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by stryan
1697 days ago
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Okay, I'm familiar with measuring temperature by the eyes and I get your point (which essentially seems to be the same as traditional guidance i.e. don't steep the tea in boiling water. You're just accounting for the variance in temperature from boiling and pouring) but I'm not sure I follow how this means merchants are trying to sell you bad tea. Plus there doesn't account for other green teas that aren't poured in accordance with Chinese tea ceremony, such as the Nepalese green I had earlier today. |
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Yes, the general idea is to adjust your boil and pour method for the type of tea you're brewing, but that is true for all tea. Water will lose the same heat under the same conditions whether you're brewing oolong or green tea.
To summarize the points addressed here:
- High-end Chinese green tea can be brewed with "boiling water" just as oolong or black tea can; the adjustments are within the range used for other classes of tea.
- Merchants recommending cooler water for green tea do so to reduce the astringency and/or grassy flavor found in lower quality tea.
- Nepal does not have a historical tea tradition and the cultivation of Nepalese green tea is a modern development. Nepal inherited its tea habits from India whom had it imposed on them by the British who stole the seeds from China. While Nepal produces good tea on par with Darjeeling, it does not compare to the highest end Chinese green teas, which are an order of magnitude more expensive, if not more.