How to Make the Perfect Cup or Pot of Tea

After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world, according to the Tea Association of the U.S.A., and it can be found in almost 80 percent of all U.S. households. So whether you’re a lifelong tea drinker or just getting started, here are a few fun facts. (Or jump straight to our tips on how to make tea.)

Tea industry experts and purists tend to say that the true definition of tea is what’s brewed using the plant Camellia sinensis. Herbal “teas” made without that plant—for instance, chamomile, chrysanthemum, mint, and the bagged Tazo Wild Sweet Orange (Amazon, Target) in my pantry right now—don’t fit this definition of tea, but for this article, we’ll go over those, too.

Tea bags can make tea preparation easier. A few of the teas I drink at home are bagged, such as Tower of London tea from Harney & Sons (Amazon) and Emperor’s 100% White Tea from Republic of Tea (Amazon). But there are a few things to be aware of before you choose bags over loose leaves.

For a great brew, tea leaves need room to expand, and packaged tea bags, sachets, and pyramids tend to restrict leaves, says Quentin Vennie, co-founder and CEO of the Equitea Co., based in Baltimore. When tea comes in a bag, it can be difficult to judge its quality, and if all you’re getting is tea dust and broken leaves, that “leads to a very bitter and astringent tea liquor,” Vennie says. Spooning loose tea right into a pot or cup will give your leaves the maximum amount of room so they develop their full flavor. But you may then need a strainer. Consider using an infuser, which is more convenient; opt for a larger one to allow hot water to surround the leaves. Some infusers are made for use in pots and others for single cups.

Loose tea leaves are compostable. Bagged teas may be as well, but some bags are less harmful to the environment than others. Some are made with biodegradable paper and others are made with potentially chemical-laden plastic, which can pile up in landfills and even release microplastics into your brewed tea, according to a study in the journal Environmental Science and Technology in 2019. And it may not seem like a big deal, but bags closed with staples can mean that small bits of aluminum can accumulate in landfills over time. According to the Republic of Tea, which makes tea bags without staples, for every million cups of its tea consumed, 60 pounds of staples are kept out of landfills. (See this article for more on the differences between loose and bagged tea.)

Start by using filtered water if you can. Even good-tasting tap water contains chemicals such as chlorine or minerals that can affect your tea’s flavor. Using a water filter pitcher can ensure that you always have filtered water on hand when you want to brew a cup or pot of tea.

Heat the water to the right temperature for the type of tea you’re making. Water that’s too hot can “burn” the tea leaves and change the flavor of the brew. Too cold, and you won’t extract maximum flavor from the leaves. (Use the recommendations for each type in the sections below.) An electric kettle with a temperature setting makes this easy, but you can also follow some general guidelines. Boiling water is ideal for black, pu erh, and herbal teas. Water that’s steaming—but not boiling—is considered best for oolong, green, and white teas.

Measure your tea. This isn’t really an issue when you’re making a single cup; use one tea bag or 1 teaspoon of loose tea. Two bags should do for a typical-sized teapot. When it comes to loose teas, a general rule is 1 teaspoon for each cup of water in the pot. Some tea types may be best with more or less, however, so you’ll want to follow any directions on your tea’s box or tin.

Steep time is important, too. Check the directions on tea packages or use the times in the sections below as a guideline. If you don’t let the leaves sit in the water long enough, you’ll get a weak tea; if you steep leaves for too long, the results can be even more unfortunate. “Oversteeping results in a very strong, bitter-tasting cup of tea,” says Shabnam Weber, a tea sommelier and president of the Tea & Herbal Association of Canada. “Green teas will steep the fastest and become bitter, followed by black and oolong. If you prefer a stronger tea, use more leaves instead of letting your brew steep longer.” White teas don’t get bitter, Weber says, and herbal teas just get stronger if you steep them for a longer time.

Best water temperature: 205° F to 212° F
Optimal steep time: 3 to 5 minutes
What to add: Cow’s milk (I froth mine), plant-based milk, sugar, or honey

Tea experts like Quentin Vennie, who outlined many of the suggested water temperatures and steep times here, agree that just-boiled water is suitable for pouring over black tea. But there are exceptions.

Best water temperature: Add directly to a pot of boiling water (212° F)
Optimal steep time: Boil for 2 to 7 minutes
What to add: Cow’s milk or plant-based milk, sugar, or honey

Masala chai is common in Indian households and is often made by boiling black tea leaves or bags in water and adding cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, star anise, and black pepper. You may find shortcuts in my pantry like tea bags, powders like the Blue Lotus Chai Traditional Masala Chai (Amazon), and concentrated syrups like the Tazo Chai Concentrate (Amazon) I used as a barista in college.

Syrups like those are standardized, and they save you the trouble of worrying about time and temperature, says Saurabh Kajaria, co-founder of Trishnna Tea in Houston. But shortcuts aren’t always ideal. The commercial concentrates are full of sugar and preservatives, and if you take a look at a nutrition label on one of these packages, you might decide to put it back on the shelf.

Best water temperature: 180° F to 195° F
Optimal steep time: 1 to 3 minutes
What to add: Nothing

Pu erh is a different type of dark tea. It’s made from Camellia sinensis leaves, but unlike common black tea, which is made when the leaves are oxidized, meaning exposed to air to dry, pu erh tea is fermented by letting the leaves sit in piles and slightly decompose before drying, giving it a distinctly different, I’d say woodsy, flavor. You can use pu erh tea leaves for up to five infusions, meaning you can steep the same leaves five times, and when you have a great tea, it will get better each time you steep it, Vennie says. You’ll see in many Chinese restaurants that pu erh leaves are steeped several times throughout a meal.

You may increasingly find green tea blended with other natural flavors. Among the green teas in my kitchen cupboard, for example, is green jasmine tea, which has a distinctly green tea taste and a hint of jasmine flowers or jasmine oil. Genmaicha is another green tea; it contains toasted rice. It may be an acquired taste if you’re used to more basic green teas. You can cook with it, too.

Best water temperature: 175° F to 180° F
Optimal steep time: None; drink after whisking in hot water
What to add: Nothing; best served straight up

I see matcha (shown above) as the soft shell crab of green teas: You consume the whole leaf. It’s dried and ground into a powder. Then you whisk it in hot water. Matcha can be found blended with milk in an iced latte from Dunkin’ or Starbucks, or in the form of ice cream. But to truly appreciate the flavor and the caffeine content that’s nearly double that of regular brewed tea, I think it’s best to drink it with nothing added. Maeda-en Ceremonial Matcha (Amazon) is currently in my pantry to satisfy a matcha craving.

In addition to brewing methods, the perfect cup of tea also depends on what you use to make it.

If you’re considering clayware tea pots or cups for your tea, make sure they’re glazed, otherwise they may not be food-safe, Teng said. Some of it can contain lead and other heavy metals. But porcelain can be used glazed or unglazed, and glassware will also work. But she doesn’t recommend using metal teaware.

“While we can use metal kettles to boil water, the risk of tea having a chemical reaction with metal teaware is very high,” and it could have an impact on the tea’s flavor, Teng said. 

Getting your water up to the right temperature is essential to preparing the perfect cup of tea. Some electric kettles have buttons for different temperatures, making it easier to know when the water is just right.

Cold brewing is another method for making cold or iced tea, and there are many cold-brew coffee makers. Here are some top-rated ones in CR’s tests.