With Sachets
In order to really enjoy the depth and complexity of a true cup of tea, one needs to start with full tea leaves but the great thing about brewing your own tea is that you can make it exactly to your personal taste and mood. Because tea does not come premixed you can create your own tea. You can change it up and experiment with different varieties as well as the brew time, proportions, water temperature (hot or iced) and any additives you might like; sweeteners or milk, or lemon.
To brew a perfect cup of tea following recommended brewing methods, first you heat up cold fresh water (filtered or spring tastes best) to the appropriate temperatures (see listing below). Do not reboil your water as it depletes the levels of oxygen which is needed in the proper brewing process.
SIMPLY add one of two leaves and a bud's sachets to your cup and add the appropriately heated water.
Two leaves and a bud has made drinking whole leaf tea easy with our biodegradable pyramid shaped sachets. The shape and size of the sachet allows the full leaves to infuse completely in the cup, allowing you to enjoy loose tea in the convenience of a sachet. Our sachets contain about 2.5 grams of premium tea which will brew up a full cup-anywhere between 8oz and 16oz.
Our 16oz Porcelain Elephantino tea pot is a great means to brewing up one of our unique sachets.
Unlike, tea bags, lacking in top, middle and finish notes, our whole-leaf teas need to steep for longer as there is not as much surface area for the water to have contact with. A typical tea bag has to contain finely chopped tea (usually of lesser quality and grade) in order to steep through the paper bags. Tea bags give the tea drinker an instantaneous brew color and flavor. The brew time necessary is quite short otherwise you tend to end up with bitter tea. Take a minute and spill out the tea of both an average tea bag and of two leaves and a bud's sachets (pull apart at the seam) you will be able to see a huge difference in leaf size, cut, smell and color.
Though tasting tea can be a very personal experience tea is often compared to a fine wine with its flavor complexities, regional characteristics and natural nuances. When appreciating and tasting tea, one should use taste and smell to recognize the quality and flavors of all the different teas.
In Asia and amongst professional tea tasters it is necessary and considered polite to slurp your tea. Similar to professional wine tasters, tea tasters perfect their pallets though years of training and simply though experience. In order to understand each teas flavor profile, the tea is slurped (best slightly warm), swished around the mouth and then spit out. Each tea possesses a top note, middle note and a finish. Many of the same terms that are used to describe wines are used to evaluate teas. Some of these may be familiar to you, astringency, body, earthy, full, heavy, pungent, malty, woody.
Please note that with Green, White, and Oolong teas you should always add the tea into the lightly boiled water rather than scolding it by pouring boiling water directly on the tea.
White and green teas require below boiling water temperatures as it will cook the leaves and ruin their delicate flavorsÑ170-185 F
Oolongs should be brewed at water 180-190F
Black teas and Herbals brew best at a full boil ( 208-212F)
Steep the tea for the recommended period of time or to your personal taste. (see our recommendation chart below)
RECOMMENDED STEEP TIMES
Organic Assam - Original Breakfast Tea -- 5minutes
Organic Earl Grey - 3 to 5 minutes
Organic Darjeeling - 3 to 5 minutes
Organic Mountain High Chai - 3 to 4 minutes
Jasmine Petal Green- 4 minutes and save for refill
Organic Orange Sencha- 4 minutes and save for refill
Organic Goji Berry Green - 2 to 4 minutes
Tamayokucha- 4 to 6 minutes (take note that this green tea brews GREEN and does not turn bitter!)
Organic White Peony with Rose Petals- 2 to 4 minutes
Organic White Acai - 4 to 6 minutes (takes longer due to the large leaf size!)
Organic Pomi~Berry- 2 to 4 minutes
Organic Peppermint- 1 to 3 minutes- (the peppermint leaves are chopped a bit more than some of the others- may brew up quickly) Play with the strength.
Organic Chamomile- 2 to 3 minutes
Organic African Sunset red tea- 1 to 3 minutes (Rooibos tends to be a smaller finer leaf-shorter brew time) Experiment!
Alpine Berry Herbal- at least 2 minutes
