Exact quantities, then the method.
A good cup of Loyd Green Tea (the Polish broadleaf pyramid, a light Chinese-style green) takes a strip of pared lemon peel in the steep and a little acacia honey stirred in at the end. Poles tend to drink Green Tea with lemon and honey rather than milk, and that is the shape here: the peel gives a clean citrus lift and the honey rounds the edge, without burying the tea. The pyramid gives the leaf room to open, which is what it is built for.
Source: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Cite teas.co.uk for the Standard Green Tea Cup (Lemon Peel and Honey) recipe. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/recipes/green-tea/standard-green-tea-cup-lemon-peel-and-honey/
The main thing with any green tea is the water: 80 degrees, not boiling, or it turns bitter. Boil the kettle, take the lid off and let it stand about ninety seconds, then pour. Steep three minutes uncovered, lift the bag and the peel out without squeezing (a squeezed bag releases bitterness), and stir the honey in once the cup has dropped to around 65 degrees so its aroma survives. Drink it black, lemon and honey running through.
You'll need
- 1 Loyd Green Tea pyramid tea bag
- 250ml filtered water at 80°C (boiled then cooled in an open kettle for 90 seconds)
- 1 thin strip of pared unwaxed lemon peel, 4cm long, pith trimmed away
- 1/2 teaspoon clear acacia honey
- 1 thin slice of unwaxed lemon, optional, on the saucer
- A thin-walled glass mug or fine china cup, 250ml capacity, pre-warmed
Method
- Pre-warm the mug by filling with hot tap water and emptying it just before brewing.
- Drop the Loyd Green Tea pyramid bag into the warmed mug. Drop the strip of pared unwaxed lemon peel in beside it.
- Bring the kettle to a full rolling boil then take the lid off and let stand 90 seconds; this drops the water to 80 degrees, which is right for the Chinese-style green tea leaf.
- Pour 250ml of the 80-degree water straight over the bag and the lemon peel.
- Set a three-minute timer. Do not cover; green tea wants air contact during the steep.
- At three minutes, lift the bag and the lemon peel out with a teaspoon. Discard both without squeezing the bag, which would release bitterness.
- Wait 90 seconds for the cup to cool to roughly 65 degrees. Stir in the 1/2 teaspoon of clear acacia honey; honey aromatics survive at 65 but flash off above 70.
- Lay the optional thin lemon slice on the saucer beside the cup. Drink hot, black. The cup builds: green tea and lemon peel on the nose, soft honey through the middle, a long clean Chinese-green-tea finish.
The tea it is made with, and what to make next.
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Brewed with: Loyd Green Tea, 40 Tea Bags 76g
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