oolong, am I doing something wrong?
OK…If you read my other post, you know Im a complete newb. I got some 4 seasons Oolong from Teavana and tried some tonight. 1.5 tsp steeped at 195 for 3 minutes as directed. I got a slightly amber colored cup of hay. Is it supposed to taste like hay? It tasted really different at the store when I bought it and had a sample of it. Did I do something wrong?
How big was the cup? you should work on tea/water ratio. I highly recommend you to get a gaiwan. your oolong will taste complex and much better with more leaves and shorter steeps
Experiment with leaf weight and liquid used. It takes time sometimes to find the sweet spot.
It all depends on the oolong, but 195 degrees and 1 1/2 teaspoons sounds good, but I figured I shouldn’t steep oolongs for three minutes any more. I usually go with 1 minute for the first steep gradually increasing with the other steeps, but only like 1 1/2 minutes then 2 min for the third steep. Also, I do a quick rinse of the leaves before the first steep. Good luck!
I don’t generally discard oolong steeps, just puerh.
Everyone has their own preferences :)
Oolongs that are green to dark green : 185f
Oolongs that are black to darker than black : 190f
Both of which I brew anywhere from 3 to 5 ounces at a time for 45 seconds and add four steeps together to drink.
I like dark roasted @200F. I read somewhere that quality oolong can take higher temps without any bitterness
I do all my oolongs at ~200-boiling :) I’ve tried greener oolongs at low temperatures but can’t get into it for some reason.
185 to 190 is usually the sweet spot for me too especially for western style brewing.
But as I get into later steeps I kick the temperature up to just below a boil.
A quick rinse is ok, but discarding the steeps when you brew it for several minutes literally means you give away the best part.
BTW, I explained the water temperature problems in my recent blog post. Here is the link if you are really interested in brewing temperature. http://www.zhentea.ca/how-to-brew-chinese-tea-water-temperature/
Thank you, its very interesting article. same theory as i read somewhere that quality teas dont need lower temps.
Excellent article! It dispelled some of the misconceptions I had about tea and temperature. I’ve always believed water that was “too hot” made tea bitter but it seems steep time is a bigger factor than I thought.
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