Bitter Taste?

[Xerxes]

Hello All!

I'm very new to tea, but have been recently engulfed in nothing but. Within a month I went from a multi-cup black coffee drinker to a switch to tea bags (more so for the health reasons) to now having 40 plus samples of loose leaves in my collection! I very much enjoy my new hobby of trying new types and blends. I'll even drink bad tea, just so I can familiar myself with the taste - this makes the great tasting teas taste even better!

Enough with the intro, here's my question. Can someone explain the bitter taste I read about due to long seep times? Does bitter just mean a stronger cup of tea? The question actually evolves from experimenting with seep times. Temperature aside, does seep time do nothing but make the cup stronger or does it really give a sort of "bitter" taste?

In the end, I'm just experimenting with brewing and if I could better understand what brewing times actually are doing to the leaves (and if you want to throw in temp, it wouldn't hurt) - more so of a "why" or a "what happens" at certain brew times/temps, it would really help!

Thanks everyone!

[hop_goblin]

Hello All!

I'm very new to tea, but have been recently engulfed in nothing but. Within a month I went from a multi-cup black coffee drinker to a switch to tea bags (more so for the health reasons) to now having 40 plus samples of loose leaves in my collection! I very much enjoy my new hobby of trying new types and blends. I'll even drink bad tea, just so I can familiar myself with the taste - this makes the great tasting teas taste even better!

Enough with the intro, here's my question. Can someone explain the bitter taste I read about due to long seep times? Does bitter just mean a stronger cup of tea? The question actually evolves from experimenting with seep times. Temperature aside, does seep time do nothing but make the cup stronger or does it really give a sort of "bitter" taste?

In the end, I'm just experimenting with brewing and if I could better understand what brewing times actually are doing to the leaves (and if you want to throw in temp, it wouldn't hurt) - more so of a "why" or a "what happens" at certain brew times/temps, it would really help!

Thanks everyone!

Bitter tea generally means you are over steaping. Try lowering the length of time. Bitterness typically is a result of tannins which are released after a few min. Generally if you are brewing Euro style try brewing no more than 3 to 4min.

[Xerxes]

So what of steaping the leave more than once? If the tannis are released after only a few minutes does that mean your next steap will always be bitter?

Thanks!

[Salsero]

Welcome, Xerxes.

Tea gets astringent if you steep it too long in one infusion. For some reason, subsequent infusions start the clock over again! Sometimes it works well to use a lot of leaf in the first infusion, keep the time short, then increase the time gradually in subsequent infusions.

In fact, this formula (much leaf, short time, many infusions) is the basis of gong fu style brewing.

Though the terms are very often used interchangeably I usually think of that awful feel from oversteeped tea as astringency rather than bitterness. Everyone knows what you mean when you say a tea is bitter, but bitter is actually a taste, whereas astringent is a feeling. "Astringency" is a drying, puckering mouthfeel, sometimes described as "sandpapery." Red wines often have high astringency. In moderate amounts, astringency can be pleasant in tea; in large amounts, it can make it undrinkable, like if you oversteep or in some very young sheng puerhs. I often refer to excess astringency as roughness on the mouth or throat.

BITTER: tonic water, unsweetened chocolate, beer, olives, citrus peel, coffee

ASTRINGENT: the dry, puckering mouth feel, sandpapery feel, green banana peel, persimmon, red wine, concord grapes

[sheila77551]

Welcome Xerxes.
Thank you Salero for the clarification. I too learned from your definition and I greatly appreciate the information.

[olivierco]

Welcome!

[Trey Winston]

Welcome

[Chip]

Welcome to TeaChat. I hope you will stop by TeaDay and share what is in your cup. Don't be a stranger!

[Xerxes]

Thanks for the welcome everyone! And thanks very much, Salsero!

Not sure if I should start a new thread, but I was also wondering how long does everyone wait for subsequent infusions?

Thanks again!

[Salsero]

I do a subsequent infusion after drinking the previous one. With most tea I will go three to five infusions, with five being most common. I think Chip does all of his infusions immediately while the leaves are still hot, but best let him speak for himself ... especially since I still find that one hard to believe.

If I am brewing a Dan Cong or Puerh that has more than five infusions to give, I will sometimes put the pot/gaiwan in the fridge over night and proceed the next day.

[JasonC]

Great question Xerxes! Welcome to Tea Chat!

[Beidao]

Välkommen!

[Eugene]

There are different teas and they do not require the same preparation techniques. You have to know what type of tea you are preparing, the exact method for the type you are using. The tea becomes bitter if you over steep it, in order for your tea to taste right take care of the time. For herbal tea takes only 6–7 minutes using freshly boiled water.

[Intuit]

Tea processing changes leaf cell wall structure, making it porous. The first steps bruise leaves to cause release of oils and degradative enzymes. Additional steps, cause oxygen to be added (oxidation) when heat is applied. This changes plant cell structures related to flavor and aroma, including chlorophylls, polyphenols and flavenols, oxidizing them, making them more water soluble. Additional processing steps (oolongs and black teas) cause these structures to cross-react at the points where oxygen was added, forming new and larger compounds that add complexity to flavor and aroma and also decrease volatility, prolonging flavor release at the expense of aroma. Final steps dessicate leaves, making them less prone to lose these flavor and aroma compounds and stabilizing the leaf against microbial and natural oxidative decay, to give the final tea product 'shelf life' of 6 months to 2 years.

The more porous the leaf (oxidation and fermentation steps), the faster the flavor components leak out. Tea preparation techniques differ, to take advantage of chemistry dictated by the tea type, variety, and processing steps used.

For a black tea, bitterness and astringency - two different flavor characteristics, are determined by compounds that leach out sequentially over the step duration:

Caffeine and related stimulants - Bitter (also called briskness)
Theaflavins (secondary reactions) - Astringent
Thearubigin (ditto) - Ashy and slight astringent
Polyphenols - Astringent

The sweet compounds are related to cell wall sugars, amino acids, and semi-volatile oils that are also classed as 'fruity' and 'floral'.

The sugars elute first, if they haven't been heavily oxidized (black vs green teas), then amino acids are released (ditto on the oxidation), then the sweet oils are released, sometimes observed as a sweet 'finish'.

Overbrewing/steeping causes excessive release of astringent components, while heavily processed teas with highly porous leaves and varietals with naturally higher caffeine levels, will have an early release of bitterness.

The bitter quality can be removed by a short 'wash' step, of 20-30 seconds, before brewing leaves - decaffeination.

[tsverrir]

Thanks Intuit. I will print that out and hang on my wall. Very informative.