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Will boiling water ruin green tea?

myjapanesegreentea.com

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Re: Will boiling water ruin green tea?

#51

Post by elif »

olivermarks wrote: post #43
dima55 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you actually drink not-bottom-of-the-barrel sencha? If not, your experience is not applicable, respectfully. With even middle-of-the-road sencha the difference is far from subtle.

I always thought Sencha was different to green tea, steamed leaves, more subtle?

"green tea" is an English term which essentializes Asamushi, Chumushi, and Fukamushi versions of Sencha, Gyokuro, Matcha, Bancha, Genmaicha, Hojicha, Kukicha, Shincha, Tamaryokucha, Kamairicha, Konacha, Mecha, Guricha, Hentaigama, Batabatacha, Wakocha, Karigane, Tencha, Aracha, Yanagi, not to mention the regional specializations.

Re: Will boiling water ruin green tea?

#52

Post by mint2 »

zokier wrote: post #13
taraparo wrote: post #8

the german tea expert Ernst Janssen recommends to also use boiling water to prepare green tea as most of the teas are contaminated with germs and other things. different green tea brands including organic tea brands were tested by the renowned German test.de magazine and they confirmed that, also most of organic teas are contaminated. and since this is nothing you can easily check at home, better use boiling water. h…

That seems paranoid considering that I have never heard anyone getting food poisoning from tea, no matter how it was brewed. edit: Reading the linked article, it seems mostly concerned about contaminants and not germs. Intuitively thinking, I'd imagine higher temps would end up extracting more of those from leaves to the drink than lower temps?

Yes this doesn’t really make sense unless it would denature any toxins which doesn’t seem that likely and will do nothing for any pesticide or heavy metal contamination except possibly extract more.

Re: Will boiling water ruin green tea?

#53

Post by hot_gril »

olivermarks wrote: post #34

I drink ridiculous amounts of English Breakfast tea with 1% milk every day. The water HAS to be boiling when it hits the tea. You cn really tell the difference if the water is less than boiling. Same but more subtle with green tea imo

I agree for black tea, but for green it becomes overly bitter if I use boiling water.

Re: Will boiling water ruin green tea?

#54

Post by ceejayoz »

Vecr wrote: post #39
stametseater wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All foodstuffs are contaminated with germs, unless you go to extraordinary effort to prevent it (e.g. intense gamma radiation.) Unless there is some particular reason to care (you're a hospital feeding people who had their bone marrow nuked by cancer/chemo), then the correct solution is to stop caring. Who ever heard of people dropping dead because they brewed their tea with sub-boiling water? This isn't happening, i…

Do they really use gamma, or just electron beams like in a TV tube?

Gamma rays are definitely used.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_irradiation

Re: Will boiling water ruin green tea?

#55

Post by hot_gril »

> A common myth regarding green tea is that it shouldn’t be prepared with boiling water. This is absolutely false[...]

Seems to contradict the rest of the article...

> So the best way to prepare gyokuro, a green tea with a high amino acid content, is with lukewarm or even cold water.

> Sencha can be prepared with hot water for best results. Using boiling water would make it too bitter and astringent.

> Lower grade teas like bancha, genmaicha and houjicha, have a light taste and don’t have much amino acids anyway. Thus, they can be prepared with boiling water.

I guess it's saying that this isn't always true, but the headline would probably mislead people into ruining high-end tea with boiling water. And I don't see any upside to using it for low-end green tea.

Re: Will boiling water ruin green tea?

#56

Post by throwaway09223 »

taraparo wrote: post #8

the german tea expert Ernst Janssen recommends to also use boiling water to prepare green tea as most of the teas are contaminated with germs and other things. different green tea brands including organic tea brands were tested by the renowned German test.de magazine and they confirmed that, also most of organic teas are contaminated. and since this is nothing you can easily check at home, better use boiling water. h…

> "germs and other things"

This is faulty reasoning. The typical "almost boiling" temperature of 185F for 3 minutes will sterilize the tea just as well as boiling water would. There's absolutely no benefit in terms of safety. The only consideration would be flavor.

Re: Will boiling water ruin green tea?

#57

Post by hot_gril »

kayodelycaon wrote: post #25
colordrops wrote: post #14

As I get older I notice my senses get less refined and weaker, especially smell and taste, and especially after a couple covid infections. This on top off constant distraction and stress makes it nearly impossible for me to taste any subtlety in things like coffee and tea and wine. To be frank I'm jealous of these people that can dedicate all this time and passion to various techniques and flavors.

From experience, if it’s not a passion or priority, it helps externalize the decision process. Have a friend (or online service) who does the research for you. Then you buy the minimum equipment (a temperature controlled kettle and a strainer) and a few teas. When you get time, brew them to the instructions. If you have some free time, you can start it with a cup of tea. There no need to get massively invested. This…

Yep. There's one guy at work who's kinda quiet, but one day he noticed me drinking tea. Turns out he knows a lot about Chinese tea and buys it online (helps that he's from China and familiar with the provinces), so he's given me a lot of recommendations and it's become a fun topic to discuss.

Re: Will boiling water ruin green tea?

#58

Post by WillPostForFood »

taraparo wrote: post #8

the german tea expert Ernst Janssen recommends to also use boiling water to prepare green tea as most of the teas are contaminated with germs and other things. different green tea brands including organic tea brands were tested by the renowned German test.de magazine and they confirmed that, also most of organic teas are contaminated. and since this is nothing you can easily check at home, better use boiling water. h…

If you are paranoid about salmonella in tea, 185F for 15 seconds is enough, and it won't ruin teas that taste better at lower temps.

Re: Will boiling water ruin green tea?

#59

Post by benatkin »

hot_gril wrote: post #55

> A common myth regarding green tea is that it shouldn’t be prepared with boiling water. This is absolutely false[...] Seems to contradict the rest of the article... > So the best way to prepare gyokuro, a green tea with a high amino acid content, is with lukewarm or even cold water. > Sencha can be prepared with hot water for best results. Using boiling water would make it too bitter and astringent. > Lower grade te…

No, it's absolutely false because those teas are completely legit because in this case lower grade doesn't mean crappy. If it did that would be reasonable advice to give.

If you tell someone never to drink those lower grade teas you're doing them a disservice and that's the only situation in which the advice about never using boiling water would apply.

Re: Will boiling water ruin green tea?

#60

Post by hot_gril »

benatkin wrote: post #59
hot_gril wrote: post #55

> A common myth regarding green tea is that it shouldn’t be prepared with boiling water. This is absolutely false[...] Seems to contradict the rest of the article... > So the best way to prepare gyokuro, a green tea with a high amino acid content, is with lukewarm or even cold water. > Sencha can be prepared with hot water for best results. Using boiling water would make it too bitter and astringent. > Lower grade te…

No, it's absolutely false because those teas are completely legit because in this case lower grade doesn't mean crappy . If it did that would be reasonable advice to give. If you tell someone never to drink those lower grade teas you're doing them a disservice and that's the only situation in which the advice about never using boiling water would apply.

But does non-boiling water not work well with lower-grade tea? I drink that stuff all the time and find it best with ~180˚F water. Seems like it's reasonable to just never use boiling water for green tea.
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