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Learn about the History of English High Tea, English High Tea Menu, and more delicious Afternoon Tea and High Tea Recipes.

Tea Time F.A.Q.

What is decanted tea and what does it mean if listed on a menu? 

Because the patron never sees the actual leaves in the teapot one should never feel that the quality of the tea is lacking or that the establishment may list one type of tea and then serve another. 

First and foremost, you can be rest assured that a reputable venue would never list one type of tea and then serve another brand or one of lesser quality.

The reason the teas are steeped and decanted in the kitchen pantry is to insure that the actual tea is served at the correct brewing time for each blend. The strainer is used at table side to insure that no tea leaves escaped into the pot. The teapots each accommodate at least one cup, but as many as three cups of tea. The quality of the third cup is the same as the first when served decanted.

All blends do not have the same steeping time, yet all teapots need to be brought to the table at the same time. If the tea leaves were placed into the teapot with hot water poured over the leaves and then served to the guest, by the time the tea was strained at the table many of the blends would be ruined. The tea leaves would be stewing in the pot past the correct brewing times.

Adding hot water to a teapot filled with already brewed leaves is, in fact, incorrect.  An establishment that is too lazy to serve properly brewed tea and thinks that hot water poured over brewed leaves is good enough for a guest, doesn't think very much of the guest.

One should regard their guests so highly, that a second pot of freshly brewed tea is served instead of hot water poured over stewed leaves.

It is my understanding that from the earliest ancient Chinese customs, all tea was decanted before serving. To this day Asian food establishments serve all tea decanted.

Originally, in the 1840s, when the genre of afternoon was created by Anna, the 7th Duchess of Bedford, tea was served with loose leaf teas in a pot, the teapot was brought over to a kettle to be filled with the hot water.  The tea steeped and then, if served correctly, the entire pot of tea was decanted, through a strainer, into a second pot, leaf free.  The decanted pot of tea could then accommodate a tea cozy to keep the tea warm. Again, if a tea cozy is placed over a pot containing leaves, the leaves will stew. 

Tea leaves left in a teapot past the correct brewing time releases tannins that cause the tea to become bitter.

Due to the physical logistics of most public spaces, it is not possible to use two individual teapots table side to decant tea from one pot into another. Therefore, an industry approved, eco -bio friendly product called the T-sac can be used to contain the lose leaf tea while brewing. When the tea is brewed, the T-sac is removed, leaving properly brewed tea in the teapot. Again, as sometimes a leaf or two can escape into the pot, a strainer is used table side.

Yes, many five star hotels, in past times, served tea pots with the leaves left in the pots. It is not the correct way to serve good tea. In fact, with past complaints so plentiful and comments so negative about the stewed leaves, it is to the credit of any venue, now dedicated to the art of tea and it's proper service, if they have taken the steps to correct past service mistakes.



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