Spring’s Tempestuousness Reflected in Brewing Methods
During the past week we’ve experienced frigid temperatures—cold enough to start a fire in the hearth. And we’ve enjoyed temperatures that persuade us to slip into shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops for walks around the block.
We’ve endured freezing winds, and soft, gentle breezes—and stillness. Flowers like crocuses are beginning to emerge. But snow looms.
The season’s daily shifts between cold and warm, and atmospheric serenity and turbulence, remind us of tea’s variability. Classic tea, Camellia sinensis, yields a wilderness of different styles, with concomitant flavors and textures. But the plant’s diversity also includes brewing techniques.
Some teas call for boiling water, and longer steep times. Others fully blossom only with much lower temperatures, and shorter times spent steeping. Many are somewhere in between.
As the weather engages with its seasonal dance, let’s do our own tango—with tea. How should you brew the splendid Japanese tea gyokuro? For gong-fu style tea, which means “making tea with skill,” how should tea lovers brew the tea? Should people brew black and green teas in identical ways?
Read on to learn more about the tea tango!
Tea Brewing Methods: Gyokuro and Kabuse Sencha
Japanese tea farmers add an interesting twist to some of the teas they grow. Instead of just leaving them alone until harvest, some tea shrubs get covered with fabric in such a way that they plunge into shade for extended periods—often between 20-30 days.
The practice boosts the presence of L-theanine in the teas, which adds umami oomph to the teas. But it also makes the teas more delicate. With too much heat, they turn bitter and frankly unpleasant. But when brewed properly, they thrill.
For these shade-grown teas, ideal temperatures are far lower than for standard black tea, which is fine with boiling water. For the shade-raised, ideal temperatures land between 120 and 150 degrees. Some tea masters even go as low as 104 degrees!
With these teas, the cooler water coaxes out the teas’ signature sweet, brothy, seaweed-like softness without shocking the leaves and precipitating bitterness.
For these teas, brewing for between 90 seconds and two minutes is ideal.
Tea Brewing Methods: Gong-fu Style Iron Buddha Rock Oolong and Organic Ripe Pu-erh
Where shade-grown teas call for low temperatures to gently withdraw flavor excellence from the leaves, the situation gets reversed with many oolongs and puerhs.
With these wonderful teas, much higher temperatures—in some cases, boiling—are ideal. Oolongs—especially roasted and rolled types—and pu-erhs have thicker leaves, with denser structures. They often undergo oxidation and in the case of pu-erh, fermentation. High water temperatures soften the leaves and invite them to unfurl. Along the way, flavors get extracted. And the teas’ glories—often with mineral depth, earthy notes and florals—shine. The high heat, too, broadcasts beautiful perfumes.
Temperatures from between 190 and 212 (boiling) are ideal for many teas in this realm. And steep times are short—for gong-fu style, it can be just 10 seconds for the first steep.
Brewing tea gong-fu style involves steeping leaves in the hot water in short, repeated steps. So even with boiling water, the leaves don’t get overextracted. You can find a range of gong-fu teaware on our site. We recommend experimenting with gong-fu! For one thing, tea leaves get steeped repeatedly. With each brewing, they release new flavors. Not only does gong-fu showcase myriad tea flavors and aromas—it also stands as an affordable way to drink tea. Rather than just one steep for each batch of tea leaves, sippers enjoy multiple steeps.
Tea Brewing Methods: Anji White and Bi Tan Piao Xue
Many green teas occupy the liminal space between low-temperature brewing for shade-grown delicacies, and gong-fu style tea appointments with oolong or pu-erh. In short, temperatures generally fall somewhere in between.
Anji White, for example, which is actually a delicate green tea (the white refers to the color of the leaves), likes temperatures between 160 and 175 degrees, and steeps for between 1 to 2 minutes. This tea, which grows in cooler regions, contains high levels of L-theanine—the umami-sparking amino acid also found in shade-grown teas.
Temperatures and brew times are about the same for Bi Tan Piao Xue, which means Snow in Emerald Pond. This green arrives at the tea party with a little gift—jasmine blossoms. Tea farmers harvest jasmine flowers when they emerge, in evenings, and blend the fresh blossoms with harvested green tea for a week or so. The result? A spectacular green tea perfumed with enchanting floral notes.
The ideal temperature for this lovely gem is between 165 and 175 degrees, for 1-2 minutes. If water that is too hot gets poured over the tea, it can turn the jasmine, as well as the tea leaves, bitter.
