Boiling black tea

[petrograd]

Hi everyone!

The method that I have always used for brewing black tea is to heat water to a rolling boil then either pouring over a tea bag or pouring it into a tea pot to brew for about 3-4 minutes.

However, I'm wondering, when you pour water into the tea pot, it definitely does not stay at a rolling boil. It cools down significantly. Would this decrease the quality somehow? Would it be better to brew the tea the entire time while the water is at a rolling boil?

Thank you!

[Chip]

You can preheat the brewing vessel with the boiling water which should sufficiently raise the temp for when you brew black teas.

[petrograd]

You can preheat the brewing vessel with the boiling water which should sufficiently raise the temp for when you brew black teas.

I have been doing that. However, in terms of science, why is a a temperature of 205 Fahrenheit better for brewing black tea. And if it is significant, wouldn't brewing at that consistent temperature yield the best results?

[shardy53]

It probably depends on the tea. I will guaranty you that a darjeeling or Keemun would end up bitter at that temperature for an extended time. I believe that the higher temperature is needed at the beginning to get the leaves to open up. After that a lower temp of 180 would peobably do the job.

Steve

[geeber1]

I wouldn't actually boil any tea leaves except for a CTC in a Chai mixture, which is meant to be boiled.

I think that most blacks are pretty forgiving and the small drop in temperature from rolling boil to your teapot aren't enough the end product.

[petrograd]

Perhaps you guys are right that it wouldn't make that much of a difference. I would really be curious for a scientific explanation.

I brewed Black Dragon Pearl like that and it turned out to be excellent. However, I don't have the expertise to really tell apart a tea that has been boiled and one that has not.

[scruffmcgruff]

I don't think there is any magic temperature that is deemed by the gods or science to be "best" for black tea (it is entirely subjective, after all); it's just that a lot of heat is needed to extract flavors from highly processed black teas, so near-boiling water works very well. It isn't a problem per se that the water temperature drops significantly upon contact with the teapot; it's simply unavoidable unless you take extremely sophisticated and impractical measures to keep the infusing tea at a near-boiling temperature without it actually boiling.

Even so, people have been producing tea with this limitation in mind for hundreds if not thousands of years, so the temperature drop may even be needed to "best" (don't forget, tastes do vary between people and cultures) brew these teas.

That's about as scientific as it gets, I'm sorry to say.

You could certainly try to boil tea while it is brewing, but then you would probably end up stewing/cooking instead of just infusing, and there is a reason that tea leaves aren't generally used in high-heat liquid cooking (yuck). It might work if you kept the steep times short enough, though.

[petrograd]

I don't think there is any magic temperature that is deemed by the gods or science to be "best" for black tea (it is entirely subjective, after all); it's just that a lot of heat is needed to extract flavors from highly processed black teas, so near-boiling water works very well. It isn't a problem per se that the water temperature drops significantly upon contact with the teapot; it's simply unavoidable unless you take extremely sophisticated and impractical measures to keep the infusing tea at a near-boiling temperature without it actually boiling.

Even so, people have been producing tea with this limitation in mind for hundreds if not thousands of years, so the temperature drop may even be needed to "best" (don't forget, tastes do vary between people and cultures) brew these teas.

That's about as scientific as it gets, I'm sorry to say.

You could certainly try to boil tea while it is brewing, but then you would probably end up stewing/cooking instead of just infusing, and there is a reason that tea leaves aren't generally used in high-heat liquid cooking (yuck). It might work if you kept the steep times short enough, though.

Thanks for the advice. I agree with you that in terms of practicality and "cost/benefit", I shouldn't fuss over a few degrees. I guess, it's just something that I would like to know for my own personal knowledge. I've actually boiled my black tea leaves for about 3 minutes and the tea was great (in my opinion).

Kinda leads me into my other question....what's the point of using an iron tea kettle? Just use a Breville and pour into a glass tea pot or something.... or should i start a new thread?

[scruffmcgruff]

Thanks for the advice. I agree with you that in terms of practicality and "cost/benefit", I shouldn't fuss over a few degrees. I guess, it's just something that I would like to know for my own personal knowledge. I've actually boiled my black tea leaves for about 3 minutes and the tea was great (in my opinion).

There's nothing wrong with curiosity. Taste is very subjective, so if you prefer tea that way, don't let anyone stop you. The Tibetans make their tea by boiling black brick tea along with rancid yak butter, so in comparison boiling red* tea is relatively tame.

(*What we call black tea, the Chinese call red tea. What the Chinese call black tea is an entirely different beast similar to cooked puerh.)

Kinda leads me into my other question....what's the point of using an iron tea kettle? Just use a Breville and pour into a glass tea pot or something.... or should i start a new thread?

Eh, you should probably start another thread (or, preferably, do a search on TeaChat to see if your questions have been answered before) if you have more teaware questions, but I'll try to answer these here.

The iron kettle thing is really complicated and doesn't really play a practical role in most American tea enthusiasts' routines. They are mostly used in Japanese and Chinese ceremonies or by other individuals who believe the construction of the kettle affects taste. While I haven't experienced this myself, I don't doubt it.

People also use silver kettles, ceramic kettles, glass kettles, etc. All are reputed to have different properties, but you really have to be on top of your game to taste the difference IMO.

Different teapot construction is a different issue. Glass teapots are usually very thin, otherwise you wouldn't be able to see through them very well. This means that they give off heat more quickly, which means they aren't ideal for black/red teas that require lots of heat to brew well. Other kinds of teapots brew hotter, retain heat differently, etc.

[stanthegoomba]

Higher temperatures extract catechins—the flavonoids that make tea astringent—while lower temperatures extract mostly theanine, which is sweet. Green tea has high amounts of both, so even small changes in temperature make a huge difference in the taste of the final brew. Oxidized tea leaves lose much of their catechin content during processing which is why they are safe to brew in hotter water (but not too much hotter) without becoming too astringent.

http://www.relaxsipenjoy.com/catechins_ ... owers.aspx

[scruffmcgruff]

Stan, I would like to see some real data supporting your claims about different temperatures and compound extraction. One major flaw in your argument is that very low-oxidation oolongs, like baozhong, brew very nicely (even best, according to many) in boiling water.

[petrograd]

Thanks everyone!