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Say a black tea should be brewed at 212 degrees for 4 minutes. Is it necessary to maintain that temperature for the entire 4 minutes?

I noticed my auto tea pot begins at 212, but, doesn't maintain that temperature. It may fall to 195 at the end of the cycle.

i can see where it may be insignificant to a black tea, but, what about a green tea that starts out at a lower temperature?

You're lucky u can even brew it that high; living at altitude here water gets no hotter than 201F...i wonder if im even able to experience the full flavor of blacks and some oolongs

No, you pour water in at temp and it will naturally go down.

You can reduce this a bit by preheating the pot with boiling water. Then instead of pouring the hot water away, pour it into the cup(s) to preheat them.

BTW, I moved this topic here from TeaClass. It should get better response here.

I've experimented with a beverage thermometer, and even preheating a pot or mug, it's impossible to get the temperature to actually stay at the boiling point. The only way to do this is to actually throw leaves into a pot on a heat source like a stove, while the water is at a rolling boil. Some cultures do this, but it's usually not the best way to brew tea, because a lot of the aromas are lost to the air.

But this doesn't really matter. When people say to use boiling water, they don't mean that it has to be exactly at boiling during brewing, just to heat it actually to the boiling point. In some cases, with more sensitive teas, and especially if you're in a cold room and using a brewing vessel that holds (and thus absorbs) a lot of heat, pre-heating can be important, and can result in better flavor.

I've even noticed dramatic differences with Lipton's plain black tea in tea bags...I think it tastes a lot better when you pre-heat the brewing vessel and use water taken. That said, it's still not my favorite tea. =) But I do notice it comes out better when you pre-heat and use very hot water to brew.

Experiment though. You'll find that pre-heating matters for some teas and not for others, for some brewing vessels more than others, and probably find it matters most when the room is cold. And you may find that you prefer to use slightly cooler temperature for some black teas (I often hear this about Darjeeling first flush, although I usually don't agree personally). And you may find that your results or preferences aren't the same as other people's, because brewing is a matter of personal taste.

Enjoy!