How to Make Full Leaf Tea

How to Make Full Leaf Tea

Carly Pearl-Sacks

If you're here, you may be new to Full Leaf Tea or you want to learn more about brewing your loose leaf tea! Either way, you've come to the right place. Full Leaf Tea is a whole new tea experience with whole ingredients, incredible flavors, and natural health benefits you can't find anywhere else. 

What You Need to Get Started

First, let's talk about what you're going to need to make your tea! Loose leaf tea can seem a bit daunting if you're new to it, but I promise it is very easy to make. All you're going to need is your favorite mug, some hot water, your Full Leaf Tea, and a strainer. 

For your strainer, you have the options of a teapot with a built in infuser, a compostable natural teabag, a reusable infuser, or a simple household fine mesh strainer

How to Steep

Every tea is a bit different with their steeping times so make sure you check on the package for specific steeping times for your tea. We also have instructions for each blend on their product page if you aren't able to locate a steeping time on your bag of Full Leaf Tea. Even though steeping times are important, don't be afraid to try out different amounts of tea leaves and steeping times to suit your preferences! 

Once you have your supplies ready, simply add 1-2 teaspoons of tea leaves to your infuser of choice and steep for the recommended time. Once the time has passed, remove the infuser or strain the steeped water and enjoy! If you want to spice up your tea experience try adding citrus like lemon, sweeteners like honey or brown sugar, or something creamy like oat milk or half and half to enhance the flavor. If you want to try making some more advanced recipes, check out our Tea & Matcha Recipes for some inspiration! 

What to Do with Leftover Tea Leaves

Now that you have your steeped tea, don't get rid of the tea leaves! You can reuse tea leaves up to three times, just make sure you add a few minutes of steeping time with each reuse since the leaves will loose some flavor with each steep. 

Once your tea leaves have been steeped several times, you have a few options of  what to do with them! You can discard them but I recommend composting them or even making a weak batch of tea to water your plants with! Although the tea leaves have lost a lot of flavor at this point, they will still release some nutrients into the water to feed your plants. 

Other Tea Steeping Options

A few other alternatives for making Full Leaf Tea for more than one person includes using a French Press or our Signature Tea Press to make a larger quantity of tea all at once. To use a French Press to brew tea, simply add your loose leaf tea into the bottom of the pot (about 1-2 teaspoons of tea leaves per 8 ounces of water) and then pour hot water on top. Allow to brew with the lever up for the recommended amount of steeping time and then depress the lever to enjoy. 

For a larger amount of iced tea, you can cold brew your tea leaves in a large pitcher with cold water for 4-6 hours for a delicious batch of refreshing iced tea! 

Environmental Effects

Full Leaf Tea is not only great for your body, but it's also great for the planet! Pre-made teabags are made of plastic and can release micro plastics into the water as the tea steeps. Additionally, the carbon foot print of pre-made teabags is over 10 times higher than loose leaf tea! 

We hope this quick insight into making Full Leaf Tea is helpful and don't forget, you can always contact us with any questions you have!