BEEM – Elements of Lifestyle
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7.
Making tea the Oriental way in accordance with the “samovar”
principle
Tea is not always like tea. Strictly speaking, tea is solely a watery infusion of the tea
plant Camellia sinensis. This infusion can be black or green tea. It needs to be
differentiated from tea-like products, so-called herbal and fruit teas.
Making tea is therefore not always the same. To give them their valuable ingredients and
taste, teas have water of different temperatures poured on them, and are left to brew for
different amounts of time. Green tea, for example, is prepared preferentially with water
at 185°F. The instructions for how to prepare the tea indicated on the packet should be
observed in any case.
a)
Black tea
•
Fill the strainer with tea leaves (approx. one teaspoon per cup) or put tea bags in the
teapot without strainer (1 tea bag for approx. 1 - 2 cups).
•
Place the lid on the water tank and the teapot on top of the lid. This pre-heats the
teapot at the same time.
•
Boil the water.
•
Remove the teapot from the kettle.
Caution: hot steam will escape! Use oven gloves! A small amount of condensed
water may also drip from the base of the teapot.
•
Now pour boiling water over the tea from the tap. By pressing down slightly, the tap
opens and you can draw off water. It closes as soon as you release it again. If you
want to draw off a lot of water, e.g. to fill the teapot, tip back the tap lever. It snaps
in place in this position. The tap does not close again until you push the lever forward
again.
•
The more tea leaves or tea bags and the less water you place in the teapot, the
stronger the tea concentrate (“professionals” like their infusion to have exactly 2.86 g
of tea per cup). It is better to use somewhat more tea so that a concentrate is
actually formed in the teapot.
•
Replace the teapot with the tea concentrate on the water tank. The steam rising in
the water tank keeps the tea in the teapot at precisely the right temperature required
for brewing.
•
Remove the strainer from the teapot after the desired brewing time.
•
Next pour the required amount of tea concentrate from the teapot into your glass (to
taste) and then top your glass up with water from the water tank. This will allow you
to vary the strength and taste of your tea.
•
The teapot can be left on the water tank when the appliance is operating so you can
help yourself to more hot tea and water at any time. Position the knob somewhat
above the “H” position (but not to the detent), so that the water remains hot but
does not boil continuously. The signal light will illuminate and extinguish in cycle.
However, the maximum heating setting should only be used for initial boiling of the
water.
b)
Green Tea
•
Green tea can also be prepared with the samovar. Green tea should generally not be
brewed with boiling water as this may give it a slightly bitter taste. Depending on the
kind of tea, the ideal water temperature is 122 – 158 °F. Most green teas develop
their optimum taste at around 158 °F. The higher the quality of the green tea, the
lower the optimum water temperature. Teas of the highest quality are brewed with
water at 122 – 140 °C.
•
Normal green teas must infuse for 1 to 3 minutes, whilst high-grade green teas only
need around 1 to 1½ minutes. Please follow the manufacturer's instructions when
using tea bags.
