Posted by Rachel | Posted in Tea and Accessories | Posted on 15-09-2009
Tags: citron, rooibos, sampler, tea, tea sampler, tea sampler box, tea sampler gift, tea sampler gift set, tea sampler set, teapot
How do I keep finely chopped green tea from getting bitter?
I bought a sampler pack of 105 teabags from a highly recommended Etsy seller with sky-high ratings. The tea is here, in tea bags and very finely cut.
If I steep for a short time, remove the teabag, and drink it as soon as it’s cool enough to drink, it’s delicious. It’s chopped so fine that quite a bit of the leaf dust settles out of the bag, however. If I steep it for a short brew time, remove the teabag, and then continue to let it steep and cool as I work it gets terribly bitter anyway! There’s too much tea dust that continues to brew! Is there a fix for this?
Donna,
Thank you, but I use water from a Keurig, so it’s below boiling. I drink a LOT of green and white tea, and have either tossed other brands that are bitter or have not had this problem with them! The seller has so many high ratings I wonder if I’m doing something wrong.
Make sure you use water that is not close to boiling point, but has cooled somewhat. 160-180F is ideal for most green teas. It’s also a matter of personal taste, but generally you don’t want it too hot. I have a guide on brewing tea:
http://ratetea.net/topic/brewing-tea/6/
And of course, don’t steep it too long. I suspect temperature might be the culprit though.
It also may be that these tea bags aren’t the best quality. In general, the more finely broken the tea leaf is, the lower quality it is. This is not always true, you can find high-quality broken leaf tea, but it’s true as a general rule. Generally, whole-leaf tea and loose-leaf tea tends to be higher quality than broken-leaf tea and tea bags. Also, some green teas are just naturally bitter, even if they’re high quality, and it may be that you just don’t care for the particular variety that this is.
If you want to learn more about green tea and the different kinds, I also have a bunch of pages about this on my tea site:
http://ratetea.net/style/green-tea/4/
Good luck! Just because the seller has high ratings doesn’t mean it’s good tea. And “good” tea is a matter of personal taste. People tend to have strong opinions on green tea. Some people like Japanese green teas, others like Chinese green teas, some people don’t really like any of them and prefer black tea or oolong tea.
Cross Stitch Kit Coffee and Tea Sampler is at www.abullrun.com
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