How to brew green tea correctly?

Green Chinese tea is a matter of admiration and debate. Its gentle sweet taste and aroma captivates and inspires, this tea has invaluable health benefits and a boost of vigor, it improves mood and directs thoughts in the right direction, increases working capacity and relieves fatigue - you can write about the merits of green tea for a very long time.

But sometimes it happens that, after brewing elite green tea at home, some are disappointed - the tea is bitter, empty, tasteless. If you have chosen a really high-quality fresh tea and were unsatisfied with the taste and aroma - it's all about the wrong brewing.

Green tea is very delicate. The raw materials for it are the uppermost leaves and buds collected in early spring. That is why green tea makes special demands on brewing conditions.

How to make green tea?

In order to make the tea tasty, you need to strictly three basic rules.

Water

Wise Chinese believe that the ideal water for brewing tea is water from mountain springs located in areas with a low population density. It is clear that in the conditions of a megalopolis this condition cannot be fulfilled, but bottled filtered water can become a worthy alternative. Choose soft water with the lowest salt content (up to 2 mEq / L). Do not use tap water.

Water temperature

Green tea can not be brewed with boiling water! If you do this, simply cook the most tender leaves. Tea will lose most of its healing properties, and its taste will become bitter and coarse. The water temperature for brewing green tea should be 60-80 ° C. The cooler the water, the more gentle the taste. The softer and finer the tea leaf - the lower the water temperature should be. For example, green tea Bi Lo Chun consists of the smallest leaves and fluffy kidneys - it needs 60 ° C. If the leaves are larger or the tea is twisted into pearls, like Jasmine - you can use a little hotter water.

How to get water of the desired temperature if there is no kettle with a temperature controller?

• You can proportionally dilute boiling water with cold water. For example, to get a temperature of 60 ° C, dilute hot water with cold in a ratio of 2: 1.
• You can cool the water, though it will take a little longer. A boiled 2-liter kettle cools to the desired temperature in about 15 minutes.
• A touch of 60 ° C feels like a rather hot, but not burning, temperature.

By the way, boiling bottled water is not necessary. Even undesirable. It is believed that boiled water loses oxygen saturation, which makes it unsuitable for tea.

Another way to determine the temperature of water, invented in ancient China. The temperature can be determined by the type of boiling water. The four stages of boiling water are called fisheye, crab eye, pearl strands and noise in the pines.

• Fisheye - when the first bubbles begin to appear at the bottom of the kettle. It is about 55 ° C, it's time to brew delicate green tea.
• Crab eye - the bubbles at the bottom increase in size, approximately 77 ° C
• Pearl strings - bubbles form silvery strings that rise to the surface without reaching it. Approximately 83 ° C.
• Noise in the pines or white noise - the bubbles rose to the surface and begin to boil - the water almost boiled, it was 98 ° C - the temperature for brewing black tea, shu puerh, dark oolongs.

But we were distracted, this method is usually used to make tea using the Lu Yu method (tea brewing on an open fire) - and this is the topic for a separate article :-)

Infusion time

Green tea releases beneficial substances and microelements into the infusion, but after 5 minutes an excessive amount of caffeine (thein) begins to be released into the infusion, which makes the tea bitter. Essential oils and polyphenols begin to oxidize, tea loses its transparency, taste and aroma. The therapeutic effect of tea is reduced due to the oxidation of vitamins C and P, which it contains. The optimal brewing time for green tea is 3-5 minutes.

So - the basic rules for brewing green tea are soft water with a temperature of 60-80 ° C, the infusion time is 3-5 minutes.

How much tea do you need?

To get tea of ​​medium strength, we take 1 gram of tea per 100 ml of water. About a teaspoon per cup 250 - 300 ml. Twisted tea such as Gunpowder, Big Jade Bi Luo Chun is heavier, so visually 1 gram looks a little smaller. Incomplete teaspoon per cup.

In what dishes is it better to brew green tea?

In China, they say that light tea loves light dishes. “Light” dishes mean porcelain or glass dishes. However, it’s a matter of taste, but we prefer to make green tea in the glass, so as not to deprive ourselves of the pleasure of watching the dance of tea leaves. Green tea is very beautiful in brewing.

How many times can you make green tea?

The exact amount of brewing does not exist. Too many variables affecting this figure. Here, the quality of the tea, the temperature of the water, the infusion time, and the ratio of dry tea to the amount of water matter.

If you make tea with a strait - in a small teapot, hayvani or a teapot with a button - good green tea withstands 7-10 straits. Remember that for such brewing, dry tea fills a third of the brewing capacity, and the brewing time does not exceed 30 seconds.

If we brew in the usual, “European” way - in a teapot or large teapot, tea can be brewed 2-3 times, provided that the tea was infused for no more than 3 minutes and the tea leaf did not have time to cool before the next brewing.

Green Tea and Oolong Tea

An important point - green tea and light (green) oolongs are two different things, although they are very similar in taste, color, and aroma. Oolongs are twisted into tight balls, the raw material for them is usually a flash (three top leaves, a kidney with a part of a twig). As a rule, oolong leaves are used larger and denser, so it will not work to brew green oolong with water at 60 ° C. Need water a little hotter - 85-95 ° C, otherwise the brewing conditions are the same.

Summary

Green tea is quite picky about brewing conditions. Do not boil it with boiling water, use soft, purified water and do not allow to change. Observing these simple conditions, you will get healthy, fragrant and incredibly tasty tea!

Enjoy your tea with i-tea.club!