How long to steep white tea?
 

For the past 4 years since I've discovered loose leaf tea, I've read
from various sources that white tea should be steeped at around 175 F
and for about 3 minutes. Lately I've been giving myself a little
refresher on the subject, and I was browsing around on adagio's site.
According to them, white tea should be steeped for 7 minutes. To me,
this seems like an eternity for such a delicate tea. Upton Teas, who I
believe to be a bit more knowledgable on this subject, still recommends
that all their white varieties be steeped for 3 minutes. As do most
other sources.

Since adagio seems to be the odd man out here, I still feel I should
steep all my whites for no more than 3 minutes. But I was wondering if
anyone else has heard of this or if anyone practices this.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

"Terry Youngkin" > writes:

> For the past 4 years since I've discovered loose leaf tea, I've read
> from various sources that white tea should be steeped at around 175 F
> and for about 3 minutes. Lately I've been giving myself a little
> refresher on the subject, and I was browsing around on adagio's site.
> According to them, white tea should be steeped for 7 minutes. To me,
> this seems like an eternity for such a delicate tea. Upton Teas, who I
> believe to be a bit more knowledgable on this subject, still recommends
> that all their white varieties be steeped for 3 minutes. As do most
> other sources.

I don't think there's a rule that applies to all white teas. Very
long steeps at fairly cool temperatures seem to work for some, and
I've had good results with water just off the boil and very short
steeps with others. Unfortunately, I think you just need to
experiment.

By the way, the idea that all white teas are delicate may be a faulty
assumption. Big, tight buds take more time and/or heat before they
will properly infuse. (Have you seen bud-only Yunnan large-leaf white
tea?) In fact, I suspect it's the lower grades of white teas, the
leaf-only ones, especially where broken, that are the most delicate.

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

Terry Youngkin > wrote:
>
>Since adagio seems to be the odd man out here, I still feel I should
>steep all my whites for no more than 3 minutes. But I was wondering if
>anyone else has heard of this or if anyone practices this.

Try it. I think you'll find it becomes bitter with extended steeping
times, although it is possible that some higher grade whites have less
of a problem in that regard.

I have accidentally steeped white and green teas for extended times and
the results were never pleasant. On the other hand, you can leave the
Ten Ren _Oriental Beauty_ black tea there for hours without a problem.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

I brew my whites 5 minutes in 80 deg C, otherwise the flavour tends to
come out too weak. With good white tea (like silver needles) I don't
find that it gets bitter with oversteeping.

I assume because white tea is less processed than the usual green it's
harder to extract the flavour out of it.

> By the way, the idea that all white teas are delicate may be a faulty
> assumption. Big, tight buds take more time and/or heat before they will
> properly infuse. (Have you seen bud-only Yunnan large-leaf white tea?)
> In fact, I suspect it's the lower grades of white teas, the leaf-only
> ones, especially where broken, that are the most delicate.
>
> /Lew
> ---
> Lew Perin /
> http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

It's pretty hot here in Britain at the moment and I tried very tender
green tea with cold water only, in a thermo flask. I took it to work and
to my surprise it reached its peak after about 4 hours in the water. It
was actually quite delicious, not a trace of bitterness. Maybe one should
try this with white tea as well?

JB

"Terry Youngkin" > wrote in message
ps.com...
> For the past 4 years since I've discovered loose leaf tea, I've read
> from various sources that white tea should be steeped at around 175 F
> and for about 3 minutes. Lately I've been giving myself a little
> refresher on the subject, and I was browsing around on adagio's site.
> According to them, white tea should be steeped for 7 minutes. To me,
> this seems like an eternity for such a delicate tea. Upton Teas, who I
> believe to be a bit more knowledgable on this subject, still recommends
> that all their white varieties be steeped for 3 minutes. As do most
> other sources.
>
> Since adagio seems to be the odd man out here, I still feel I should
> steep all my whites for no more than 3 minutes. But I was wondering if
> anyone else has heard of this or if anyone practices this.
>
> Any help would be greatly appreciated.

When I brew Snowbuds from Upton, it gets 3 min., but I brew Snowbuds from
Adagio for only 4 min. because any longer tastes harsh to me.

Since it's your palate that you have to please, I recommend that you
experiment and brew for however long tastes best to you.

--
~~Bluesea~~
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