Why Do You Steep Tea?

Steeping tea in hot or cold water allows the unique flavors, aromas, and health-promoting compounds to be extracted from dried leaves or other dried or fresh ingredients.

Why do you steep tea for a few minutes?

Because tannins are some of the last molecules to dissolve into tea, if you want to add some bitter complexity to your drink, steep your tea for a minute or two longer than you normally would.

What happens if you don't let tea steep?

You're not steeping it long enough

It's like Goldilocks! Too hot and your tea becomes bitter, too cold and you won't extract the right compounds. Depending on the chemical composition of the compounds locked in tea, they are released in specific stages in the steeping process, according to a Food Chemistry study.