Water temperature for young raw pu erh

One of the intentionally aged teas, Pu-Erh has a loyal following.


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Jun 4th, '11, 15:01
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Water temperature for young raw pu erh

by Eludes1 » Jun 4th, '11, 15:01

Hello community,

recently I had a talk with my friend about water temperature when brewing young raw pu erh in yixing teapot. He always uses boiling or very hot water (95-100°). His tea was bitter and strong and I didn’t find it tasty. It left bad aftertaste. But he said to me, that he uses boiling water for various raw pu erhs and that i tis fine, although first to fifth infusions are a little bitter, then the bitterness is gone. Then I tried to use colder water. I boiled it and let it cool down for 5 minutes. The tea was better. The water could have 80-85°.

I looked around this site and other sites about tea and found various opinions. Some say, that I should use water with the same temperature as using for green teas and some say to use boiling water. Does it vary? What makes the difference? What temperature water do you suggest to use and why?

Thank you for your answers :)

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Jun 4th, '11, 15:21
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Re: Water temperature for young raw pu erh

by wyardley » Jun 4th, '11, 15:21

Part of it depends on the quality of the tea, as well as whether you want to stress the tea to determine its quality, or are going for the most tasty drink right now. Also depends on personal taste, and it's just a bit of a religious debate. I don't think you're going to get an authoritative answer - do what works for you.

I use boiling or very close to boiling water. I also don't drink young sheng that often, and when I do, it's mostly in the context of determining if I want to buy it.

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