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In my last post I discussed how important it can be to brew different tea types using different water temperatures; the correct temperature can separate a passable cup of tea from an almost mind-blowing experience. However, the ideal temperature for different tea types ranges from 140º F to 212º F (boiling). With such a wide range, it can be difficult and even overwhelming to try and achieve the proper temperature for each tea.
Luckily, there are a number of techniques that can help you get your water to the right temperature without too much effort, expense, or even a thermometer! Firstly, as described in a much earlier article, an electric kettle with selectable temperature settings is ideal for reaching all of the temperature requirements with ease. Some of us prefer traditional heating, cannot afford an electric kettle, or might be traveling and in situations where water preparation is more rustic and an electric kettle is an unavailable luxury.
For those circumstances, here are a few tricks and tips:
- Japanese Green Tea: To achieve the ideal temperature of 140º-160º, heat the water until steaming or boiling, then decant into a separate vessel like a mug, teapot or pitcher. When the outer surface of the vessel is cool enough to hold without burning your fingers or letting go because of discomfort, the water should be in the ideal range. Either add the leaves if the water is in a mug, or pour the water into another vessel with leaves for infusion.
- Chinese Green Tea: To achieve the ideal temperature of 170º-180º, heat the water until it begins steaming. In a kettle, this usually occurs shortly after the water starts making a gentle hissing noise. If you have to boil the water, you can use a similar method to the Japanese tea method, but use the water earlier, when it’s still a bit too hot to hold onto.
- White Tea, Oolong, and Darjeeling Tea: To achieve the ideal temperature of 190º-200º, boil your water, then set the kettle aside for at least a minute. Since you’re still going for a pretty high temperature, it will only take a few moments for the water to cool enough to become the right temperature for these slightly more finicky teas.
- Black Tea: Boiling water is, of course, just fine for black teas. Just be careful not to overboil your water—flat water makes for flat tea!
As always, experimentation is key—these are just a few techniques, so let your imagination run wild while homing in on your ideal preparation for your favorite teas.
With all the information out there regarding the health benefits and correct preparation of green tea, rarely is a distinction made between Japanese green tea and Chinese green tea. In reality, the two are processed in two very different ways, and have completely distinct flavor profiles.
Like Chinese green tea, Japanese green tea is considered un-oxidized. This means the tea leaves are given as little interaction with oxygen as possible, preventing their enzymes from reacting chemically and changing the characteristics of the leaves. To prevent oxidation, Japanese tea leaves are steamed very soon after plucking. The heat of the steam kills the enzymes of the tea leaves and arrests any chance of oxidation. The steaming also allows the leaves to keep their deep green coloration.
Next, Japanese green tea undergoes drying and rolling. The drying process occurs at lower heat than steaming, and the rolling breaks the leaves’ cell walls to release the flavors so they come out easily during steeping. Some people believe that Japanese green teas get their needle-like shape and sometimes broken appearance because they are chopped, but in fact this appearance is due to repeated kneading. Traditionally, the teas were hand-kneaded, but modern rolling technology allows considerably more tea to be processed. Today, a small number of premium hand-kneaded teas are still produced, but they are generally extremely expensive and rarely leave Japan. Depending on the region, Japanese teas are harvested as many as seven times per year, although premium teas are produced only once or twice per year.
Japan produces a surprisingly large number of different tea types, but the most famous are Genmaicha, Sencha, and Gyokuro. Genmaicha is produced by combining Summer-harvested tea called Bancha with toasted and popped rice. The taste combines the classic grassy flavor of Japanese green tea with a savory, toasty flavor that pairs extremely well with food. Sencha is the most popular green tea in Japan and is characterized by sweet, grassy flavor, full body and slight pleasant bitterness. Since Sencha is the most popular tea in Japan and harvesting occurs several times throughout the year, quality can vary from premium to everyday grades. Gyokuro is the most premium Japanese green tea produced. The leaves are grown in shade, which produces a tea with an extreme sweetness, delicate flavor and minimal bitterness.
Join me for the sequel to this article, in which I’ll discuss the processing of Chinese green tea.
I know it is a bit unusual to post something unrelated to tea, but I feel it’s my duty to provide some info that many people might not be aware of—English Cadbury chocolate and American Cadbury chocolate are not the same!
The English Tea Store website has a great article about Cadbury’s history. Toward the end, the article mentions that the manufacturer of Cadbury brand confections was licensed to Hershey. This means that most of the chocolate in the USA that bears the Cadbury name is actually produced by Hershey—just take a look at the back of any Cadbury bar at your local supermarket, and you’ll find the Hershey name in much smaller print!
While it might not seem like a big deal, the proof is in the taste. The first time I tasted English Cadbury was on a trip to New Zealand about 6 years ago. What caught my attention was the much larger number of different varieties of Cadbury available there—they not only have Dark and Dairy Milk options, but also more “exotic” blends like Fruit and Nut, Tiffin, and Golden Crisp. Needless to say, my interest was piqued enough to try one. To my surprise, the chocolate itself actually tasted sweeter, creamier, and much more distinctive than the Cadbury I’d had in the US. My whole family bought a bunch of bars and we were busting them out of the freezer for special occasions over the next several months!
Although licensing the manufacture of their chocolate to Hershey probably makes sound business sense to Cadbury, many American customers are really missing out on the unique flavor of real English Cadbury. Thankfully, we have a few good sources like English Tea Store that provide authentic Cadbury at reasonable prices. For a very small fee you can purchase a bar from the supermarket and compare it with one from English Tea Store to see what you’re missing out on!
In Part One, I likened the flavor and drinking experience of blended teas to a symphony–many elements working in harmony for an immersing experience. If drinking a blended tea is like listening to a symphony, then drinking a great single estate tea is like listening to a virtuosic soloist. With single estate teas, you get a chance to understand the flavors, characteristics, processing techniques and ups and downs of a specific tea garden in a pure, unadulterated form.
As I mentioned in the previous installment, differing weather and growing conditions can result in different teas with each harvest. The beauty of drinking single estate tea is that every harvest is different. Each time you purchase a new batch, you’re in for at least some degree of surprise. Not every harvest will be the best, but as you try a few, you can
Borengajuli Assam Tea
begin to understand what specific characteristics make, say, Borengajuli Assam different from Tarajulie Assam. I personally love drinking single estate teas because they’re like people; although they have defining characteristics, they’re also complex and many-layered, and sometimes it takes time and attention to really understand them. Not all tea drinkers are interested in concentrating intensely on their cup of tea, and not every cup of tea should be scrutinized with rapt attention, but single estate teas afford tea enthusiasts an opportunity to really pursue a tea to its fullest extent.
One of my favorite aspects of single estate teas is the seasonal variation between harvests. With Darjeelings, for example, there are three main harvests or “flushes”–First Flush (Spring), Second Flush (Summer), and what is usually called Autumn Flush. If you find a Darjeeling estate you enjoy, you may be able to try all three flushes and see how the character of the leaves changes throughout the seasons. Earlier flushes tend to be lighter, sweeter and more delicate, but for some teas I actually prefer a second or
Tarajulie Assam Tea
autumnal flush because the body tends to be fuller. Likewise, Taiwanese and Chinese oolongs are often harvested multiple times a year–Taiwanese Baozhong oolong, for instance, is said to have its best fragrance in the spring harvest, whereas the flavor and mouth feel reach their peak in winter harvests.
Although single estate teas are more subject to the elements, they offer us a chance to form a real connection to the teas we drink, making every session similar to sitting down with an old friend. If you drink tea from the same estate for several years, you get a sense of the place where the tea originated in a way that you really can’t with a blended tea. Indeed, many Darjeeling drinkers may tell you that they’d give up English Breakfast tea for life if they could trade it for a lifetime’s supply of “the one”–the harvest of their favorite Darjeeling that was simply perfect. Fortunately for us, we can have both–if you’ve never tried single estate tea, now is the perfect time to start!
Although most tea drinkers are familiar with a terms like “breakfast blend”and “Margaret’s Hope Darjeeling,” far fewer could probably explain what exactly a breakfast blend entails, why it is that teas are blended, or what “Margaret’s Hope” stands for. Understanding the difference between a tea blend and a single estate tea can enhance your enjoyment of both.
The majority of widely-available teas are blends, for two main reasons. The first is quality consistency. Like any crop, tea is subject to changes in climate, the elements and growing conditions– when these factors change, the quality and characteristics of the tea plant’s leaves will fluctuate.
But any major tea brand worthy of its reputation is aiming to sell a product with consistent quality– customers who buy PG Tips know what that tea tastes like and expect it to taste the same every time they buy it. If a tea is 100% Assam and Assam experiences an unseasonably warm winter, the spring’s tea is going to taste significantly different than the previous spring’s did. But if a tea company produces a blend based on 20% Assam, 20% Ceylon, 30% Nilgiri and 30% Keemun, for example, variations in the character of each element of the blend will have a much smaller impact on the overall flavor of the tea. By blending a number of different teas together, tea companies can ensure a stable product quality that will become reliable for returning customers.
The second primary reason behind tea blending is flavor. Because of their growing conditions, tea plants, and processing techniques, teas from different regions have different flavors and characteristics– Assams are bold and malty, for example, whereas Chinese blacks are often renowned for their high notes and sweetness. A blend that includes both Chinese and Assam tea gets the best of both worlds–a bold, malty body that stands up well to milk, and sweet high notes to complement and round out the Assam’s more aggressive nature. Blending allows tea brands to pack their tea with flavor and provide teas that are full of complex layers and very few weaknesses. I like to think of blended teas as symphony orchestras–numerous different elements acting together in harmony to produce a rich whole that is more than the sum of its parts. Additionally, blending allows tea brands to create and express a unique identity for themselves. The recipes for famous tea blends are closely guarded secrets–if you think you’re going to make your own homemade PG Tips, you’re probably setting yourself up for disappointment. A brand’s ideal tea blend is one that customers fall in love with and can’t find anywhere else.
Just because you can’t unlock the secret of PG Tips doesn’t mean that tea blending should only be reserved for big name brands. Experimenting with tea blending at home can be fun and rewarding–all you really need is a selection of loose single estate teas and a good loose tea brewing device. I’d recommend starting by combining a small number of teas–brew a few pots, combining two different teas each time and note how the flavors combine and which combinations you like. As you begin experiencing success, you can add another tea or two to the mix and start adjusting the rough percentages of each ingredient. Eventually, you may even combine larger amounts of tea prior to brewing–just remember the saying, “tea gets married overnight.” If you blend a few teas together, the combination will really mature if you let it rest together for a day or two after blending.
Have fun enjoying your favorite tea blends–who knows, maybe your next favorite will be of your own creation! Stay tuned for the second half of this feature where we focus on single estate tea.
There are a number of advantages to using an electric kettle instead of a conventional stove top kettle, and some are more obvious than others.
The most easily recognizable advantages of electric kettles are those associated with convenience. Since they are specifically designed for the purpose of heating water, electric kettles tend to be much more efficient than stove top 
kettles–a couple of liters can heat up in 3-4 minutes, compared with closer to 10 minutes using a range with a heating element. Additionally, an electric kettle focuses most of its energy toward heating the water, while different stove tops present a varying amount of electricity waste caused by escaping heat that doesn’t come into effective contact with the water.
In some cases, a stove top kettle is not even an option–college dorm rooms and hotel rooms are often ill-equipped to accommodate the simple pleasure of a cup of tea, and an electric kettle is a portable and extremely easy solution. 
Finally, if you’re forgetful like me, you might sometimes find yourself racing across the house to silence the ear-splitting shriek of a tea kettle that has been boiling too long. Electric kettles also solve this problem by automatically shutting off when the water temperature reaches boiling–many even have a feature that prevents the kettle from boiling dry, which can result in disaster for a stove top kettle.
Though the efficiency and energy-saving auto-stop features of electric kettles make for a strong economic argument (who wouldn’t want a kettle that eventually saves enough money to pay for itself?), there are some deeper, less obvious benefits that will make even the quickest cup of tea even better. Many people are not aware that water loses its vibrancy if it is boiled for too long–over-boiled water tastes flat, and tea made with it usually won’t live up to its full flavor potential. Again, the auto-stop electric kettle feature easily remedies this problem. What’s more, many electric kettles have extra insulation to keep the water hot and prevent the need for re-boiling.
Electric kettles are perhaps most indispensable to tea drinkers who love green and white teas, which require considerably cooler water to prevent incorrect brewing and unpleasant bitterness and harshness. Taking a conventional kettle off the stove at the correct temperature can be difficult, since there is really no easy way to measure the temperature while it is inside the kettle. Boiling the water and leaving it to cool to the correct temperature is an even more difficult proposition. Luckily for green and white tea lovers, some electric kettles have been sensitively designed with the specific needs of these teas in mind. Specific temperature settings can be adjusted and the kettle’s internal thermometer provides exact measurement when it is the most crucial.
Electric kettles can be found for a variety of prices–many are even less expensive than conventional stove top kettles. Though some may prefer a less technological method of water preparation in favor of a more old fashioned aesthetic, electric kettles have become a viable, economical, and reliable option available to optimize any tea lover’s daily ritual.
