Oolong steeping tmperature, darker and lighter ?

I've never heard any such thing about Chinese green teas. It's

I've never heard any such thing about cholesterol and Chinese green teas either -- what I've heard is that puer will reduce triglycerides and cholesterol in the body.

As for oolongs, I treat the visibly green ones as green tea, and don't steep them any hotter than 175F. Darker ones I brew in water temperatures approaching the 195-200F that I use for black teas and cooked puers.

Different tea varietals will respond differently to various methods of processing, which will ultimately determine how each should be brewed. This is however, theoretical. One can choose to experience and vary the methods, unless your intention is to clinically extract the beneficial properties from the tea, I don't see why you should be so concern on how a tea is to be brewed. True, it is vital that we understand and grasp the water temperature and volume control for each tea so as to maximise our experience of that tea, but since you know how it is done, is there a little harm to have a little fun with the tea?

cholestrol; b, oolong losing its 'green tea' health benefits. ALL teas emulsify cholestrol and lower blood pressure, the difference is to what degree each tea does it. For many years green tea is touted as a great emulsifier of cholestrol, but that was largely due to the igorance of, and the inavailability to the Americans and British on the other types of teas. The French knew back in the early 70s that cooked pu'er is a far greater cholestrol emulsifier.

Likewise, with the various types of processing methods, some benefits are brought out far more than others in the different types of tea. Rest assured that you have a cup of healthful benefits in your hand with the oolong, but do not limit yourself to only oolong, try other varieties as well.

Can you use lower water temp on oolongs? Well, as long as the leaves are well unfurled (which means you need hot boiling water in the 1st round), I don't see why not - it will reduce the rate of caffeine and tannin leaching, and make your tea sweeter. The same goes for green tea, be it Chinese or Japanese or Taiwanese. Steph mentioned that Chinese green tea can withstand higher temp, while this is true, one has to be reminded that there are various types of Chinese green teas - not all are panfried or roasted, we still have some green teas that are steamed, and like Japanese green teas, these have to be treated gently with lower temp water.

Danny

The "Dragonwell" that I bought a couple of months ago at Limbo in Portland resembled a Japanese tea like sencha or bancha, and I found it rather unpleasant the first time I brewed it. The next time, I used water around 150-160F and found it much more palatable (though it was probably still not the best Longjing available for my money.)

stePH now drinking: Red Hook IPA

Does it in any way smelled like raw egg on the first brew?

In a word: no.

stePH in cup: Chelton "English Royal" Ceylon

Quick, demand for a fresher pack!

Danny

No "pack" to speak of. The tea in question was in a large jar, and hand-scooped by Y.T. into a small zip-lock baggie.

stePH in cup: Stash ginger peach (like Republic of Tea's offering, more ginger than peach, but not bad)