A question from New York

I read in Teaparker's book on baozhong that very hot water should be used, and I guess I extrapolated that to all oolongs, so I have been brewing both Taiwan oolong and TGY at temperatures that are far above ideal. Lowering the temperature has brought new life to a lot of teas that I thought I hated - none of them from you, of course. Actually I think that really good oolongs seem to stand up quite well to over hot water, but of course are much better when made properly. I'd love to have your thoughts on this.

Thank you for your remark. I'm happy to see that Teaparker has readers of his books (which are published in Chinese) in the USA! I think I can help explain what Teaparker means. His main point, which he repeats and repeats to his students, is that the right water is one that has previously reached this stage of boiling: crabs' eyes size.

In Chinese, people say "把水煮開" (make water cook open) which can be translated as 'open the water'. Teaparker believes that boiled water is transformed once it has boiled. It's alive then. That's why he really insists that the water be properly boiled to brew tea. It can later cool down a bit, but it must at least still steam a little.

How does Teaparker brew tea in reality? He doesn't use a thermometer and just uses his eyes and ears to determine when the water has boiled. After reaching a light boil, he takes the kettle off the heat source to avoid over boiling. He also waits for the kettle to calm down (boiling water will move in the kettle) before pouring it in the teapot. The way he pours water in his teapot is also very important. This is more difficult to describe and write about in a book, but it has a big impact on the tea. Teaparker adapts the way he pours water to the tea in the pot. For fragile and lower grade teas, he pours the water more slowly and/or indirectly on the walls of the pot. Also, since Teaparker doesn't reboil his water for each infusion, he actually also uses water that is not as high as when it is just boiled. And finally, the teas he drinks are almost always of the highest grade. For such teas, high temperatures bring the most flavors and body out of the leaves.

I hope this gives you a better understanding about this advice of using high temperature for tea. Teaparker doesn't mean that all teas must be brewed with a water at 95 degrees. He insists on 'opening' the water (with a light boil) and then on adjusting the brewing technique to fit the tea in the pot. Boiling water is a good way to test the grade level of the tea, but he actually aslo uses lower temperatures (by pouring slowly, for instance) to fit most common tea grades.