What can affect the taste of tea?

Have you ever wondered why your cup of tea doesn’t always taste the same?

Here are some of our top reasons why:

1. You’ve not let the tea leaves steep for the right time
2. You’ve used water at the wrong temperature
3. You’ve used too much or too little tea
4. You have picked the wrong colour mug!
5. Water quality: makes up more than 95% of each cup so it’s pretty important.

What colour’s your mug?

Apparently red or pink can help bring out the natural sweetness of your tea, while blue or white mugs can highlight the saltiness of your tea. We’re fairly sure a pretty or favorite mug must surely also lift your mood making tea taste better. Whether you are brewing using bone china or thick porcelain it can also have a difference. It is to do with how thin the china is and the fact that they are often produced using calcium. You wouldn’t drink fine wine from a mug now would you?

Obviously traditional clay or tetsubin teapots can enhance the taste which gets better the more you use them (plus they are so pretty).

Water Quality 

Water quality influences the taste of your cup of tea significantly. Have a look at the different types of water you can get:

Hard water: high mineral content, meaning lots of calcium & magnesium (which can affect the taste)

Soft water: low amounts of minerals

The Best water: spring water(few minerals & neutral pH)

If you are in hard water area a water filter can help, reboiling the kettle depletes oxygen, resulting in less taste to your tea so make sure you have fresh water every time.

Cold Brewing

The tea leaves oxidise and degrade much more slowly than when steeped in boiling water so you tend to not get acidic and bitter tastes and natural sweetness of the tea is highlighted. It also stays fresher for longer.

Should you add sugar?

This one act can destroy a good cuppa. Try get into a habit of at least trying your tea before adding sugar. Your taste buds and dentist will thank you for it.

Next time you brew up a cuppa, you will be sipping pretty if you take into consideration our five tips!

eteaket xx