Green tea can be a mixed bag – we sipped our way through the supermarket shelves to find the ones worth boiling the kettle for
• The best (and worst) supermarket teabags
My mother-in-law has a mug that reads: “By replacing your morning coffee with green tea, you can lose up to 87% of what little joy you still have left in your life.” Some people will never like green tea, while others will probably have tried only poor-quality, over-brewed bags filled with the dust and fannings left over from the production of whole leaf tea. Only one of today’s teas contains whole leaves, and the difference is hugely noticeable, though that’s not to say the more economical bags are undrinkable. Some are single-origin or organic, and are certainly satisfactory, so long as you brew them properly.
Due to the large surface area of these tiny broken leaves, you need to be careful not to over-brew them. To stand the best chance of making a half-decent cup, use water at 80C – you can achieve that temperature by quarter-filling a cup with cold water, topping it up with just-boiled water and leaving it to brew for about 90 seconds. You’ll end up with a much sweeter cup, with nuanced kelp, edamame and toasted-straw flavours (all of which are, admittedly, acquired tastes).