Below are our step-by-step instructions on how to brew black tea so that you can enjoy a fresh cup just as any Smith Teamaker would. Once you finish, you can browse our black tea selection to find the blend or varietal that will fill your next cup.
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.
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.
Black teas are often brewed to bring out an assertive, robust and flavorful experience. Whereas we recommend slightly lower temperatures for green and oolong teas, black teas are recommended to be brewed just off the boil so that the hot water will ensure a deep extraction and complete steeping to produce those flavors. Similarly, we recommend using a porcelain or ceramic teapot to retain the temperature of the water, while glass teapots are recommended for lower temperature waters to steep green and oolong teas. Retaining the temperature is also the impetus for preheating your vessels.
As mentioned, it can be easy to customize the flavor of tea. If you want to give your black tea a stronger flavor, brew more tea leaves so that there is a larger ratio of leaves to water. We do not recommend steeping for more than five minutes, but as a general rule of thumb, the longer that you steep your tea, the more caffeinated it will become. If you prefer to bring out more astringency, as is a notable characteristic of breakfast teas, find a tea with that specific flavor profile, like British Brunch.
As our founder Steve used to say, we create “agitation not required” sachets, meaning that you simply need to steep the sachet as is without moving it around in the water to release the flavor. If you would like a deeper flavor, move the bag back and forth while removing it from your cup to produce a stronger extraction. This is simply based on personal preference. We do recommend that you avoid squeezing the sachet while removing it, as it will release bitter elements you may not want.
Darker, fuller bodied black teas such as Assam, Keemun, Lord Bergamot, Masala Chai and Ceylon (many of which form the blend for our English breakfast tea, British Brunch), pair well with milk and sugar, for anyone looking to explore that experience. Adding milk and a bit of sugar can be customary in the United Kingdom, particularly with astringent breakfast teas.
When tasting a tea for the first time, we suggest initially experiencing the tea on its own merits, as nature made it. Then you can begin experimenting with and comparing flavors as you add ingredients like milk and sugar. Ultimately, though, we think you should drink what tastes best to you, and let your senses be your guide. If something tastes good, go for it.