[What's the rage about loose leaf teas?!]
Most of us already know what loose leaf teas are. I am sure there are even several of y'all that might buy the occasional sleepy time tea to wind down at night or earl grey to have with your morning breakfast. Side note: I used to be one of those who bought store-brand bagged Tea. In a fundamental definition, a loose leaf tea is a tea that does not come prepackaged in tea bags but comes in a dehydrated or dried version of the leaves for you to scoop out of a container to steep.
Unlike Bagged Tea, loose-leaf Tea isn't crushed and sealed into a teabag. This allows the Tea to keep its flavor, aroma, and health benefits. (We will dive into the benefits a little later in this blog.)
How do you typically steep loose leaf tea?
You can steep loose leaf tea with a steeping ball (my favorite), infuser, french press, or the go-to strainer! What's nifty about this method is there's much less waste than bagged Tea and allows for flexibility depending on your schedule and which is more convenient for you.
Loose leaf tea is significantly different in its flavor and quality compared to its cousin, bagged teas. When looking at the quality of Tea, a loose leaf tea is more environmentally friendly and serves as a great compost. I prefer to do this method of waste instead of sending my loose leaf tea dumped into the trash. Teabags are also not required. We also recommend that if tea bags are what you are used to and you prefer to brew or steep your Tea that way, recyclable tea bags are an excellent eco-friendly way to go. Keep in mind that there are different cuts of bagged Tea. These cuts include dust, fanning, and broken leaf.
Fanning and dust Most of the teabags you buy at your local grocery store contain fanning and dust cuts of Tea. Brands that sell this type of Tea must crush the leaves before packaging them into tea bags.
Broken & Loose Leaf Having higher quality than dust and fanning, broken leaves are still "broken" are made specifically to fit in bigger/ spacious tea bags.
What Are Some Of The Benefits Of Loose Leaf Tea?
While there are many combinations and mixtures of teas, I will stick to some of the basics that most people recognize. We have several options here at What The Iff Wellness, and if you have any questions on a specific one, don't hesitate to reach out to us! All teas provide some level of vitamins, antioxidants, nutrients and have even have antibacterial properties.
Black Tea: Is excellent for your digestion, heart health, energy, and immunity.
Oolong Tea: Is great for diabetes, inflammation, weight loss, brain health.
When brewing my Tea, brewing with an infuser is my typical "drug of choicesers' main benefit is how it replaces tea bags and maintains the quality and taste of your loose leaf tea. They are also reusable and easy to use!e!
Green Tea: Is shown to improve memory, dental health, cancer prevention, metabolism.
White Tea: the less processed green and black tea helps with cholesterol, reproductive health, weight loss, brain health.
How Much Loose Leaf Tea Per Cup?
I realize it can be a little overwhelming is how much Tea to use and how long to steep the Tea. We already have printed most of these answers on your tea containers, on the labels. However, a good rule of thumb when steeping Tea is:
You'll need 1 - 2 teaspoons for every 8 ounces of Tea. Loose-leaf Tea can be re-steeped up to 3 times! (convenient, eh?!)
How to make loose leaf tea.
As mentioned before, there are several ways you can make your Tea, so I will stick with the two standard ways but if you need help with something like a french press or some other way to prepare it, just reach out to us.
When brewing my Tea, brewing with an infuser is my typical drug of choice. Infusers' main benefit is how it replaces tea bags and maintains the quality and taste of your loose leaf tea. They are also reusable and easy to use!
Boil 8 ounces of water.
Place 1-2 tsp of loose leaf tea into your infuser. This can be dependent on how strong you want your Tea or how many people you might be serving (If you don't already have an infuser, feel free to shop our selection in our shop!)
Place your infuser inside of your tea or coffee cup, and pour the hot water from your pot over the infuser.
You should let your Tea steep according to how strong you want it. Usually 2-3 minutes.
I recommend brewing loose leaf tea in a teapot designed to brew loose leaf tea, or you can use one of the plain ones that hold hot water for you to pour over your tea bag or infuser in your cup. Teapots with infusers built-in or tea strainers are ones which you can remove the filter to avoid over steeping. I like this option as you can just take it out once you get the desired strength of Tea. Teapots come in varying sizes, so you'll need to follow the one-2 teaspoons per 8 ounces rule.
Bring your measured water to a boil.
I recommend 1-2 teaspoons of loose leaf tea per 8 ounces into the strainer inside of your teapot.
Once your teapot comes to a boil, you then remove the strainer.
Where Can I Buy Loose Leaf Tea?
Shameless for us to mention, but we source our Tea from a company where quality is their top priority. So much so that their CEO visits the farms worldwide where the Tea is grown to check for ethical work standards and quality of the product. We're very proud of our teas. You can check out our shop for loose leaf teas.
If you're more of an in-store shopper – you shouldn't have a hard time finding loose leaf tea at any local grocery store such as Whole Foods, Sprouts, and Target.
How Do I Choose Which Loose Leaf Tea To Drink?
Choosing which loose leaf teas to drink can be challenging, as there are so many to choose from. There are many flavors, health benefits, and whether the Tea is caffeinated or not. I mentioned some of the benefits above, but if you visit our shop, we have our teas listed along with their advantages and suggested use to help you find the proper Tea that fits your needs. Want to sample something? We love to gift a single sampler to every tea order; just let us know in the order notes which one you'd like to sample.
What Is The Shelf Life Of Most Loose Leaf Teas?
Loose leaf tea has a fantastic shelf life! Because of general government mandates on food, the average expectancy is a 2-year expiration date on most loose leaf tea and a 1-year expiration date on our Matchas.