1: Green Tea Brewing Tips:
Green tea, both Chinese and Japanese, should be brewed at a slightly lower temperature than black and other teas. The water for green tea should only be heated to about 180 F, or 82 C. This lower temperature will allow the delicate flavours and aromas to be steeped out without being burnt.
Use a kitchen thermometer to check your kettle, and soon you will get accustomed to the sound your kettle makes when the water reaches your desired temperature. It is helpful if your kettle is transparent or translucent, otherwise try boiling some water in a small pot. When the first tiny bubbles just begin to rise in the pot, the water will be just over 180 F. Green tea and white tea should both be brewed at the lower temperature of 180 F, or 82 C. Oolong tea should be brewed slightly hotter, about 200 F, or 93 C. Black tea, pu-errh tea and other fully oxidized teas should be brewed at a full boil to fully extract their flavour and essence.
Always use water that tastes good to you when brewing tea, beer, wine, mead, or anything else, though this may seem obvious. Bad tasting water doesn’t get better by boiling. Tap water may contain metals and possibly flouride, both of which will give your tea a strong metallic or chemical nose and aftertaste. Use a charcoal filter system, or try a good spring water. Reverse-osmosis water has all natural salts removed, and tastes flat.
If you are purchasing green tea in a coffee shop, let the water cool significantly before steeping. The hot water tap on European espresso machines superheats the water to such an extent that even black tea will taste burned. These extremely high temperatures make excellent espresso and coffee, but will kill your tea. Perhaps this is why coffee drinkers are unaware of the exquisite flavours available to us that know.
When brewing green tea use a method that will allow room for the leaves to swell and expand. If using a tea ball, only fill it one-third full to allow the water to swirl around and wash the magic into your cup. Rinse the leaves gently to avoid bruising the green tea leaves. Wringing out a teabag, especially with oxidized black and pu-errh teas, will extract the natural tannic acids from the leaves, which are unnecessarily bitter.
Green tea can be steeped anywhere from 45 seconds to five minutes. Any added herbs need longer to release their essense. Black and oxidized teas need at least three minutes covered steeping time to release the full complexities of flavour. Green tea can be steeped a second or third time, each successive washing will reveal new aroma and tastes to delight you.
Tea can also be decaffeinated by steeping for 45 seconds, discarding the liquor, and steeping the same leaves again. Up to 95% of the caffeine should be extracted in the first washing. With this method you can also enjoy green tea and other teas late into the evening, without fear of insomnia.
In conclusion, use good tasting water, watch the temperature, boil using only heat, allow room for the tea leaves to expand, and above all, enjoy often!
