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Making a great cup of tea is not as straightforward as it might seem. Once you get the hang of it it becomes second nature but you need to take a few steps in order to make that tea the best it can be.
A lot of people who are new to tea simply take a tea bag put it in some boiling water and then wonder why the tea they are trying to make as a bitter mess.
Others may not know what to expect from their cup of alfalfa tea and just assume that a poorly made cup if the standard. You can check out our flavor profile of alfalfa tea right here.
There are some things you really need to take into consideration when crafting a cup of alfalfa tea. Let’s dive right into it starting with the proper tools that you’re going to need to make a good cup of alfalfa tea.
I used Buddha Teas Organic Alfalfa Leaf Tea Bags (*affiliate link) as the basis for this article.
The Right Steeping Tools For Alfalfa Tea
There are a few things you’re going to want to have on hand before you start making your tea. Obviously you’re going to want to cup or mug whatever is your favorite.
You going to need the Alfalfa Leaf either loose-leaf or bag. This is all straightforward but this is where it gets a little bit interesting.
What type of water are you planning on using?
Are you going to use an infuser? are you going to use a bag to your you going to use loose-leaf and just let it sit in the water freely?
These are all things that are going to change the overall flavor of the Alfalfa leaf tea.
They are things you need to consider when making a cup of alfalfa tea for yourself because it does make a difference in the final product.
It All Starts With The Right Water
There is no faster way to ruin a great cup of tea than using the wrong water. Straight tap water or heavy mineral water is going to add a metallic taste or a harshness to your tea.
It covers up the natural flavors of the Alfalfa Leaf. This is true for just about any type of herbal tea actually.
So what we want to use when it comes to water for our Alfalfa tea is a balanced pH (around 7pH) bottled spring water or well-filtered tap water.
Either one is going to be perfectly fine for making a good cup of alfalfa tea. They both have their pluses and minuses though. The spring water is going to give you a more natural Alfalfa flavor with no interference from the water really.
The tap water even filtered is still going to have a little bit of a flavor influence on the tea but you also don’t have to constantly buy bottled water and then have to deal with the plastic ramifications if that’s an issue for you.
So choose one that you’re most comfortable with but make sure that you get balanced water either from your tap and filter it or from the store in a bottle.
It is also a good idea to avoid distilled water as it will lead to a very flat alfalfa tea with a noticeable drop off in flavor.
Tea Bags Are Just Fine
Now that we got the water situation settled we need to figure out how we’re going to get our Alfalfa Leaf into the water to infuse it and create our cup of tea.
There’s kind of a segment of the tea-drinking population that turns their nose up at the idea of using bag teas.
I’m not one of them. I find that a tea bag is perfectly fine for infusing the water and making a good cup of tea.
There are a couple of things you want to look out for when choosing a pre-bagged tea. Make sure that the bag itself is bleach-free and chemical-free and not going to add any unwanted flavors or chemicals into the tea.
And make sure that it’s biodegradable so that you can easily dispose of it without having to worry about it.
Other than that bag is perfectly fine for making a great cup of tea. For this article, I used a bag of alfalfa leaf tea and the flavor was just wonderful.
Loose Leaf Alfalfa Is Great As Well
On the other side of things, you could always use a loose-leaf alfalfa tea to make your perfect cup of alfalfa tea.
This is going to be a little bit more complicated than just dropping a bag into the right amount of water at the right temperature.
You’re going to need to measure out some of your loose leaf Alfalfa and then figure out how you want to infuse it in the water.
I’ll get into a couple of methods of steeping loose leaf tea in just a second but I just wanted to say that loose leaf teas are fantastic and as mentioned I find bagged teas perfectly fine as well.
I think it all comes down to personal preference or what you’re most comfortable with.
For the most part, I do drink loose leaf teas but for some of the herbal teas that I don’t drink quite as often, I tend to use a bagged tea.
So, for example, I drink a lot of genmaicha green tea I just buy a bag of loose-leaf and keep it available at all times.
Because I know that I’m going to be drinking it almost on a daily basis. But for something like Alfalfa tea which I don’t drink quite as often a box of bags is going to be perfectly fine for that.
So if you drink a lot of alfalfa tea and are comfortable making it from loose leaf then, by all means, grab a big bag store in a nice cool place and you’ll be good to go for a few weeks.
You can check out Starwest Botanicals organic loose leaf alfalfa right here (*affiliate link).
Should You Use An Infuser For Alfalfa Tea?
As promised here are a couple of strategies that you can use to steep loose leaf tea of any kind but in this case loose Alfalfa Leaf.
A lot of people use what’s known as an infuser to steep their loose leaf tea. It’s basically a little ball or a spoon that holds the loose leaf tea inside it and you don’t get into the water and then treat it like a tea bag.
The issue with a lot of infuses is that they are very small and they don’t allow the leaves to expand to their full potential and some people believe that this hinders the flavor from fully infusing the water.
I tend to agree with this philosophy but I don’t find using an infuser to be a terrible idea.
Just try and find one that’s big enough to give your tea some room to expand once you dunk it in the water.
However, the way that I like to use loose leaf tea is by adding it directly to the water and just letting it flow freely for the allotted amount of time while I’m steeping my cup of tea.
Then I simply take a small hand strainer and take the little pieces of tea, in this case, Alfalfa Leaf, out of the water and dispose of it or set it aside if I’m going to make another cup out of the same leaves.
It works a treat and if you miss a leaf or two, well thats just a bit of added flavor.
This is the easiest way to make a cup loose leaf tea and it gives you a really full-flavored tea,
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Tea Steeping Essentials
Now that we have the proper tools and the perfect delivery method for our cup of alfalfa tea, we need to focus on the essentials during the actual steeping process.
The water temperature, the amount of time that we need to steep the tea and the amount of tea itself are all important factors in making the perfect cup of alfalfa tea for yourself.
The Water Temperature For Alfalfa Tea
Like most herbal infusions Alfalfa Leaf is a very hardy and resilient plant. It is very tough to burn the Alfalfa Leaf by using water that’s too hot.
You could even use boiling water if you wanted to. However, I rarely use boiling water for any of my teas with the exception of a couple of root teas, like ginger or ashwagandha.
So for the steeping process with our Alfalfa tea we are going to want a water temperature that is slightly less than boiling.
A temperature of about 96°C/205°F is just about right for a nice cup of alfalfa Tea.
You can use this handy Celcius to Fahrenheit conversion table to find your perfect water temperature.
How Long Should You Steep Alfalfa Tea For?
The next thing we need to determine when making our perfect cup of alfalfa tea is how long we want to steep it for.
Alfalfa tea requires a pretty long time to steep properly.
I typically like to let my alfalfa tea steep for at least 7 minutes but you could go much higher all the way up to maybe 15 if you really want to let it Infuse the water to its maximum.
Between the long Steep and the very hot almost boiling water you’re going to get a full-flavored cup of tea with all the benefits that come along with Alfalfa tea.
It’s going to give you enough time to draw out all those wonderful flavors and antioxidants that really make this a great tea to drink.
One other important thing that I want to mention when steeping not only Alfalfa tea but any tea is to always cover the cup when you go to steep the tea.
If you’re using a kettle to steep it in then make sure that that is covered if it’s a cup and you can just put a saucer on top of it to trap the heat in.
This is especially important for Herbal infusions because they do take much longer to steep than a regular tea like a sencha green tea(check out our favorites).
So you want to make sure to keep the water at the optimum temperature for as long as possible so that it continues to draw out those wonderful flavors.
How Much Alfalfa Leaf Should You Use?
If you using loose leaf alfalfa then you want to try to get about 1 to 2 teaspoons of loose-leaf Alfalfa in order to get a good cup of alfalfa tea.
I would say that one teaspoon is probably the absolute minimum for a regular 8 to 10 oz cup of tea. You can go all the way up to 2 teaspoons or more if you want a stronger cup of alfalfa tea.
The amount is really going to be based on your personal taste as is most of the preparation of this tea since this is your tea. As the saying goes if it’s not your cup of tea then it’s not your cup of tea.
Tea is often a unique experience for each person that’s making it and making Alfalfa tea is no different. You need to find the perfect level of alfalfa leaf for your specific tastes.
When I Was preparing for this article I used bagged tea instead of loose-leaf Alfalfa which works just fine and as you might expect you can use just one tea bag for a regular cup of tea.
However, it is not uncommon for some people to use more than one tea bag for a standard size cup of tea. It all depends on your personal taste.
Tea Steeping Instructions Quick Recap
- 1 to 2 teaspoons of Loose Alfalfa Leaf or A Single Bag
- A Long 7 to 15 minute Steep Time Is Recommended
- The Water Temperature Should Be Boiling Or Just Below. ~96°C/205°F is what I typically use.
- Always Steep Your Tea Covered To Trap In The Heat And Flavor
Finishing The Perfect Cup Of Alfalfa Tea
That brings us to the end of our look at how to make the perfect cup of alfalfa tea for yourself.
Remember these are just suggestions.
The perfect cup of any tea is going to be determined solely by you the person I was going to drink it.
It’s up to you to find your perfect water temperature, the right type of water, and the right amount of alfalfa to put into your tea.
It’s all down to your personal taste.
I hope this is giving you a starting point to find where your perfect is.
There are hundreds of great herbal infusions for you to explore and you could find some of our favorite flower herbal infusions right here.
Thank you for stopping by and have a wonderful day.