Incidentally.. I was thinking about this recently. China was making
mostly green, white and oolong teas before, then it moved into
making more black teas when the trade opened with Portugal and
England. At the same time, water should have been boiled so
that green tea would not taste very good.. Have chinese invented
some way to get around this? Maybe boiling in clay kettles is
better? I noticed that boiled water often has stronger metallic
taste. But I haven't done thorough testing..

comment.

I have two answers, both of which are not direct experiences but those
of folks who have either their own personal experiences or have done
their own research.

1) In Chinese-culture societies (so as to cover both political
descriptions of Taiwan), all teas are brewed with boiling or near
boiling water. But instead of stewing them for as long as us
Westerners do, they'll brew for MUCH shorter periods of time. I do
have personal experience that this works, and you can too. Take, say,
your favorite Yinzhen/Silver Needles white tea and measure out
identical quantities. Brew one at 175 degrees (F) for 3-4 minutes,
and brew one in a full boil water for 15-20 *seconds*. Taste them
side by side. They will probably taste quite different, but neither
will be unpleasant.

2) Tea DID taste unpleasant for a really large chunk of tea-drinking
history--it was taken as a medicine for the first thousand years or
so. Then, for nearly three thousand years, basic tea processing
methods kept being developed to make it more tasty. (Of course, that
suggests that the process isn't still continuing, but from what I've
found there's been no new "category" or "family" of tea produced since
the invention of fully-oxidized red/black tea which is why I'm saying
it stopped a couple centuries ago.)

's just my take.

--Michael J. Coffey--
www.teageek.net
Ironic, isn't it?