Make Hot Tea Taste Better?

Question

I'm not a big fan of hot tea, but would like to drink it more, especially with winter coming up quick. I bought a few kinds yesterday at the grocery store. A French vanilla kind, and a herb one you drink before bed. Any special things that you guys do to yours to make them taste better?? Thanks in advance!

I guess I should add I don't drink alcohol, so I don't keep anything like that around the house. =) Any other suggestions welcome though!

Answer 1

Leaving the tea bag in for too long is a sure way to ruin the tea.

For brewing good hot tea, you need to watch the amount of brewing time and the temperature. Both will vary depending on the type of tea that you use.

To brew black tea you should use boiling water, and brew about 3-5 minutes. To brew green tea, you should use 180°F water and brew about 3-5 minutes. Play around with the time for each variety of tea until you find a time that suits your taste. Also, you can reuse a green tea bag and still produce a good cup of tea, whereas if you reuse a black tea bag the taste will be too diluted.

I like to add a little fresh lemon to tea. A small amount of honey can be good if the tea is too bitter.

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Mint tea is delicious and easy to make. Here is a recipe:

10 fresh mint sprigs, plus 4 for garnish
3 teaspoons green tea
3 tablespoons sugar
4 cups water

Boil water. Pour a small amount in teapot and swish around to warm the pot. Combine the mint and green tea and sugar in the teapot, then fill it with the rest of the hot water. Let tea brew, stirring the leaves once or twice, for 3 minutes. Pour tea through a tea strainer into glass teacups to serve. Garnish with remaining 4 sprigs of mint.

Answer 2

many teas are high in anti oxidents and green tea being higher than the traditionla black. Green is excellent with lemon and honey and then if while you brew it you add one bag of Licorish root tea, it becomes postively addicting. There is a wide variety of local honeys there near you.if you are cose to Kaleen, the large HEB has a great local honey that goes well with green tea. For morning if you make Earl Grey, extremely strong and then add lots of cream and sugar it is great as a waker upper and tastes much different than the weak ice tea you might have liked in Texas.
Hot or cold the sun brewed methode is usually the best then just pop it in the Micro wave. The stove top method causes some of the less tasty parts out of the leaves. The same thing can be done by heating the water and taking it off the heat untill it stops steaming heavy and then ad bags as you would in a restaurant.

Answer 3

I drink allot of herbal teas in the winter too. When I have cold or flu symptoms I like the Traditional Medicine, brand. But some times they can have an off taste so I use honey to sweeten these and all my teas. I use honey as much as possible and try to stay away from refined sugar. Some Eastern Europeans used to use jams to sweeten there teas too. Hope this helps

Answer 4

I drink Yerba Mate tea, which is Caffeinated and from the South American rainforest.
I very much like the taste of tea itself so I don't do any add-ons. You could also try Pomegranate tea, I love pomegranate anything and it's more of a fruity tea. Ginger Lemon is also a good decaf herbal tea. Chai is the best tea ever and that is very tasty and spicy in it's own, you can make chai a latte (the most common way to drink it) by brewing it in water then adding milk.

Answer 5

Use good water (bottled, filtered, purified, spring, etc) that doesn't come from the tap. The chlorine and additives in tap water really taint/ruin the flavor of the tea. This is especially noticeable when using high-grade teas, but that doesn't lessen the importance when using inexpensive teas either.

Also, research what temperature to make different teas at, and how long to steep for. For example, green teas should be made with cooler water (NOT rolling boil) and steeped for considerably less time.

If your tea gets bitter, you either heated the water too much, steeped for too long, or waited too long before drinking.

Answer 6

Get a tea pot.

Warm the pot first by swishing round some warm water then pouring it out.

Assuming the pot is for two cups add three teabags or spoons of loose tea. (one for each person and one for the pot)

Grate some fresh ginger (about a tea spoonful) and add to pot.

Squeeze a teaspoon of lemon juice into the pot.

Let pot sit for 5 minutes to brew.

Use a sieve to pour into a cup.

Add milk and honey to taste.

Not only does this taste great but it keeps colds away during the cold winter months.

Enjoy!

:-)

Answer 7

Honey, lemon or anisette (licorice seeds) can really pick up the flavor of tea. Then of course you could add a splash of brandy or other sweet liquor - not a full shot just a teaspoon or so it really can make the tea taste better and such a little amount isn't enough to intoxicate.

Answer 8

There are many easy ways to make tea taste better, but it depends on your preferences.

Add sugar and cream
add honey and ginger
add milk and cinnamon
or just add lemon and honey

all these additions will make it taste much better

Answer 9

Try milk. i use to drink it all the time and i hate hot tea. this makes it taste good. plus it makes you full so i would drink it before id go places. plus it makes it taste good

Answer 10

Use honey rather than sugar to sweeten it.