by Lorelei Cohen

Created on: February 02, 2009   Last Updated: February 06, 2009

That first delicious relaxing sip of tea can be one of the greatest simple pleasures in life. You can feel the stress melt from your body as the warm amber liquid flows into your body. The perfect cup of tea can indeed be one of life's most enjoyable experiences. Creating that perfect cup of tea does sometime take a little trial, and error, that is unless you follow a simple little guide to brewing the perfect cup of tea.

Although each person has their own image of the ideal cup of tea, there are a few guidelines that can be followed to insure that you successfully brew your tea, as tea should be truly brewed.

1. The number one rule for a good cup of tea is to insure that you are using a good quality tea. Irregardless of whether you prefer Black Tea, Oolong Tea, or Green Tea it is very important to select a high quality grade of tea. Quality does make a difference when you are seeking the perfect cup of tea! Select a loose leaf tea rather than a bagged brand. A bagged tea will generally not have the strength of character that a loose leaf tea will bring to your beverage. Depending on whether you prefer a strong cup of tea or a weaker one, you will require one to teaspoons of loose leaf tea per each cup of water, or if using a bagged variety than you will generally require one to three teabags per teapot of water.

2. Always use fresh water that has not previously been boiled. For the best tasting tea use filtered water. Your tap water may contain fluoride, chlorine or other residual chemicals or metals which will affect the taste of your prepared beverage. Using filtered water insures that the only flavor in your tea is your tea!

3. Unless you are using a Black or Herb tea, do not pour boiling water over your tea leaf, allow your water to cool just slightly before adding it to your teapot or teacup. When brewing Black tea or Herbal tea add the water to your pot while it is boiling or just shortly after, then allow the tea leaf to steep for anywhere from one to eight minutes, before removing the spent tea leaf. A longer soak time will cause your tea to become stronger but also more bitter, so it is recommended that if you prefer a strong tea that rather than increasing the time that you steep your tea, that you instead increase the amount of tea that you use. Your taste preferences will be the sole judge as to the amount of tea that you use and the amount of time that your tea leaf will be required to steep in order to create your perfect cup of tea.

4. For brewing

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