Do you follow brewing time suggestions for loose-leaf tea?
Posted: Sat Oct 14, 2006 1:57 pm
When brewing loose-leaf tea, do you follow the brewing time suggestions often indicated on the packages, if you haven't bought them in bulk?
Ever since giving up coffee in January, I have experienced a number of unanticipated side-benefits - one of which, surprisingly, was the switch to drinking exclusively loose-leaf teas. No more bagged tea dust for me. Now, it's either white, green or the occasional Oolong, but always loose-leaf.
Anyway, many of these teas come with steeping/brewing time indicated in minutes; generally the darker teas are given a time from 6-7 minutes while the greens supposedly are to get as little as 2-3 minutes.
Frankly, I have to say that I never follow these directives, preferring instead to keep the leaves in my tea cup for the full duration - right down to the last drop. I also use boiling water for white and green teas instead of "almost boiling", which is what seems to be a frequent recommendation. I find I get more astringency and flavour by leaving the leaves (bel-leave me, that was a totally unintended pun) in the cup, effectively cranking up the "brewing time" considerably.
Thoughts?
Ever since giving up coffee in January, I have experienced a number of unanticipated side-benefits - one of which, surprisingly, was the switch to drinking exclusively loose-leaf teas. No more bagged tea dust for me. Now, it's either white, green or the occasional Oolong, but always loose-leaf.
Anyway, many of these teas come with steeping/brewing time indicated in minutes; generally the darker teas are given a time from 6-7 minutes while the greens supposedly are to get as little as 2-3 minutes.
Frankly, I have to say that I never follow these directives, preferring instead to keep the leaves in my tea cup for the full duration - right down to the last drop. I also use boiling water for white and green teas instead of "almost boiling", which is what seems to be a frequent recommendation. I find I get more astringency and flavour by leaving the leaves (bel-leave me, that was a totally unintended pun) in the cup, effectively cranking up the "brewing time" considerably.
Thoughts?