7 ms·

It definitely will. After a couple years of experimentation and testing I've found anything over ~200F is basically undrinkable. It took me so long to figure th

It definitely will. After a couple years of experimentation and testing I've found anything over ~200F is basically undrinkable. It took me so long to figure this out because there were a lot of confounders -- I drank a lot of tea over the holidays back home, and while my parents' town is on the same water source I swear their florination is different, in a way that changes the mouth feel of the tea. I also had a new faucet installed and the galvanization in the new fixture left a strange aftertaste that took some time to track down. It was so bad that I seriously wonder how people can drink things that come out of Kohler faucets. Finally, I had some new mugs that were also causing problems...turns out the were only fired once? I'm not really sure how to describe it but it was kind of like drinking tea out of a soda can. Anyway, I eventually controlled for all this stuff and about 190F is the sweet spot. It's kind of embarrassing how much of an odyssey this all turned out to be, What works for other HNers?

camgunz 4y ago
I got into green tea around 2014 (my how time flies) and I've had a lot of experiences. Depending on how sensitive you are everything can change the taste, but IMO the big three are: - water (huge, huge differences) - type of tea (cultivar, when/ where it was harvested, steam time) - brew temp and time I eventually settled on a system where I heat filtered water in a regular pot with a meat thermometer to the right temp (this is usually between 155-170F depending on the specific tea), pour over tea into a glass pot (through stainless steel basket), brew from 30-60 seconds (again depending on tea), serve. I also measure the water, and weigh the tea on a scale. It might sound convoluted and compared with like, brewing a kettle and dumping over a bag it is. I mostly drink earl grey now, probably as a result. In the summers it's a lot easier, I just dump tea in a pitcher of water and put it in the fridge overnight. Also, I wholeheartedly recommend o-cha.com for tea and peripherals.
- croo 4y ago
  I read that soft and low mineral water makes the best tea and tried to use water with such values bought from market. It was trash. Tap water where I live is very hard and have a good taste and the tea is much better with it - so my experience contradicts what I found about the topic on the net. Are there any objective parameters of water which makes a better green tea?
  - camgunz 4y ago
    Honestly I'm not sure; I think it has to be down to personal preference. I once had tap water in the Midwest that made delicious tea, conversely NYC's famous water was fine. The variation, plus the bonkers amount of contaminants in tap water led me to get a tank with the "lead plus" or whatever filters. It's definitely more "sterile", but on the theory that lead, PFAS, a slurry of medications and a smattering of other minerals is delicious, I'm fine with that.
sixstringninja 4y ago
Have you considered writing a blog or posting your thoughts about your experience and journey in finding the “perfect” tea brew? I’m sure your thoughts would save many amateurs a lot of frustrations. I, myself, am intrigued how nuanced the process is
gpvos 4y ago
200F = 93.3C, 190F = 87.8C. Really, we're talking about boiling, why would one even consider using Fahrenheit?
- Broken_Hippo 4y ago
  In some places, most of your instruments will likely be in Fahrenheit and Fahrenheit is what you use daily for most tasks. It only makes sense that you use Fahrenheit as your reference point. A home in other places is more likely to have Celcius, and you'll likely use it. It isn't like it is difficult to convert.
  - Shaanie 4y ago
    On the contrary Fahrenheit and Celsius is one of the harder units to convert. Can't just "halve and remove 10%" in your head like you can for pounds. Though I agree with you that you can't expect Americans to use SI units.
    - Broken_Hippo 4y ago
      Most folks reading this will have the internet. It makes conversion easy. If you don't, charts help get most common things converted. Easy.
    - rsfern 4y ago
      The scale factor is 9/5, which is close enough to 2 that the precision is fine for casual conversion (weather report, discussion of boiling tea on the web, …)
      - coffeeling 4y ago
        Definitely not. Say, 86F to C. 86F is 30C, but dividing the F by 2 would give you "43C", which converts to 109F. That is not a trivial difference.
        inimino 4y ago
makeitdouble 4y ago
If we're talking japanese green tea, 50C for a very gentle taste、70~80C for a full taste are the basic directions, same as you'll get recommended by the tea makers themselves (an english site [0]) 190F(85C) requires more timing control and get out the tea after less than a minute, while lower temperatures are more forgiving. [0] https://www.theteamakers.co.uk/blogs/news/japanese-tea-brewing-instructions https://www.theteamakers.co.uk/blogs/news/japanese-tea-brewi...
- theK 4y ago
  Caution is advised here. Teas can vary wildly from producer to producer, fixing methods and even from year to year and the extraction vessels, brewing methods and even the water heating and temp measuring methods play a significant role. Anecdotal evidence: The temps for my daily drinker (a deep steamed sencha) this year are 10°C lower (57) than last year. This is after keeping everything else constant.
ykonstant 4y ago
> Finally, I had some new mugs that were also causing problems...turns out the were only fired once? The mugs were causing problems because they were only fired once? There is supertasting, and then there's this. I am glad I don't have these problems.
cabirum 4y ago
This reads like someone copypasted a post from some audiophile forum, then replaced words to make it tea-themed :) "The basically unlistenable hdmi cable has been only gold-plated once, and the direction of the signal is wrong". Haha, no offence, just made me smile
lr4444lr 4y ago
It's still highly dependent on the specific tea. Definitely 190 I'd say is an absolute ceiling for green, but I have green teas I let nowhere near that - some even 170 max.

camgunz 4y ago

I got into green tea around 2014 (my how time flies) and I've had a lot of experiences. Depending on how sensitive you are everything can change the taste, but IMO the big three are: - water (huge, huge differences) - type of tea (cultivar, when/ where it was harvested, steam time) - brew temp and time I eventually settled on a system where I heat filtered water in a regular pot with a meat thermometer to the right temp (this is usually between 155-170F depending on the specific tea), pour over tea into a glass pot (through stainless steel basket), brew from 30-60 seconds (again depending on tea), serve. I also measure the water, and weigh the tea on a scale. It might sound convoluted and compared with like, brewing a kettle and dumping over a bag it is. I mostly drink earl grey now, probably as a result. In the summers it's a lot easier, I just dump tea in a pitcher of water and put it in the fridge overnight. Also, I wholeheartedly recommend o-cha.com for tea and peripherals.

croo 4y ago
I read that soft and low mineral water makes the best tea and tried to use water with such values bought from market. It was trash. Tap water where I live is very hard and have a good taste and the tea is much better with it - so my experience contradicts what I found about the topic on the net. Are there any objective parameters of water which makes a better green tea?
- camgunz 4y ago
  Honestly I'm not sure; I think it has to be down to personal preference. I once had tap water in the Midwest that made delicious tea, conversely NYC's famous water was fine. The variation, plus the bonkers amount of contaminants in tap water led me to get a tank with the "lead plus" or whatever filters. It's definitely more "sterile", but on the theory that lead, PFAS, a slurry of medications and a smattering of other minerals is delicious, I'm fine with that.

sixstringninja 4y ago

Have you considered writing a blog or posting your thoughts about your experience and journey in finding the “perfect” tea brew? I’m sure your thoughts would save many amateurs a lot of frustrations. I, myself, am intrigued how nuanced the process is

gpvos 4y ago

200F = 93.3C, 190F = 87.8C. Really, we're talking about boiling, why would one even consider using Fahrenheit?

Broken_Hippo 4y ago
In some places, most of your instruments will likely be in Fahrenheit and Fahrenheit is what you use daily for most tasks. It only makes sense that you use Fahrenheit as your reference point. A home in other places is more likely to have Celcius, and you'll likely use it. It isn't like it is difficult to convert.
- Shaanie 4y ago
  On the contrary Fahrenheit and Celsius is one of the harder units to convert. Can't just "halve and remove 10%" in your head like you can for pounds. Though I agree with you that you can't expect Americans to use SI units.
  - Broken_Hippo 4y ago
    Most folks reading this will have the internet. It makes conversion easy. If you don't, charts help get most common things converted. Easy.
  - rsfern 4y ago
    The scale factor is 9/5, which is close enough to 2 that the precision is fine for casual conversion (weather report, discussion of boiling tea on the web, …)
    - coffeeling 4y ago
      Definitely not. Say, 86F to C. 86F is 30C, but dividing the F by 2 would give you "43C", which converts to 109F. That is not a trivial difference.
      - inimino 4y ago

makeitdouble 4y ago

If we're talking japanese green tea, 50C for a very gentle taste、70~80C for a full taste are the basic directions, same as you'll get recommended by the tea makers themselves (an english site [0]) 190F(85C) requires more timing control and get out the tea after less than a minute, while lower temperatures are more forgiving. [0] https://www.theteamakers.co.uk/blogs/news/japanese-tea-brewing-instructions https://www.theteamakers.co.uk/blogs/news/japanese-tea-brewi...

theK 4y ago
Caution is advised here. Teas can vary wildly from producer to producer, fixing methods and even from year to year and the extraction vessels, brewing methods and even the water heating and temp measuring methods play a significant role. Anecdotal evidence: The temps for my daily drinker (a deep steamed sencha) this year are 10°C lower (57) than last year. This is after keeping everything else constant.

ykonstant 4y ago

> Finally, I had some new mugs that were also causing problems...turns out the were only fired once? The mugs were causing problems because they were only fired once? There is supertasting, and then there's this. I am glad I don't have these problems.

cabirum 4y ago

This reads like someone copypasted a post from some audiophile forum, then replaced words to make it tea-themed :) "The basically unlistenable hdmi cable has been only gold-plated once, and the direction of the signal is wrong". Haha, no offence, just made me smile

lr4444lr 4y ago

It's still highly dependent on the specific tea. Definitely 190 I'd say is an absolute ceiling for green, but I have green teas I let nowhere near that - some even 170 max.