, not only for floral aroma, but for the depth they add to the tea. These herbal infusions are naturally caffeine-free, perfect for enjoyment any time - day or night. Read below to find our guide on how to brew green tea, then head over to our herbal infusion collection to choose which herbal infusion you'd like to steep first.

Loose Leaf and Full Leaf Sachets

We have formulated each of our blends to ensure that anyone can enjoy the same experience by drinking our teas in a loose form or in sachets. To do this, we create our sachets with full leaf tea. Preserving the full leaves, as they are, allows the tea to stay brighter, livelier and cleaner on the palate, with more dimension than finer leaves. Because we would like you to enjoy tea in any form that is convenient for you, we have included instructions for brewing both loose leaf tea and tea sachets.

Brewing Herbal Sachets

  1. For best flavor, bring spring or freshly drawn filtered water to a boil (212℉)
  2. Preheat your cup with boiling water, then discard the water.
  3. Place the sachet in your chosen vessel, whether it is a teapot or teacup. Pour about 8-10 ounces of hot water over the sachet.
  4. Allow the tea to steep for 5 minutes.
  5. After 5 minutes, remove the sachet and enjoy.

Brewing Loose Leaf Herbal Infusions

  1. For best flavor, bring spring or freshly drawn filtered water to 212℉. 
  2. Fill your teapot with 8-10 ounces of hot water.
  3. Measure your tea leaves. We recommend using 1 teaspoon of loose leaf tea for every 8-10 ounces of water. For a large teapot, you may want to add an extra teaspoon to maintain a strong cup, as per the old adage of "one for the cup and one for the pot."
  4. Allow the leaves to steep for 5 minutes. 
  5. After 5 minutes, place a basket strainer over your cup and pour the tea so that any leaves will be caught by the strainer.
  6. Serve the contents of the teapot and enjoy. Note: do not allow the tea leaves in your teapot to continue to steep.*

*Note

If you do not intend to drink all of your brewed tea right away, and instead want to sip and enjoy a leisurely pot, you will want to use a strainer inside of your teapot rather than strain the leaves while you are pouring. That way, the leaves will not be left in the pot to continue steeping. Simply find a strainer that can rest inside of your teapot likethis one, steep the leaves inside the strainer, then remove the strainer after 5 minutes.

The Most personal Beverage

Here at Smith Teamaker, we believe strongly in making tea a personal experience. The instructions and guidelines above are simply recommendations. You may find that you enjoy a much shorter extraction. The beauty is being able to control that experience, and removing the leaf from the water at your choosing to create something you like. Have fun and keep experimenting and adjusting so eventually, you can easily become your own tea master.