To Rinse or Not to Rinse - an alternative

[Herb_Master]

Well so far I had been accustomed to 3 schools of thought
1 Always Rinse
2 Never Rinse or Rinse but drink the Rinse
3 Rinse cheaper and don't rinse Trusted higher quality tea.

Most of the shops I visited in KL rinsed, but at the Evergreen Tea Art Centre on Jalan Sultan I came across an alternative.

The demonstrator [a young man with less english than the 2 females (Manager and Senior Salesperson)] was studiously and meticulously performing the Gong Fu over a square shaped tea-boat. It was only when he started a 3rd new tea, that the Salesgirl was keen for me to try just as she was called to the phone, that I realised he was pouring the top 15% of each first brew in the yixing pot out of the lidless pot into the tea boat before replacing the lid and the rest went into the fair cup.

Our limited conversation reflected that the bubbles were bad and not to be drunk.

I failed to pay attention as to whether when filling the teapot with water his pouring style was different between first and subsequent brews. If with the bubbles we want any impuities to be discarded then this would discount absolutely packing the pot with leaf and doing short infusions, and perhaps a vigorous swirling pour to allow the maximum opportunity for impurities to float?

Now on about my 12th tea at 11:30am I was feeling too giddy to continue so lost the opportunity to make further observations, made some purchases and continued to my next tea shop.

[Victoria]

Holding fast with No 3, sorry.

Drinking the rinse makes no sense.
Then it's not really a rinse.

And there is no way I am discarding 15% of my premium steep.
To each his own I guess.

[Herb_Master]

Holding fast with No 3, sorry.

Drinking the rinse makes no sense.
Then it's not really a rinse.

And there is no way I am discarding 15% of my premium steep.
To each his own I guess.

I am not sure that I was getting the premium stuff, the cans on the shelves that I kept examining were not always demonstrated, it may have been just coincidence but the really expensive ones were not offered.

Maybe it was an alternative to the cheaper end of No 3?

Another name for rinse can be 'wakening the leaves' maybe it is OK to drink the water you have used to waken the leaves

[Victoria]

Whatever you want to tell yourself.

[scruffmcgruff]

I've never understood the fear of those bubbles. Maybe someone could shed some light on that issue?

As for rinsing, I only rinse tea that has been sitting around for, oh, 5-10+ years, but I don't know why. If the issue is dust, I get the feeling that dust would stick *better* to wet leaves than dry, so I don't really buy that argument. Also, I'm not sure if rinsing makes any difference in the safety of the tea; anything that gets killed by boiling rinse water will be killed in a first infusion with boiling water too.

Assuming relatively dry, non-rainforest storage conditions (not talking pu here), the germs most likely to pose a threat to you on your tea leaves are spores, as most of the others just can't get enough nutrition from bone-dry plant matter. The problem? Spores are designed to take a beating, and many can withstand the application of boiling water. These guys are the reason scientists must autoclave instruments and glassware before they are considered sterile.

Come to think of it, can anyone give a good reason for rinsing tea leaves? I could imagine it would help in opening up rolled leaf, but shouldn't a longer first infusion do the trick?

[tjausti]

the only thing I can think of is to remove any pesticides or something like that.

I dont rinse any of my teas.

[Victoria]

I've never understood the fear of those bubbles. Maybe someone could shed some light on that issue?

As for rinsing, I only rinse tea that has been sitting around for, oh, 5-10+ years, but I don't know why. If the issue is dust, I get the feeling that dust would stick *better* to wet leaves than dry, so I don't really buy that argument. Also, I'm not sure if rinsing makes any difference in the safety of the tea; anything that gets killed by boiling rinse water will be killed in a first infusion with boiling water too.

Assuming relatively dry, non-rainforest storage conditions (not talking pu here), the germs most likely to pose a threat to you on your tea leaves are spores, as most of the others just can't get enough nutrition from bone-dry plant matter. The problem? Spores are designed to take a beating, and many can withstand the application of boiling water. These guys are the reason scientists must autoclave instruments and glassware before they are considered sterile.

Come to think of it, can anyone give a good reason for rinsing tea leaves? I could imagine it would help in opening up rolled leaf, but shouldn't a longer first infusion do the trick?

I guess if you are from the school of thought that you don't use boiling water, then you might need a wake up rinse.

Whatever works; whatever you like I say.
I'm just not dumping any of my premium stuff
down the tray.

[scruffmcgruff]

After thinking about it a bit, I suppose washing puerh could be beneficial. If there are microbes hanging out in your tea, it may not be the microbes themselves but their toxic byproducts that are the biggest concern. Washing could (theoretically) help get rid of some of those toxins if they are water-soluble.

[Victoria]

Yeah, not a big puerh drinker here, but I always rinse puerh,
I was just talkin' oolongs.

[tsverrir]

I once heard a Chinese tea master say that the first tea is the worst tea. I agree with him. I find that rinsing will get rid of the most raw taste of the tea, making the first infusion more mellow and flavorful.
I know some of you disagree with me on this, but I stand by always rinse.

[Intuit]

You will have a dashed tough time forming scum in soft water. If the water source is hard, then you should discard the floating material because it can coat the inside the teapot as the level drops and it can mask (inhibit the vapor release) of delicate semi-volatile components released from leaf oils - especially in leaves processed to develop local release and accumulation of these oils.

Could be wrong, but I don't think so, as I have read that sometimes you see scum, sometimes you don't. Has to be rhyme and reason to its formation and presence in concentrated liquor extract, eh?

[sp1key]

much debate about whether to rinse or not.

puerh wise its a general concensus to rinse at least once. Just to rinse off any dust it may have... thats the key and some might add that it'll also 'wake' the tea.