How to make Tea?

Brewing the tea

Here we go! It's time to make the tea. First make sure you have everything ready. Let's double-check what you need:
Tea
Water
Tea Kettle
Teapot
Infuser (from the teapot, or some other straining device)
Teacup

Once you're sure you have everything ready, just follow these steps:
Start Heating Water: Put some water in your tea kettle and turn it on. How much water? Well how much tea are you making? Put in that much water, plus a little extra. The tea will soak up and hang onto some of the water, so you need a little extra. While the water heats, go on to step 2.
Preheat Teapot: Run your tap water until it's good and hot. Then fill the teapot. Fill the teacup while you're at it. Set them both aside. The idea here is that you're pre-heating them. If they're cold when you add the boiling water, then some of the water's heat will be used to heat up the teapot, making the water colder than desired. This is especially important with an iron teapot. Iron conducts heat easily. If it's cold, it will quickly suck heat from the water. Some folks swirl some of the boiling water from the kettle in the teapot and then discard it immediately before adding the tea. I don't like this method. The water in the tea kettle either cools during this period, or keeps boiling. Nether is desired.
Wait For The Boil: Be patient. It shouldn't be long now. Shortly before the water comes to a boil, follow these steps in a brisk manner:
Pour the water out of the teapot. Give it a quick blotting with a paper towel, if you like. (I do.)
Add tea to the teapot. Approximately 1 heaping teaspoon per 8 ounces of water. (That's why it's called a teaspoon.) Use a real measuring teaspoon. For stronger tea, add some extra. Experiment to find what you like.
Add the water to the teapot. If you're making black or herbal tea, let the water come to a real boil. For green teas, try to catch it a little before boiling. (You'll know the water is about to boil because the noise from the kettle will get both quieter and deeper shortly before the boil.) Or turn the kettle off when the water boils and let it cool a bit. Whatever you do, don't let the water keep boiling for any length of time.
Steep for the appropriate amount of time: For green tea, steep for 2-3 minutes. I stop at 2 minutes. For black teas, 3-5 minutes. I stop at 3. For herbal teas, 5 minutes or more. Longer steeping times make for stronger tea. But they also make for bitter tea. (Except for herbal teas, which aren't real teas.) If you want stronger tea, increase the amount of tea you use. Don't steep longer.
Ready The Teacup: After the steeping time is up, discard the hot water from the teacup. Actually, you can pour this water over the infuser to quickly heat up the infuser, too.
Pour The Tea: Pour the tea, through the infuser, into the teacup. Put the infuser into the teapot, so it doesn't make a mess.
Drink: Drink the tea, duh.
Clean Up: Clean up after yourself. Used tea leaves can be composted, or just run down the disposal. Rinse everything off and put it away. (Well, don't rinse off your tea. Geez, c'mon people, think!) Or, better yet, make more tea.