Tea comes from the Camellia sinensis plant and the process of making green tea, loose black tea, oolong tea, and white tea has been perfected.  During this process, a variety of tea has been developed, which requires a process of infusion to ensure every cup is delicious, aromatic, and healthy.

Benefits of Infused Tea

All over the world, people are now enjoying the fine flavors of tea and finding the best way to enjoy it while keeping costs down is by choosing from among multiple whole leaf infusions.  The purpose of multiple infusions is to take high quality whole leaf tea and use purified water more than once for brewing a cup.  This way, the tea holds onto its incredible flavor and aroma, as well as health benefits.

Cost Savings of Infused Tea

If you were to purchase the best green tea or other Chinese herbal tea on the market, you would pay a lot of money.  Therefore, to ensure you get the same fine quality but without the high price, infusion is an excellent solution.

The Making of Multiple Tea Infusions

The key to a perfect cup of tea involving multiple tea infusions is that the whole tea leaf must be of the highest quality and the water pure, such as purified or mineral spring.

What Constitutes Quality Tea

For any herbal tea to be considered “high quality”, it must first be grown in a pristine tea garden.  Then, each leaf must be carefully plucked during the spring.  The window of opportunity is small for this but the girls and women that do the plucking are highly skilled.  Once leaves are plucked from the Camellia sinensis plant, they are processed according to the required method so leaf integrity is untouched.

Consider green tea bags that can be purchased at the grocery store.  These leaves when through a process known as cut, tear, and curl, which compromises the integrity of the leaf.  For this reason, multiple infusions would not be possible without the flavor, aroma, and health benefits being greatly reduced.  While you could get more than one cup from a single bag, you lose the value of the tea.

What does “Pure Water” Mean

Just as the leaves must be maintained with integrity, the water used needs to be pure.  This means using only high quality, purified bottled water or mineral spring water.  To enjoy the true flavor of exotic tea, you would never use tap water.  In addition to flavor being compromised, tap water also contains harmful contaminants.

Therefore, when you purchase quality tea that can go through multiple infusions, you also want to buy water that can be used for brewing.  The best option for optimal flavor is water that has gone through a distillation or oxygenation processing method.

The bottom line is that if you love tea and you want the full flavor, aroma, and healing properties, you need to purchase only the highest quality leaves possible.  This would include leaves that have been hand plucked from the Camellia sinensis plant and then processed in the traditional Chinese manner.  That way, you can enjoy multiple infusions while saving money.

Once you have the variety of tea you want, simple use pure water for brewing and you will be guaranteed the best cup of tea you have ever had.  After all, with 5,000 years of knowledge from the Chinese people, we can certainly depend on their recommendations for perfect tea and multiple infusions.

Leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant are steeped and in some cases, even the stems, twigs, and buds are brewed.  When boiled in hot water for a few minutes, the flavor of the leaves is released, producing tea that is delicious to drink.  During the processing of leaves, some types are oxidized and some have flavors added such as fruits, flowers, spices, herbs, etc.  All tea is heated and dried but this also varies depending on the type of tea being produced.

As an example, when you purchase herbal tea, you are buying one of the four types of tea to which herbs or fruits are added.  Some of the more popular choices include jiaogulan, chamomile, and rosehip.

Having Tea with Meals

In some parts of the world, tea is consumed with the main meal of the day, which is a very important ritual.  While even this regimen focuses primarily on gatherings of family and friends, it involves the meal being served with team.

Often referred to as the tea meal, this is very popular throughout Europe, especially in England where it began within English colonies.  However, we now see the tea meal being enjoyed throughout the world, which makes the meal even more enjoyable.

When talking about tea meals this is tea served with the afternoon or evening meal, again the one that the family considers the primary meal.  Then based on the type of food being served, the appropriate type of tea would be used as a compliment.

Sipping on Afternoon Tea

Now, when you hear people talking about drinking afternoon tea, this refers to tea enjoyed around 3:00 to 4:00 pm.  This tradition began in Britain where it was highly popular during the earlier British Empire.  Today, having a meal at this time of day is seldom done but tea can still be enjoyed in the afternoon.

Various types of tea would be served such as loose black tea and loose green tea, as well as others, which were typically served with cream or milk and sugar.  Then during afternoon tea, various types of finger sandwiches would be served, which traditionally included foods such as ham, egg, tuna, cucumber, eggs, and fresh smoked salmon.

Other foods served with afternoon tea included snack cakes and pastries, as well as scones that were served with jam, cream, and butter.  With the exotic tea and food placed on a low table, everyone could enjoy while having great conversation.  It was common for afternoon tea to be a part of daily life in earlier times but today, this type of tradition is seen more often in Europe at shops designed for specialty teas, hotels, and cafes.  For this, customers would have a choice of several types of tea and served cake, cookies, or pastries.