I like a strong cup of tea. I mean extremely strong, powerful, knock-you-over tea.
Years ago, I realized I needed to quit coffee. I was drinking about eight espressos a day, and it was starting to take a toll on my health. I thought I would just switch to tea. And to do that, I would need some very strong tea indeed.
My first experiments were a failure. A straight swap for regular tea left me in caffeine withdrawal. I was miserable. So I did a bunch of experiments to find ways to make tea as potent as coffee.
Here are my tips for extremely strong tea:
1. Use more tea 🍂
This may seem obvious, but the strength of the tea depends a lot on the tea to water ratio. For a super strong cup, I double the amount of tea in each cup, or more. For example, brew 10oz of water with two scoops of tea leaves (4 teaspoons or 7 grams). I've even made cups with 10 grams of tea for 10 oz of water. If you use tea bags, try adding 1-2 extra bags for each cup.
2. Infuse longer ⏱️
The longer you infuse your tea, the more caffeinated it is. 5-7 minutes will extract most of the caffeine in the tea leaves, and gives you a much stronger cup than just 3-4 minutes of infusion time.
3. Use boiling water 🔥
The hotter the water, the more compounds you extract from the tea leaves. So preheat your mug or teapot and brew with the hottest water you can get. For green tea and oolong drinkers, using boiling water will make your tea quite bitter, so keep in mind the next tip.
4. Be prepared to add milk and/or sweetener 🥛
The stronger your tea, the more bitter and tannic it will taste. And you might find it unpalatable without a little milk and/or sweetener. Feel free to adjust the flavor until it tastes good to you.
5. Start with a powerful tea! 💪
The more broken tea leaves are, the more rapidly they release their flavor. Assam teas, sourced from India, tend to be the most robust teas available. Here's my list of the strongest August teas:
Jet Black: Roasty Coffee Black Tea (this is our most highly caffeinated tea, at 66mg per serving)
Metropolitan: Bergamot Plum Black Tea
Painted Desert: Chocolate Chili Black Tea
Essentials English Breakfast: Organic Black Tea
Low Country: Bourbon Sugar Black Tea
The Library: Malty Black Tea
Since quitting coffee long ago and becoming a strong tea diehard, I have gradually reintroduced coffee into my life and I happily drink both. But a lot less coffee than I used to. 😉
I hope you enjoy,
Aaron Shinn,
Proud drinker of strong tea (and coffee), and August cofounder
