I’ve tried brewing this with 90°C water for 2,3,4,5 and 6 minutes. I had always brewed it for about 5 minutes in the past, but I wondered whether I could improve on it. I was surprised and impressed to find that I really liked it at 2 minutes. It’s very mild as you would expect, but it’s still a bit smoky and really tasty. I think I would be happy to drink it like that, although I’d be careful about having it with food! My favourite was 4 minutes, with a really nice smoky and earthy flavour. I didn’t experiment so much on the second brew of these leaves, but I found that 4.5 minutes still gives a really nice cuppa. The third brew still has a lot of flavour, but it loses some of the smoky notes, so I’m not as keen personally although it’s still interesting…
195 °F / 90 °C
