this is relevant to my interests. what kind?em2nought wrote:I can't make good iced tea, wish there was as much interest in making a good cup of tea. lol
my rough guidelines:
Black - 208-212F, 3-5 minutes
Darjeeling - 180-190F, 3-4 minutes
White - 165-175, 3-6 minutes (lowest temps of all, for sure. i think Yellow is about the same, for the cooler end of the scale)
Pu'erh - 208-212F, 3-6 minutes
Herbal (tisane) - 208-212F, 5-forever minutes
Green and Oolong are highly variable depending on type and serving style.
Green - 175-180F, 1-3 minutes - but some are only 45 seconds! the temperature range is huge... sencha tends to use 160F water, genmaicha can use boiling. you need to experiment with each tea, and it _will_ turn out bad if you go too hot and/or too long - very sensitive. Green, White and Yellow are easy to screw up, so take care.
Oolong - with Dong Ding, i do 1 minute at 180-190F for the first brewing, 40 seconds for the second and third brewings, and add 10-20 seconds for each brewing after that. i also have this Taiwanese High Mountain type that goes for 3 minutes for each brewing, same water temperature. some people say you can use boiling water on high-quality oolong - i don't doubt them, but i've never been satisfied with the results... probably only with the more roasted or oxidized kinds. definitely not to be tried on the likes of, say, Tie Guan Yin.