Tea is made by combining the leaves of certain plants with hot water, letting the mixture soak or steep, then removing the leaves to leave a clear, flavored liquid. Tea can be sipped hot or served cold over ice. Both types of tea start with hot water and tea leaves.

There are different types of tea leaves, and they can be used fresh or dried. The flavor of the final product can also be controlled by the amount of time that the leaves are allowed to soak in the hot water.

There are a few different ways of steeping leaves in hot water to make tea. Tea leaves can be put directly into a cup or pot of hot water, left to brew until the desired potency is achieved, and then strained out leaving a hot cup of tea. For medium to strong flavored tea, leaves need to steep for at least three to five minutes. If you keep the leaves in the water for too long, however, the tea may become bitter.

There are also ball-shaped, stainless steel tea strainers that contain the tea leaves while the ball is dropped into the hot water. The ball is removed when the tea is ready and the leaves can then be discarded. Pre-measured and packaged paper filters containing tea leaves are readily available at all grocery stores to simplify the process. These tea bags can be used once and then thrown away.

Most experts agree that in order to make a really good cup of tea, you must always start with fresh, cold water. Some even recommend using only distilled or bottled water. The water should then be boiled to a rolling boil, not too much longer, since the extra release of oxygen can leave tea with a flat or stale taste. Allowing the water to swirl freely around the leaves seems to extract the most flavor thereby creating the best cup of tea possible.