The perfect cup of tea

I don't think toci answered your question. I have wondered the same thing myself. A quick google brings up

Most coffee brewers don't heat the water to the boiling point, which is what you need to properly brew black tea. I'd recommend buying a good electric kettle, which is much faster than boiling water on the stovetop. No need to build a better mousetrap when an electric kettle, ceramic teapot and good quality loose tea are all you need to make a perfect cup of tea.

I never use boiling water for any good tea. Coffee temperature water is too hot if anything.

Then I don't know how you're managing to get a proper infusion. Only green and oolong teas should be brewed with water beneath the boiling point. The reason so many tea drinkers complain about the tea served in restaurants is largely due to their failure to boil the water before serving the tea.

In the immortal words of Larry Wall, "There's more than one way to do it."

/Lew

Oh, there is more than one way to do it, but that does not make the alternative methods correct. The use of boiling water for black tea is the one rule that should never be violated. It is even more important than the quality of tea used, or the use of loose tea vs a teabag. I would rather have a cup of tea made with a Lipton tea bag (never my first choice) and boiling water than a cup of tea brewed with the finest loose leaves and water that is below the boil.

Some black teas are quite delicate, being mostly buds. Although they are fully oxidized, still there is a hint of "green-ness," what I like to call a reedy-ness, something fresh and good. That quality can be burned away.

Let us say that each tea needs to be explored on its own merits, and approaches need to vary. Meanwhile, to state the obvious, you are welcome to your opinion.

It's been awhile but I double checked over the holidays an expensive restaurant on Christmas eve and a cheap mexican restaurant on New Year's Eve can't even boil water for teabags. Why do I still try?

Jim

I'm not sure but I get my perfect cuppa from this pot I got at teacuppa.com ... you can check it out at their web site.

aaaaa wrote:

Using lower temperature water for black tea means you need longer steeping times. Less of the good tea tastes come out, and more of the tannic flavour comes out. I think that's a bad thing, but chacun a son gout.

--scott

Because Legal Seafood in Boston and the Blue Talon in Williamsburg, VA. both carry decent tea and know how to brew it.

--scott