High Tea’s Guide to Loose-Leaf Tea

Loose-leaf tea is valued highly by many and is the best way to make the perfect cuppa. It is packed full of flavour and taste and is increasingly popular amongst tea lovers. Loose-leaf tea is very high in quality, tingling the tastebuds and going down a treat for everyone. It is a refreshing, delicious, relaxing and therapeutic way of drinking fine tea from around the world. It also offers a greater variety of flavours, and they retain their flavours better than tea bags, providing a high-quality taste. This is due to the leaves being much larger than the ones found in tea bags, allowing every sip to be tasteful.

At High Teas London, we strive to source new, exciting, rare and adored loose-leaf teas from all parts of the world. We showcase one of the largest and most diverse tea inventories in the UK and continue to add to this, providing you with the best quality teas to enjoy. We understand the passion and love tea enthusiasts have and how important a good cuppa is, which is why we have provided this extensive guide to the ever-popular loose-leaf tea.

Explore everything you need to know about loose-leaf tea, from how do I brew loose-leaf tea to informative facts about loose-leaf tea, to help you understand just why this tea option is preferred and why tea lovers, and us, love it.

How do I brew loose-leaf tea?

A popular question when it comes to loose-leaf tea is “How do I brew loose-leaf tea?” The answer to this isn’t straightforward as it all depends on how you like your cuppa. There are various methods to brew loose-leaf tea to appeal to your preferences. Whether you prefer a strong, flavourful taste or a slightly weaker but tasty brew, there is a brewing method for you.

The most popular method to brew loose-leaf tea is by straining it. This provides you with a stronger and more flavourful taste to enjoy. You will need a good tea strainer in order to extract the most flavour from your tea for a tasty treat. To successfully carry out this method, you need a good-sized teapot for the tea leaves to brew in, giving you ample flavour. To make scrumptious tea using this method simply:

Start with boiling freshly drawn water in your kettle
Add chosen tea leaves to your teapot strainer (the number of leaves needed depends on the type of tea you use)
Leave the boiled water to cool for a few minutes to stop the tea from burning
Gently pour the water into the teapot and let it circulate through the leaves
Let it steep for the required time needed for the type of tea you’ve used
Steep your tea for a second time to get the most from your tea leaves (make sure to add an extra minute to this second steep as the tea needs longer to draw flavour)
Pour the tea into your favourite cup or mug and sit back, relax and enjoy!

Other ways to brew loose-leaf tea can be:

In-cup infusers: A convenient way to use tea leaves for a single cup as it brews fewer leaves. This gives it a slightly weaker taste but still delicious. Pop in a small quantity of leaves into the infuser and let it steep. The rest follows the same steps as the straining method, but instead of a teapot, you only need the infuser and a cup.
Loose-leaf tea bags: Tea bags are very popular for tea lovers as they are simple and convenient to use. However, standard tea bags don’t give you optimal flavour and can be weak, while loose-leaf tea bags extract the best taste from the leaves. Our tea bags ensure you get the same taste and experience as our loose-leaf teas. The pyramid bag allows the tea to move freely in the water to release more flavour and gives more room for more tea. All you have to do is boil water, leave to cool, add the tea bag to the cup and pour water in, leaving it to brew to your desired strength.
Teabrew filters: This offers the best of both worlds for any tea drinker. They have the speed and convenience of a tea bag while giving you the option of choosing from the vast range of loose-leaf tea we supply. Just pop the tea leaves into a teabrew filter and add them to boiling water, letting it steep until you achieve the strength you love.
French press tea: A French press is not just for the coffee enthusiast out there! Tea lovers can gain a strong cuppa because a French press lets the leaves float freely to fully infuse into the water. Add the desired amount of loose-leaf tea to the French press and pour over hot water. Let it steep for as long as you like and then press down the plunger slowly to separate the leaves from the liquid.

Can you put loose-leaf tea directly in water?

An area of confusion with loose-leaf tea is if you can put loose-leaf tea directly in water. The tea leaves cannot go directly into the water as otherwise you will be drinking large leaves. They need to be strained through a mesh strainer, infuser, or filter to prevent leaves from infiltrating your cuppa. This ensures you have a quality, enjoyable and tasty brew that you can unwind with.

Can loose-leaf tea be reused?

Many people ponder the answer to the common question “Can loose-leaf tea be reused?” This is all dependent on the type of tea you are using and the size and appearance of the leaves. Usually, many black loose-leaf tea options can be reused and re-steeped around three or even four times after its first brew. However, each time the leaves are reused, the steeping time increases by 2-3 minutes. For example, your first brew can be around 6-8 minutes, so the second time will be 8-10 minutes, and the third time will be 10-12 minutes.

If the tea leaves are more coarse and larger than finer leaves, these can be reused many times and the same goes for twisted or balled-up leaves as these actually provide wonderful flavours after their first brew.

Does loose-leaf tea have caffeine?

Loose-leaf tea does contain a small weight of caffeine which is usually around 3%. However, the caffeine content in tea made with leaves depends on many factors, such as water temperature, size of leaves and steeping times. Some reports have shown that various teas at certain temperatures and steep times directly correlate to how much caffeine is within the tea. These are:

Black tea at a temperature of 95-100 Celsius steeped for 3-5 minutes produces around 20-80 MG of caffeine.
Oolong tea at a temperature of 85-95 Celsius steeped for 2-4 minutes produces around 10-60 MG of caffeine.
Green tea at a temperature of 75-85 Celsius steeped for 2-3 minutes produces around 10-40 MG of caffeine.
White tea at a temperature of 75-82 Celsius steeped for 2-3 minutes produces around 10-35 MG of caffeine.

Is loose-leaf better than tea bags?

A common question amongst many people can be “Is loose-leaf better than tea bags?” In our opinion, and many tea enthusiasts, loose-leaf tea is better than tea bags as it extracts more flavour from the leaves, due to their larger size. This leads to a tastier and perfect cuppa that packs a punch and allows you to enjoy the full flavours of the tea (which is how it’s supposed to be). Not only that, but loose-leaf tea has multiple benefits over tea bags, especially for our physical health. It provides our bodies with antioxidants that aid with a variety of health-related issues. Below are some of these benefits so you can see just how much tea leaves can do for us!

Helps with a range of cardiovascular issues: This is due to the various compounds found in tea leaves.
Improves brain health
Reduces stress and anxiety
Combats oxidative stress and frees radicals: This is achieved through the rich antioxidants found in tea leaves, such as catechins and polyphenols.
Aids digestion
Supports the immune system.

Where to buy loose-leaf tea?

Many people wonder where to buy loose-leaf tea. High Teas of London is here for your diverse tea needs and we are truly the place to go for one of the largest, diverse tea inventories in the UK. You can explore the flavours of the world, from the teas of Africa all the way to the teas of Japan. You can experience a vast array of loose-leaf tea that lets you explore what different cultures have to offer with their rich, quality and flavourful teas.

At High Teas, we provide tea enthusiasts and novices alike with unique tea experiences they haven’t tried yet. There is truly always something new to try! You can taste, experiment and fall in love with our loose-leaf tea from all over the world. As well as teas of the world, we provide classic and adored teas in loose-leaf forms, like our English breakfast tea. We also have a variety of herbal teas and fruit teas, which include the very popular loose-leaf green tea!

We strive to provide tea lovers and novices with everything they could possibly need to enjoy loose-leaf tea. This is why we don’t only provide the tea; we also offer a range of teaware to help you make your cuppa perfect. Whether you’re a tea connoisseur or a complete newbie, High Teas are here for your tea requirements. Contact us today for any questions you may have about loose-leaf tea, and we will get right back to you!

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