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This is absolutely incorrect. The best thing you can do to enhance your tea-drinking experience is to buy good tea, and good tea is invariably brewed off the bo

This is absolutely incorrect. The best thing you can do to enhance your tea-drinking experience is to buy good tea, and good tea is invariably brewed off the boil, usually somewhere between 170-200F, depending on the tea.[0] Higher temperatures will extract too much tannin at the expense of aromatics. The British generally drink shit tea and then add milk to it, which is why they can get away with brewing it at 212F. Remember that the British experience with tea dates back only to the 17th century, whereas the Chinese and Japanese have had much longer to refine the growing, processing, and drinking of tea. [0]: http://www.itoen.com/preparing-tea http://www.itoen.com/preparing-tea

gregn 11y ago
This is correct. Boiling water scalds the tea giving it a burnt-out taste. Of course this depends on the tea. I find it less true for black tea such as Darjeeling (my personal favorite), but for green tea it is absolutely imperative or lest the liquid produced be undrinkable. All this talk about boiling water must have to do with the pathetic quality of the tea being used, like hotness masks the flavor of inferior saki.
an_ko 11y ago
Converting the mentioned temperatures to Celsius: 170–200°F = 76.6–93.3°C 212°F = 100°C
blacksmith_tb 11y ago
Well said, though it might be more generous to say that using guidelines like the Itoen ones are a good jumping-off point, but that ideally everyone should experiment with temp, time, and tea quality to make something they like to drink. For example, it's common in China today for people to drink green tea that's been steeping for long periods of time in travel cups with a strainer in the lid - steeping indefinitely (aka 'stewing') is supposedly against the rules (but lack of the time to use a teapot has changed the rules).
antognini 11y ago
I have seen a variety of opinions on whether to use water just off the boil, or slightly cooler water to brew tea. The Royal Society of Chemistry released a guide to make the perfect cup of tea: http://www.academiaobscura.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/RSC-tea-guidelines.pdf http://www.academiaobscura.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/RS... They recommend using boiling water as well. Harold McGee's Keys to Good Cooking recommends water just off the boil for black tea, but cooler water for oolong and green teas.
jarvist 11y ago
The guide explicitly says to use Earl Grey, which is a bergamot oil infused Assam. Both of these loose-leafed teas, as well as typical British loose-leaf blends such as English Breakfast, are brewed at 100 C, and taste awful (bitter and slightly mealy in the mouth) when brewed at a lower temperature. A cheap blended tea such as you'd find in a tea bag of PG Tips are much better at brewing (in seconds!) from non-boiling water.
- peterwwillis 11y ago
  Ahmad English No. 1 loose leaf, when brewed at 208-210 F, steeped for about 5 minutes, tastes lovely with nothing added. It's not astringent or bitter and has a clean full taste, with a hint of bergamot. For a blend I think it's lovely, and it's my go-to everyday black tea. Also, the OP was incorrect; there are no tannins in tea. Bitter & astringent flavors in tea are caused by a different group of polyphenols (primarily catechins in green teas and theaflavins/thearubigens in black). Polyphenols bind with salivary proteins that reduce salivary lubrication. Since both temperature and steep time determine what gets extracted from the tea and how much, it's important to get both right to get the flavor right.
vacri 11y ago
"only 300 years experience". Such pretension. And particularly on HN, it is odd that the 'plucky newcomer' is considered worse in quality by simple years-of-seniority. Isn't this site all about how the plucky newcomers come in and show the old dogs new tricks?

gregn 11y ago

This is correct. Boiling water scalds the tea giving it a burnt-out taste. Of course this depends on the tea. I find it less true for black tea such as Darjeeling (my personal favorite), but for green tea it is absolutely imperative or lest the liquid produced be undrinkable. All this talk about boiling water must have to do with the pathetic quality of the tea being used, like hotness masks the flavor of inferior saki.

an_ko 11y ago

Converting the mentioned temperatures to Celsius: 170–200°F = 76.6–93.3°C 212°F = 100°C

blacksmith_tb 11y ago

Well said, though it might be more generous to say that using guidelines like the Itoen ones are a good jumping-off point, but that ideally everyone should experiment with temp, time, and tea quality to make something they like to drink. For example, it's common in China today for people to drink green tea that's been steeping for long periods of time in travel cups with a strainer in the lid - steeping indefinitely (aka 'stewing') is supposedly against the rules (but lack of the time to use a teapot has changed the rules).

antognini 11y ago

I have seen a variety of opinions on whether to use water just off the boil, or slightly cooler water to brew tea. The Royal Society of Chemistry released a guide to make the perfect cup of tea: http://www.academiaobscura.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/RSC-tea-guidelines.pdf http://www.academiaobscura.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/RS... They recommend using boiling water as well. Harold McGee's Keys to Good Cooking recommends water just off the boil for black tea, but cooler water for oolong and green teas.

jarvist 11y ago

The guide explicitly says to use Earl Grey, which is a bergamot oil infused Assam. Both of these loose-leafed teas, as well as typical British loose-leaf blends such as English Breakfast, are brewed at 100 C, and taste awful (bitter and slightly mealy in the mouth) when brewed at a lower temperature. A cheap blended tea such as you'd find in a tea bag of PG Tips are much better at brewing (in seconds!) from non-boiling water.

peterwwillis 11y ago
Ahmad English No. 1 loose leaf, when brewed at 208-210 F, steeped for about 5 minutes, tastes lovely with nothing added. It's not astringent or bitter and has a clean full taste, with a hint of bergamot. For a blend I think it's lovely, and it's my go-to everyday black tea. Also, the OP was incorrect; there are no tannins in tea. Bitter & astringent flavors in tea are caused by a different group of polyphenols (primarily catechins in green teas and theaflavins/thearubigens in black). Polyphenols bind with salivary proteins that reduce salivary lubrication. Since both temperature and steep time determine what gets extracted from the tea and how much, it's important to get both right to get the flavor right.

vacri 11y ago

"only 300 years experience". Such pretension. And particularly on HN, it is odd that the 'plucky newcomer' is considered worse in quality by simple years-of-seniority. Isn't this site all about how the plucky newcomers come in and show the old dogs new tricks?