It's easy to make these common mistakes with tea simply because there is a lot of misinformation out there. How hard can it be right? Make hot water, add tea. However you might not realize the complexity of herbs and how the slightest changes can make the world of difference.
Mistakes Tea Drinkers Make
Using Store Bought Tea Bags
Tea bags are comparable to instant coffee. And while the convenience is there, the taste, benefits, and quality are not. A better way to approach this if you need travel bags is to pack your own loose leaf tea in reusable tea bags HERE.
Water Temperature
You do not need boiling water to brew tea. In fact, you might be burning the herbs. Use the chart below for reference and check out this post to learn more.
Thinking Decaf Is Caffeine Free
Like coffee, there are decaf options with tea. However, decaf still has traces of caffeine as does coffee. If you are looking for tea that contains zero caffeine stick to more of the florals and earthy profiles like THESE.
Water Source
In some areas tap water will suffice, but be mindful that tap water can have high amounts of chlorine, minerals, metals and potentially harmful bacteria. Using a water filter can help pull all these things out leaving you with good clean water.
Small Balls
Sigh, the tea ball. Tea needs space to expand, without the proper room the water won’t circulate leaving you with boring tea, zero flavor, and essentially just colored water. Using a basket style infuser allows that expansion and is an easy tool to use and clean. You can find some HERE. Another way is to add your herbs directly to the water and then strain the tea into your cup. I did a few visuals on this over on social media too! Check us out on IG: @bluradicalapothecary
Over Steeping
Here’s the thing - If you like strong tea, add more tea leaves into your infuser and do not steep longer. Why? Because over-steeping leads to bitter tea. Caffeine strength is different from stronger tea. Steeping at lower temperatures for a shorter period of time leads to less caffeine.
Terminology
Though not a huge deal it’s good to know that the word tea actually refers to a specific leaf from a specific plant and the term tisane refers to all others. Head to this blog post to learn more herbal terminology.
Green Tea Is The Healthiest Tea
Not entirely true. Green tea does have its benefits but the thing that makes green tea unique is that it’s packed full of L-Theanine. L-Theanine may help improve mental function and is a soluble amino acid found in green tea and mushrooms. Every tea and tisane has its benefits depending on what you are using it for.
Conclusion
You can easily avoid these mistakes tea drinkers make. They aren’t talked about much but should be because future bad tea experiences can be avoided. When I first started drinking tea I only knew one of these things and it’s common for people that have been drinking tea for years to still not know.
Feel free to browse our collection of tisanes (a word you NOW know ;) ) and check out the shop HERE.
