Making Hot Tea on Shabbos

Q. Is one permitted to make a cup of hot tea on Shabbos?

A. In a previous Halacha, we discussed the concerns of “borer” (sorting) and “meshamer” (filtering) that can arise when preparing a cup of iced tea. Regarding hot tea on Shabbos, there is also the issue of bishul (cooking). The tea leaves in the tea bags are not pre-cooked with water, however they may be steamed or dried with high heat. Can the drying process be considered baking? Perhaps we should view tea as a baked item which would allow greater leniency.

Rav Moshe Feinstein zt”l (Igros Moshe OC 2:85) writes that drying something out is not the same as cooking or baking. Cooking and baking require that a change must occur to the food. If one heats up a raw food but it does not become more edible, then it cannot be considered cooked. Since the dry tea leaves are exactly the same whether they are dried with or without heat, they cannot be considered cooked and may not be placed in a kli rishon or kli sheini on Shabbos. In addition, even if the tea leaves would be considered baked, they cannot be placed in a kli rishon or kli sheini, because we are concerned that yesh bishul achar afiyah (there is cooking after baking). Kli shlishi will be discussed in an upcoming Halacha Yomis.

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The Gerald & Karin Feldhamer OU Kosher Halacha Yomis is dedicated to the memory of Rav Yisroel Belsky, zt"l, who served as halachic consultant for OU Kosher for more than 28 years; many of the responses in Halacha Yomis are based on the rulings of Rabbi Belsky. Subscribe to the Halacha Yomis daily email here.