# Tea brew times, temps etc



## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

Need to get up to speed on tea in the next ten days.

Are there are good brew guides covering things like dose, brew temp, methods etc?

Atkinsons looks a pretty solid source so planning to use them.


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

All of the teas we buy have the brewing guide for that specific tea. Hit me up if you want some samples


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## 4085 (Nov 23, 2012)

Is there really an advantage in using loose tea over decent tea bags? I have an infusion thing and I often find that a tea bag of the same tea as the loose variety comes out just as nice! Perhaps it is just me


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## Kman10 (Sep 3, 2014)

Buying the tea loose is cheaper than buying loose leaf tea bags, I always add extra tea to the pot when brewing which would cost loads more in bags


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

Cheers Gary - i'll pm you later this morning.

DFK - what constitutes a decent tea bag?


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## The Systemic Kid (Nov 23, 2012)

dfk41 said:


> Is there really an advantage in using loose tea over decent tea bags? I have an infusion thing and I often find that a tea bag of the same tea as the loose variety comes out just as nice! Perhaps it is just me


Tea purists never use tea bags.


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## 4085 (Nov 23, 2012)

jeebsy said:


> Cheers Gary - i'll pm you later this morning.
> 
> DFK - what constitutes a decent tea bag?


I like quite strong tea. I often buy this

http://allabouttea.co.uk/product-category/tea/portsmouth-tea/

I like it both as bags and loose but cannot really find a discernible difference


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## Kman10 (Sep 3, 2014)

jeebsy said:


> Cheers Gary - i'll pm you later this morning.
> 
> DFK - what constitutes a decent tea bag?


If you want bags you need to look for loose leaf tea bags, they're more expensive, cheaper to buy the tea an bags separate an make your own up if that's what you want, easier to just put the tea in a pot


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

I'm interested in the bagged teas from allabouttea (and has bean actually) as it would save a lot of faff, but at the same time if i'm trying to serve good coffee then the tea has to be at least passable too. Would probably only be looking to do a breakfast tea and earl grey or something.

Part of me says the more sensible option would be to just not do tea.


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## Kman10 (Sep 3, 2014)

Try brew always a good starting point and hebden is really good but more expensive, lady hebden is very nice


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## 4085 (Nov 23, 2012)

The Portsmouth blend s the one I like from all about. I have had loads from them and they do sampler packs as well. Coffee Compass also sell loose tea in 500 gm bags and that is fantastic quality for their Breakfast tea

http://www.coffeecompass.co.uk/shop/tea.html


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## Thecatlinux (Mar 10, 2014)

Brew time for tea

not to short you could harpoon a whale at 10000 fathoms

but not Long that a mouse could walk across the top of it


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## DeloresSteele (Jul 31, 2015)

The tea found in tea bags usually involve smaller pieces of tea or tea fannings which may give a faster produce, but lack the seductively and full taste of the larger loose leaf teas. Tea bags can also release more tannin than loose leaf tea giving a nastier taste to the tea.


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## TeaChest (Aug 14, 2015)

dfk41 said:


> Is there really an advantage in using loose tea over decent tea bags? I have an infusion thing and I often find that a tea bag of the same tea as the loose variety comes out just as nice! Perhaps it is just me


It all depends on what the teabag is made form and what goes inside it. A lot of the cheaper teas come in a fibrous bag and use low quality tea, these naturally will not be on par with whole leaf loose tea.

But you can now buy teabags with whole leaf teas and with the advent of nylon pyramid teabags you get all the benefits of loose tea brewing with the usability of a a tea bag.


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## TeaChest (Aug 14, 2015)

DeloresSteele said:


> The tea found in tea bags usually involve smaller pieces of tea or tea fannings which may give a faster produce, but lack the seductively and full taste of the larger loose leaf teas. Tea bags can also release more tannin than loose leaf tea giving a nastier taste to the tea.


It all depends on the supplier, we only use high end whole leaf in our teabags, giving our customers the full flavour of our teas. Also as the teabags are nylon there is no flavour contamination via the bag.


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