puerh and water temperature
I found out that turning off the kettle shortly after the water begins to rumble, that this water temp (about 90c-100c) is perfect for puerh for me. With raw (sheng),there is little bitterness. with ripe (shou), the earth/fermentation taste is not as strong. does anyone find this to be a good idea? does anyone have any feedback? (good/bad)?
I generally use boiling water for my puerh but then again I am using an clay boiler and it only has one setting. I have heard that many people like temperatures less than boiling for young sheng in particular but boiling works too.
I know of some people who give shou multiple rinses to rinse out the fermentation flavor. It tends to steep out by the fifth steep in my experience.
If you drink enough ripe the fermentation doesn’t bother you much anymore. I have drank so much ripe I no longer care if I encounter fermentation taste.
i never really realized that. usually i don’t mind the fermentation. there are some where it has a nice balance
for my 500TH tasting note, i am pleased to announce that water temperature has a big role in bitterness for sheng and fermentation for shou. my new theory works perfectly for me:
this tea normally has a somewhat strong earth/fermentation taste. but my new way works nice with this tea: http://steepster.com/teas/yunnan-sourcing/72596-2012-nan-jian-certified-organic-mini-brick-ripe-pu-erh-tea
I always use boiling and I don’t generally have issues with bitterness unless the bitterness is a feature of the tea and I like that.
It could be either of those things and it could just be your palate is really sensitive to bitterness. I would lower the temperature before reducing the leaf.
I really don’t like bitter tea, so my default for black and puerh is 200 F. I’ve sometimes gone to full boil for shou, but seldom for sheng.
I’m just got started on shengs a couple of months ago, so take this with a few grains of salt. I’ve experimented with temperatures as low as 165 F for the 2015 I’ve been experimenting with. There’s no astringency for the first 4 steeps (give or take a steep). And it’s not as intense of an astringency when it comes on. After the astringency dies down I start to gradually raise the temperature. by the time I’m in the mid teens, I’ll be close to or up to a boil.
For shou I go between 200 F and boiling.
I prefer a lower temperature than a lot of people for most tea varieties.
Boil or bust for me personally. I’ll adjust steep times and leaf ratio first. If something is too bitter to drink with boiling water than I’ll wind up storing it for another year before trying again. Some sheng just isn’t ment to be drank young
Chawang shop HeKai, Yunnan Sourcing Qing Mei Shan, W2T Pin, 2015 Crimson Lotus MengKu. I like some kick to them too. These may be a bit heavy for some though.
Pretty much any of the 2015 white2tea offerings as well. Also pretty much anything gushu is easier to drink young though they are expensive
tea and cheese lover, 2013 yunnan sourcing autumn ye sheng is good. So is 2009 nan Jian Phoenix aroma 704 raw puerh cake
I do not see what people get out of steeping sheng at 195 or lower. I hit “reboil” before starting a session, but will sometimes let it go at the 208 setpoint.
@aardvarkcheeselog, if you find sheng has too much bitterness or shou has too much fermentation taste, try it at lower temp
All I do temperature wise is first boil my Anta Pottery Clay Boiler on high heat and let it come to a full boil. Then I lower the burner to low so it is at a soft boil I don’t know the exact temperature. If I really have a tea that needs less than boiling I use my Cuisinart Variable Temperature Kettle but the water from the Clay Boiler is superior.
I’m with @grill on this one, if boiling water is yielding a flavor profile that I don’t enjoy then I usually change my g/ml ratio or infusion time.
That being said if you enjoy the flavor profile yielded by lower temp brews than do your thing!
Pmunny, I don’t really mind the bitterness or fermentation taste. I just enjoy it more if I use lower tempatures
I dislike manipulating multiple parameters. For any one particular tea, I will use fixed parameters for temperature, tea, water, etc. and then only fiddle with steep times as the only variable. Varying multiple parameters has the problems of not knowing for sure what works and also makes it a headache to track and monitor it all.
All Pu Erh and Black teas are with boiling water for me. Rinse and flash steeps generally minimise the bitterness in young sheng sufficiently enough for my tastes and I’ve never had a problem with earthy or fermentation tastes of shu.
well if you can brew tea without minding the taste too much, then all the power to you :)
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