Kettle temp vs actual steeping temp?
How do you guys usually aim for specific temperatures? Do you aim for a temperature from the kettle and assume temperature loss at the cup/teapot or do you aim to brew at a specific temperature in the vessel?
The temp recommendations on the tea pages, are those temp at kettle or temp in vessel?
For me, at least, kettle temp. I know that boiling straight out the kettle into a warmed gaiwan will be closest to 100c. Everything else I try to adjust from there, and occasionally use a thermometer for learning my setup.
I don’t use the thermometer as much as I thought I would though
If you need different temperature settings get a variable temperature kettle. There are a number of good ones on the market. I use the Cuisinart.
I think op is referring to the difference between kettle/actual temp & the cooling when it hits a cup, and how that is recorded in reviews.
If my review says 90c it’s the kettle temp, even if it’s 85c when it hits the cup
Preheat your vessel is number one. That reduces a lot of error right there.
Vessel heat retention plays some factors too, I found some thin small gaiwans on long steeps will just get too cold fast and not get a full power steep vs something that can hold temperature better.
Yup. Interestingly, thin small gaiwans actually may do better on ultra-short steeps because they pull less heat out of the water, but their non-heat-keeping tendencies really show up on long steeps.
If you are sufficiently obsessive, you may find yourself, as I do, uh, transferring tea from thinner to thicker gaiwans, or even yixing, over the course of a lot of steeps.
You probably don’t want to be that obsessive.
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