Tea Blog

The new year is almost upon us and, as always, the first of January is the signal for those who engage in such practices to roll out a bright, shiny new list of New Year’s resolutions. January 6 is, of course, the day by which many of those resolutions have fallen by the wayside, but for purposes of this article that’s beside the point.

The point of this article is to encourage one and all to resolve to drink better tea in the coming year. After all, as the slogan reminds us: Life’s Short – Drink Good Tea.

If you’re planning to improve your tea habits, here are a few simple ideas to keep in mind.

The first step to drinking better tea is starting with better tea. That may seem obvious, but it’s not always practiced. Still, even before upgrading, you can often improve the tea you already drink by preparing it more carefully.

There are countless guides claiming to teach the “perfect” way to make tea. I’ve written a few myself, including

this discussion of what goes into making a properly prepared cup of tea
.
In truth, the basics are simple: use good water, heat it to the appropriate temperature, and avoid oversteeping (or understeeping).

Of course, some teas simply won’t improve much no matter how carefully they are brewed. That’s where upgrading the quality of your tea becomes important.

While higher-quality tea may seem expensive, it isn’t always as costly as it appears. As discussed in

this breakdown of the true cost of tea compared to other beverages
,
even premium teas can be quite affordable on a per-cup basis.

For example, some high-quality Assam teas can come out to just a few cents per cup, even after shipping costs are factored in.

So if you’re looking for a New Year’s resolution you can realistically keep, consider simply committing to drinking better tea.

As for running five miles a day or writing the Great American Novel—well, that’s another story entirely.

See more of William I. Lengeman’s articles

on the tea blog author archive page
.

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