zojirushi and black tea?

[icedtea]

I've been using a four-temperature setting (140, 175, 195, 208) zojirushi to make green teas and oolongs for some time now, and I was wondering if others used it regularly for making black teas.

When I first got it, I played with the temperature settings quite a bit: 175 for most greens, 195 for oolongs, thinking that what was dispensed from the zoji would be exactly that temperature in my cup. Obviously that's not the case, I wasn't preheating my cups and there is heat loss in the air.

Since my set up isn't exactly conducive to pre-heating cups with water for the sake of just pre-heating (not especially near a sink), I usually leave the zojirushi at "208" and dispense into a cold cup, letting the hotter water pseudo-pre-heat the cup, and just wait for the temperature to drop for the tea that I'm brewing.

My concern is getting a water temperature suitable for black teas. It seems that on the 208 keep-warm setting, the water will come out 200 maximum, usually already in the 197-198 range, even into a pre-heated cup.

I've read in some places that black teas shouldn't necessarily need to be brewed at boiling, but a little bit below. I still feel like I've seen some black teas specify a "roaring boil," and calling a temperature under the 200 mark "boiling" doesn't sound right.

So how do you guys go about it?

Does hitting the reboil button before dispensing do the trick, maybe get the dispensed water temperature up near 205? This seems to defeat the purpose of the zoji, needing to reboil for every cup of higher temp tea. Should I get an electric kettle on the side that will let me pour right below true boiling temperature?

Thanks, ~icedtea.

[Cinnamon Kitty]

I make black tea with my zoji sitting at 208*F all the time with no issues. If it tastes good at that temperature, then I don't see any reason to fuss about it. I guess you could always experiment with preheating a cup, boiling water on the stove and testing the difference between black tea made with water from the zoji versus boiling water from the stove and see if the few degrees difference is noticeable in the taste of the tea. Given that taste is subjective, that might be the best way to test it out. Good luck!

[Intuit]

According to the manufacturer product literature, reboil brings the temp to 212 degF. If you want your water hotter than 208 at the dispensing head, you would have to hit 'reboil' after the unit came to temp at 208.

From the spec sheet, Micom Water Boiler and Warmer:
Operating Temperatures
140°F, 175°F, 195°F and 208°F / Reboils to 212°F

You should check the effective temp of the water about 30 sec after dispensing to your cold cup, with a digital thermometer.

An alternative may be to dispense water to heat the cup, then dump the rinsate back into the boiler reservoir, if the cup is clean.

Otherwise, you will need to have a cup handy to hold the rinse water. A large wax coated paper cup should do the trick, because the water will loose heat quickly. You can use it to water the plants.

[Rainy-Day]

2nd keep a large cup nearby to preheat and dump water into. I don't think dumping back into Zoji is a good idea because at that temp there's a lot of steam coming out.. maybe that's ok if you're always careful. I have to add, though, that as much time as I spent trying to get Zoji to make good tasting tea, I never accomplished that, tea from water boiled on gas range tastes so much better to me - I'm always sad to bring this up because otherwise Zoji is a really well crafted gadget.

[geeber1]

My Zoji is set to keep the water at 208 and the tea is always just right. From what I've learned here, you shouldn't reboil your water over and over, it degrades the quality of the water, thus you have bad tea. Truly boiling water is also a bit of a shock on your leaves.
I agree with CK, you might need to do a side-by-side test with your Zoji and a regular tea kettle.

[Intuit]

Maybe you have a defective unit.

[t4texas]

To address the original question: do you dispense a small amount of water before dispensing into your tea pot? The water in the line between the internal boiler and the point it comes out of the machine will be several degrees lower if the machine has not been used in a while.

Also, if you are measuring the water after you have dispensed it into a pot or cup, it will read lower than it is coming out of the machine.

[teacast]

I always feel that steeping it yourself is the best way to go and that there is really no substitute. Zojirushi tea makers are excellent for precision and on-the-go type deal, and if it works, then hey by all means keep using it!

[icedtea]

Thanks for the info everyone.
I'm confident that the temperature reading on the zoji is correct, a thermometer reading of the water reservoir matches the temperature on the LCD readout perfectly.

t4texas, I think you're right. I was probably getting lower temperatures than I expected because I wasn't letting the dispenser warm up a bit by running some water through it into a temp. cup. I'll try that next time.

Thanks, ~icedtea.