Best Temperature for Brewing Green Tea

If you're like a lot of us, you grew up with the kettle on the stove. Once you heard the high-pitched whistle, the water was simply poured it over your tea bag, right? And probably never gave it another thought. But loose leaf tea deserves more attention than that if you want to truly experience the flavors of each unique tea.

That high-pitched whistle of the tea kettle doesn't mean "ready" for all tea. It means the water is at 212° or full boil, and for most teas, this is too hot for brewing.

If you've taken the time to research delicious and unique varieties of tea, the last thing you want to do is ruin the flavor by brewing green tea at the wrong tea temperature. Every tea variety has a specific water temperature range that should be used for brewing.

Using water that is too hot can burn delicate green tea creating a bitter taste. Water that isn't hot enough may restrict the tannins from releasing, leaving the flavor flat.

Tea Brewing Temperatures

Water temperature is critical to achieving the full flavor of each tea. The flavors of each type of tea are released at varying temperatures in the form of tannins. Tannins are what cause the tea to darken as it steeps. Over steeping the tea, whether by water temperature or brew times, cause too much tannin to be released creating an overly bitter taste.

How to Reach the Perfect Tea Water Temperature

If you don't yet have temperature controlled tea kettle, it is worth the investment. By selecting the type of tea on the control panel, all the guesswork is taken out of reaching the right tea brewing temperature. Simply press the key for green tea and the kettle heats to the right tea brewing temperature for a cup of green tea, every time.

But don't worry, if you don't have an electric tea kettle, you can still reach the desired water temperature with a variety of methods:

• Use a tea thermometer - A simple inexpensive liquid thermometer can help you monitor the water temperature for tea.
• We always suggest using filtered or spring water for brewing tea. Adding a bit more room temperature spring water to your boiled water can help bring down the temperature of your tea water.
• Take your hot water and pour it back and forth between two cooling bowls or pitchers to distribute the heat and cool down the water. This is also a trick to dissipate any chlorine taste or smell if you are using municipal water.

It can be a bit of a guessing game without a temperature measuring device. Typically boiling water that is allowed to sit:

• 1 minute will drop to roughly 200F.
• 5 minutes will drop to roughly 180F.
• 7 minutes will drop to roughly 170F
  
  

Green Tea Brewing Temperature

For delicate teas such as flavored green tea or white tea, using water that is too hot is called “burning” the tea. This means the polyphenols (or tannins) have become over-extracted making the tea astringent. Once the tannins have been extracted it prevents the delicious flavors from being released into the water. If the water is too cool, green tea will disappoint you with a lack of flavor and character.

Botanical teas (teas that don't originate from the Camellia sinensis plant) require higher temperatures to fully extract the proper flavor and color. Since botanicals do not contain tannins, there is no concern that they will "burn".

Green Tea Temperature 

When brewing tea, the perfect water temperature is based on the processing method of the tea. Were the leaves processed with steam as a Japanese green tea or with dry heat like a Chinese green tea? Or were the leaves pan-fired such as for Oolong tea? Which processing technique that was used controls the oxidation level of the tea leaf and creates the need for varying water temperatures.

Use this simple tea brewing temperature chart to determine right water temperature for your favorite tea:

Happy Steeping!