How to make a cup of tea in 10 seconds

I can't stand it when someone tells me they are a tea connoisseur and their favorite tea is Tazo. It is like a person telling me about their great trips to Napa Valley for a wine tasting and their favorite wine is Yellowtail. It's not that it is a bad thing to like Tazo or Yellowtail, but if you truly like something you should explore it, learn about it and try new things. If you want to take this path with tea, then there are two basic rules1) Avoid the big brands. The general rule is if you have seen any type of print or television advertisement for it that the tea is going to be substandard. Lipton gets almost all of their tea from Kenya, but they try and pass it off as Ceylon tea.2) Drink Loose tea. You really can't appreciate the flavor of tea unless you buy the good stuff. Here is a quick guide telling you about loose tea.

What is needed?

a microwave safe teacup or mug
A box of T-Sacs (All natural disposable teabag)
Loose Tea
Water

How Do I make it?

Pour water into your teacup or mug
Take a spoonful of tea and put it in the T-Sac
Submerge the T-Sac (with tea) in the cup
Place in microwave for approximately 2 minutes. You want the water to be very hot, almost at the point of boiling. Each microwave is different so you will have to adjust in 15-second increments. Be careful, the mug may be very hot when you take it out.
Let the mug sit and cool for a minute or two.
Remove teabag and drink

This seems to take much longer than 10 seconds?

It does technically take longer than 10 seconds, but most of the time is spent with your mug in the microwave. Since microwaves beep when they are done, you can put your mug in it, set the timer and forget about the tea until it beeps. It actually takes me 7 seconds to put water in the teacup, fill the T-Sac with tea, and start the microwave. So I guess you could say it takes less than 10 seconds to make a cup of loose tea.

To make a cup of loose tea can be as easy as filling your own teabag and heating it in the microwave. While it may not be equivalent to a Ribeye steak cooked "Medium Rare Plus", the important thing to remember is the key to any great serving of tea is in the quality of the tea leaves.

If you buy good tea leaves, you can even use this quick method of brewing tea and the results will be far superior to any teabag on the market.

- Note: Never microwave water without something in it. The water can explode and severely burn you. If you want plain water heated in the microwave, put a wooden chopstick in the water while it microwaves.