We preheat ovens to make sure we bake at a consistent temperature and the same methodology applies to crafting the perfect cup of hot brewed tea. As you probably already know, the three components of making hot brewed tea are:

1. Amount of water 

2. Temperature of water

3. Brew / steep time

Your cup can go awry if you don't dial in those three critical parts of the brew process. Right now, we're going to focus on #2, the temperature of the water. To figure out the best temperature for your hot brewed tea, it is absolutely a trial-and-tweak process, but most teas you buy have basic instructions telling you where to begin. 

For Embrew hot brewed tea, we have the instructions on the front of the bag and for ours, since there is already a natural sweetener inside the tea bag, we recommend brewing 10-12oz of water rather than the typical 8oz of other tea bags. This is because we add extra ingredients for a larger cup (we're all drinking out of larger mugs these days) and to achieve just a hint of sweetness, a little more water is important.

If you use a temperature controlled kettle, like we do, it helps you be more consistent in Step 2 of making hot brewed tea. Early on in my tea life, I checked the temperature of my tea brewing a few minutes after I started and was surprised to see that there was a significant temperature drop (like 10 degrees!) after only two minutes.

This is when I went looking to the tea pros and found the proper gong fu brewing technique where I learned that they pre-heat their gaiwan or tea pot before the brew with tea leaves. This ensures that heat is not lost when you start with a room-temperature cup.

Here are the basic steps of preheating your mug for hot brewed tea:

1. Using a temperature controlled kettle, warm at least twice as much water as your mug size (we recommend 24oz so you end up with a 12oz brew) to the optimal temperature for your tea type and pour it into your mug. 

2. Allow the hot water to sit in the tea cup for 1-2 minutes so that the mug reaches a similar temperature to the brewing water. 

3. Pour the pre-brew water out completely.

4. Pour the remaining brew water from your kettle into your mug and voila! You're ready to put in your tea.

 

You want to drink better tea, more often and more easily; so give yourself a better tea bag with Embrew. Follow these simple steps to upgrade your tea experience from the mundane grocery store, mass-produced options. Check out our collection of naturally sweetened herbal, caffeine, or caffeine-free tea bags. You deserve it!