Black Teas: To Boil, or Not to Boil.

[RobAtSGH]

I've seen two ways of thinking.

1) The way everyone's heard - fully oxidized (black/red) teas should be brewed with water just off the boil. Boil water, remove from heat, pour over tea leaves.

2) Water should never be boiled. Boiling drives too much oxygen out of the water and diminishes the aromas of the tea. Brew black teas with water at 200-205F, but has not been boiled.

I've gone back and forth between the two with the same leaf for a couple of days now. I can't say as I can discern any notable difference.

There's been some suggestion that certain types of teas benefit from lower temperatures than what they're usually brewed at. Japanese vs. Chinese greens, for example. But the boil/no boil thing... not a night and day difference.

Opinions?

 

[ouch]

Black teas are so heavily oxidized that it won't make much of difference, if any. White, green, and yellow teas are more delicate and dependent on specific brewing parameters.

 

[RobAtSGH]

I'm going to switch to some more overtly aromatic China Keemun teas to see if it makes a difference. I can see using a slightly reduced temperature for delicate Darjeelings. But for the Indian blacks I've been playing with - doesn't seem to be a factor.

 

[Joe_Karp]

I am a dedicated black Yunnan tea drinker, my wife loves green tea, Matcha Sencha her favorite. One of the best investments we've ever made was to buy a Cuisinart adjustable temperature kettle. For my Yunnan I set it to 200 and it turns itself off just as it reaches that setting; for more delicate teas like the Matcha or Jasmine, we set the kettle to 175 which works nicely. Compared to the standard kettle this one replaced there's no messing it's right every time.

 

[SiBurning]

I've been going down to 170F with some of the fully oxidized Assam teas, though that needs a preheated pot. I tend around 190F. The lower temperature's been helpful this past year with all the terrible crops. I haven't been thrilled with much of anything in the last year, save some Taiwanese oolong.

I always boil tap water and then let it drop to temerature, even if it's been sitting in a jug for a day. If I'm impatient, I add some water from the jug. With spring water, I might heat it without boiling.

 

[gearchow]

I've seen two ways of thinking.

....

2) Water should never be boiled. Boiling drives too much oxygen out of the water and diminishes the aromas of the tea. Brew black teas with water at 200-205F, but has not been boiled.

...

This made me go look up the subject and I found this.

If I'm reading that right, there will be less dissolved oxygen in the water at the point that it's the hottest, but the atmospheric oxygen will dissolve back into it again as the water cools back down - which is almost immediately.

I had no idea.

-jim

 

[StillShaving]

Are you brewing relative high quality tea? Maybe it will make some difference.

But in the South, where ice tea flows like water, most people will brew their Lipton, Tetley, Luzianne, etc, black tea bags with boiling water. Letting it steep until the temperature cools down.

 

[gearchow]

Are you brewing relative high quality tea? Maybe it will make some difference.

But in the South, where ice tea flows like water, most people will brew their Lipton, Tetley, Luzianne, etc, black tea bags with boiling water. Letting it steep until the temperature cools down.

yep, that would have been my childhood experience with tea and that is exactly how my mom did it. She would add water to dilute it prior to putting it in the frig. We had ice tea with dinner every night.

-jim

 

[RobAtSGH]

Are you brewing relative high quality tea? Maybe it will make some difference.

Well, yes.

The place where I see it making the most difference are oxidized teas that have an assertive aromatic component, especially on the floral side. Chinese red teas and Darjeelings seem to experience the greatest benefit. Assams, Ceylons, Nilgiri... not as much.

I'm not sure it's a function so much of oxygen content as the lower starting temperature driving off fewer volatile aromatics.

I'm not really trying to prove anyone right or wrong, but trying to see if anyone has experienced anything similar. The tea I started off with that inspired the thread didn't show much of a change, and I was just going back in forth in the way of preparing it. When I changed the variety to other types, I thought I could perceive slight differences that were favorable.

I'm definitely still interested in hearing others' opinions/experiences as I continue to experiment.

 

[netsurfr]

I use water at about 205 degrees F. for my black teas.

 

[Talal]

fresh boiled water for black tea..

temprature matters with green and whites, high grade oolong about 95 Centigrade

 

[9 Iron]

For me, 195-200 degrees is the sweet spot.