Brewing Technique

[TaiFong]

I just recently got back from a trip to Taiwan. Happen to meet and talk with a couple of owners of tea fields and shops. Happen to drink lots of pu-erh when I was there(Taiwan being an odd place for pu-erh, but the tea was not grown or made in Taiwan of course).

Anyway I was told by a few of these "pros" that you should put the tea in a stainless pot onto a stove/burner to make the tea and boil it for several minutes to kill the bacteria? The length of the boil depends on who I talked to. One said one minute and it ranged to others saying 3-5 minutes. Had four of these older gentleman tell me this and being in the tea industry so long it is hard not to at least look into what they said furthur.

I have not been able to find to much about this topic , hence why I am asking for peoples opinions? I have been drinking pu-erh for years and always wondered a bit about the bacteria in the cake being used for the aging purpose or for the change in tastes when consuming.

Thanks in advance

[mr mopu]

I think a 5 second "rinse" with boiling water would take care of any issues. This has worked for me in the three years I have been drinking puerh. If it is very old or shou I may go a quick second rinse but that is only once in a while.

[entropyembrace]

A 5 second rinse won't come close to killing all of the bacteria...a 5 minute boiling is better but that's still not sterile either.

but then why are you trying to kill all the bacteria in your tea anyway? they're not going to harm you and could very well be good for you.

[mr mopu]

A 5 second rinse won't come close to killing all of the bacteria...a 5 minute boiling is better but that's still not sterile either.

but then why are you trying to kill all the bacteria in your tea anyway? they're not going to harm you and could very well be good for you.

+1

[AT333]

A 5 second rinse won't come close to killing all of the bacteria...a 5 minute boiling is better but that's still not sterile either.

but then why are you trying to kill all the bacteria in your tea anyway? they're not going to harm you and could very well be good for you.

+1

+1

If you kill the bacteria you will kill the tea too with that amount of boiling

[debunix]

To sterilize bacterial culture media (a clear liquid, with no clumps, quite a different prospect than a 'soup' of compressed dried leaves slowly expanding as the absorb water), it takes 20 minutes at 15 lbs pressure. To safely can a vegetable soup (utterly sterilize it, killing even the botulinum spores) takes an hour plus at 15 lbs pressure.

I think you're going to kill most of what you want to kill with the first boiling water rinse, and you're not going to kill the stuff that survives that until conditions get rather extreme as above.

[TaiFong]

Thanks for the replies

Yeah I also though it to be a bit odd to boil the tea as they suggested. Might kill the taste I thought. A couple of them gave samples though and the tea was quite good. Tried a fair bit of pu-erh in the years I have been drinking it

[steanze]

Also I don't know if boiling would get rid of mycotoxins, which might be more of a concern for pu erh than bacteria...

[wymmtea]

This is the first time i heard this too. In the past, chinese villagers use to drink tea as a means to 'purify' the water they consume, so i dont think boiling it is necessary. Furthermore, i think the bigger problem nowadays is the abundant use of fertilizers, growth hormones used in many kinds of plantation type teas which probably would have an indirect impact on the consumer.