Does a greener Oolong require lower temperature water?

[ndw76]

I have a dark Oolong tea that I have been sipping today. I had a look at the leaves and I noticed that when the leaves were dry they were very dark. But once the tea had been brewed the leaves were rather green.

So I wanted to know, before I experiment myself, do greener Oolong teas require lower temperature water than darker Oolong teas?

[Victoria]

You are going to get two answers on this. So the best way is to brew and try for yourself the way you think they come out best. I brew hot.

[debunix]

I brew most of my teas a little cooler than most people, because I hate bitterness, and do generally brew my lightly oxidized green oolongs 5-15 degrees cooler than the dark ones.

[edkrueger]

If your green oolongs don't suck, they won't get bitter with hot water.

[Chip]

A highly debated subject! I tend to go lighter and lower because this is how I like the tea. Funny, a similar debate under White tea, and there again, I fall to the light side.

Therefore, I think it comes down to personal tastes ... and the actual selection.

Brew how you like, like how you brew!

[entropyembrace]

Any good Oolong tea can handle boiling water even the greenest ones...but if you prefer a very light cup of tea you can use slightly cooler water.

Personally I brew to get maximum saturation of flavour in the water

[Victoria]

Well said Entro.

[Geekgirl]

When I started drinking greener oolongs, I lowered the temperature. But after having been to many tea tastings where they were brewing with boiling temps, and having really excellent tea, I now brew ALL my oolongs at the boiling point. I'm just very careful to watch the steep times.

[tingjunkie]

I agree with full boil all the way, but I'd like to add that I think the right brewing vessel is very important for greener oolongs. Thin Yixing or Taiwanese pots, or a thin gaiwan is my preference. If the vessel is too thick, it will hold too much heat, and make it easy to stew the leaves.

[debunix]

A lot of the controversy here, I suspect, comes down to sensitivity to bitterness. If you're not very sensitive to it, it takes a lot to bother you; if you are very sensitive to it, it takes just a little. Boiling water does bring out all the flavors more intensely, and even my nicest mellowest oolongs--dark or light roasted--have enough there to bother me if I hit them with boiling water.

[Tead Off]

When I started drinking greener oolongs, I lowered the temperature. But after having been to many tea tastings where they were brewing with boiling temps, and having really excellent tea, I now brew ALL my oolongs at the boiling point. I'm just very careful to watch the steep times.

Leaf amount is also an important factor in how long to brew. I am an air head. I tend to brew with less leaf to allow them to open in the teapot. I like them to breathe and blossom. Visuals are part of my game. Often, I start the brews with very quick steeps. So many ways to brew Taiwan gaoshans. Deep wai (bow) to the Taiwanese.

[teaisme]

when it comes to greener balled high mt. oolongs I tend to go for hot too

I don't usually use boiling water for boazongs though

Like others have said, as long as your pot isn't incredibly thick the good ones will do just fine with water boiling or just under boiling

[brad4419]

Great topic, I hadn't thought of this much until now but I tend to brew green oolongs at just boiling and for roasted I let the water boil a little longer before brewing.

[steanze]

Interesting... I just tried both ways with some Alishan green oolong. For now, I slightly perfer to brew at 190 fahrenheit and keep the steeping time a bit longer. Brewing with water at 208 fahrenheit is also good but I feel that the bitterness, despite being little and totally bearable, slightly covers other flavors of the tea.
Though I must say that I am using a glass gaiwan, and possibly a Yixing pot would absorb some of that bitterness.

[tingjunkie]

Good timing... Our member TIM just made an excellent step by step blog about this topic.