Brewing black tea

While intrepidly exploring rec.food.drink.tea, juanon rolled initiative and posted the following:

Perhaps it's just the black teas I've bought, or maybe my local tea shop's supply, but I find that I get the best flavor from water that's less than boiling.

I have been told that Mariage Freres actually recommends less than boiling water for their teas. But not reading French, I can't tell you if that's true or not.

snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com5/11/04 18: snipped-for-privacy@1starnet.com

I seldom subject my tea to a roiling boiling water; rather, I let the temperature fall to 195-200, which it does very naturally. This is quite hot enough and avoids shock and awe, which is appropriate to neither tea nor human. No tea has ever suffered from this humane treatment in my experience. ITC knows of what it speaks.

Michael

Make life easy for yourself, boil your water. When you hear the whistle it is time to make tea. If need be you adjust for temperature by brewing vessel, volume, time and several other factors. If you worry about the thermometer you're missing the big picture. When people claim temperature makes a difference it is nothing more than some teas taste better at lower temperatures which you can accomplish by an ice cube for example. Some teas I like hot on the tongue and others cool. I'm listening to some audio clip on the Internet about some self anointed tea guru from the so called American Teamasters Association pontificating about moderated oolong temperatures when some nononsense British shop owner calls up and says he is full of it, followed by the Iranian guy saying tea should be stewed in a Samovar and drank diluted. At least Roy Fong owner of the Imperial Tea Court adds some sanity. There is no right answer but you can control the brewing temperature without worrying about the boiling temperature. The audio clip is at:

10326

I just got filled in on the Lost Wages tea conference by my favorite local shop owner who is slowly weaning me from commercial teas (not really I always support storefront merchants and I ignore the cost per gram paid by the savings on a gallon of gas). He'll be celebrating two years in business next month. Basically it was one up tea tastings. However he will be getting some tea from the South Carolina plantation. He's having a sale next month and is going to discontinue his Java teas. For being such a loyal customer I'm privy to the one day presale.

Jim

I have always found that slightly cooler than boiling made a smoother tasting tea. Since I take my tea black, the lack of the bitter/burnt taste is nicer for me. I have spoken to people who swear it has to be boiling so it is strong enough, but I just put in more tea leaves if I want my tea stronger.

I think the key phrase is "slightly off the boil". My favorite tea is Darjeeling; I find I get the best flavor by bringing water to the boil, then letting the pot sit for 15 seconds or so before pouring it on the tea (in a heated pot). But I let the tea cool to ~130-140F before drinking. I find Chinese blacks (Yunnans, etc.) seem to respond well to this treatment also. But water less than ~190F does not seem to develop the same range of flavor - 200-210F seems to be the sweet spot for me.

Regards, Dean

I fully agree. Boiling water makes tea bitter. Some Oolongs lose all their flavour when boiled. I seem to be getting a slightly oily consistency from Oolong brewed with water of about 85 centigrade. I only use rolling boil for blacks which I take with milk. Green tea is ruined with boiling water.

JB

I've never been sure if it's the temperature or the amount of oxygen dissolved in the water that makes the difference. Since boiling de-oxygenates the water, it could be either.

After boiling the water, I pour it to another vessel from a height. This cools it, certainly, but it may also reintroduce some oxygen. I think the tradition of "pulled tea" (teh tarik) is partly based on this, but it could also be just a pretty way of mixing the ingredients.

I invariably find the tea more bitter if I skip this pour.

Cheers,

- Joel

That's the popular method at the middle east restaurants when serving from a samovar. The commonly used single house teapot is silver plate with long spout flush to body extending from the base. In some cases the tea concentrate and water is mixed in the pot and others the concentrate added to the teacup and water from teapot. Cup/saucer is held at waist level and filled with piston like stroke extending to shoulder height. I'm more incline to do the same from kettle to teapot than to cup which is another reason I like kettles with removal whistles. You can't do this with a teapot and infuser. If you do it right you'll see foam in the pot with some teas more noticeable than others.

Jim

How is that for a tempting subject header?

I rarely post here because all I know about teas could fit in my little

6 oz Yixing teapot, which is why I am curious to see what all of you have to say about this.

I ordered two Oolongs from Special Teas. I have had a lot of luck with them and my tea of choice for years has been Oolong. I also like white and some greens, but I keep going back to Oolong. Anyway, this isn't about my tea travels :)

One of the two teas that I recently ordered from Special Teas is a China Oolong - Zhongshan Baiya (No. 519). Very dark, one of the darkest Oolongs I have yet seen. The odd thing is it's aroma. Not that I am confessing anything about my past :) but the first whiff when you open the bag is really far closer to a certain illegal herb than it is tea, and indeed, there is little of tea in that whiff. It is SO similar that a co-worker at first wasn't sure if I was telling the truth about it being only tea... though after a few more whiffs the aroma does lighten to something more like tea.

The tea tastes very good, beautiful amber color, very enjoyable cup indeed. This is the first time that I have ordered this tea - and it won't be the last.

It is just the aroma thing that has me perplexed. Has anyone run across this before? Nothing seems to be wrong with the taste... though the wet leaves have an even stronger aroma for a short time.

Curious in Indianapolis,

Catrin K.

Well -- we live at high altitude where water boils at 195 F. So I guess we don't have the options some of you do. I make sure the water is at a good rolling boil before pouring, because it's already 17 F below sea level boil, and I don't want to use water that is even cooler than that.

At 195F, you might want to actually put the leaves in the pot while it's boiling.

The trouble with boiling at 212F is that parts of the pot will be considerably hotter. Yours might not be, and if the burner is set to just maintain the boil, you might have areas in there that are around 200-210F.

Give it a shot. Can't hurt more than a few cups to find out.

A microwave can also superheat the water. I've been having fun with the 1300-watt monster at work. I put in a mug of water, take it out after 3 minutes, when it's at a rolling boil. It immediately stops bubbling. Then I drop in a tea bag and the water boils again! There's got to be pockets well over the boiling point in there that just lack cavitation.

--Blair "Not responsible for glowing tea."

Bob snipped-for-privacy@linux.chungkuo.org5/15/04

15: snipped-for-privacy@linux.chungkuo.org

Sounds like the perfect tea altitude, 195 being a perfect temperature, IMHO. Where exactly is it, might I ask? In fact, you probably need to make sure your pot is preheated -- rinsed with hot water -- so you maintain the 195 and don't fall too low.

Happy drinking, Michael

Bob Newell wrote (I think - perhaps misattributed):

195? That's over 9,000 feet. Are you an astronomer or a ski-lift operator?

The reverse issue came up a few years ago. I tried to convince an Israeli reader, Gabi Shahar, to go to the Dead Sea and conduct experiments, but haven't heard of any results.

Rick.

I just doubled check and Zhongshan is in Guangdong province. The oolongs are not valued as much as say a Black Dragon from Fujian. The current Guangdong I'm drinking has a note you described but disappears when brewed with more of a charcoal after taste. I'm a fan of oolongs that fill the nostrils before brewing. It's been awhile since I've bought a dime bag so I'll trust your judgment ;-). I seem to remember reports on oolong tea helping chemo nausea. You could always get a Formosa oolong but the China oolongs are relatively new in the market place in the past 10 years.

Jim

You can't really blame me for talking to myself considering the topic. I drank two or three cups yesterday and it really reminds me of the puerh herbal version from Turkey. Honest. It has that slightly sweet stale arid aroma from a bong pipe after a Dead concert from the little I can remember. I even cranked up The Fool by Quicksilver Messenger Service to celebrate the moment. I enjoy my flashbacks to altered states of consciousness when drinking tea.

Jim

Space snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com5/19/04

08: snipped-for-privacy@ix.netcom.com

Jim,

I'm confused by your reference to "black dragon". That's the English translation of Oolong/wulong, which is available everywhere. Guangdong oolongs are available all over the place as "Phoenix Bird Mountain" tea (or some permutation thereof). I think they are well worth searching out.

Michael