Tea tasting temperature

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ShuShu
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Fri Apr 13, 2018 10:45 am

I have recently noticed that when I compare or taste yancha (mostly when I compare the same tea across different pots/vessels), it is sometimes easier for me to notice more subtle differences when it is significantly cooler. The tea is not necessarily at its best overall, but important differences become more obvious or dominant.
That made me think about whether there might be an "ideal" or better temp to taste tea and wonder if anyone here had a similar experience
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Victoria
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Sat Apr 14, 2018 2:01 pm

I enjoy letting some of my teas, from first two steeps that are hotter, cool a little before sipping, so much so that I usually have one or two cooling cups lined up for that purpose. Flavor is more pronounced this way. Not sure about an ideal tasting temperature since it would depend on which tea you are tasting. With green Japanese teas I don’t cool, with roasted oolong or yancha I line the cups up. I’ll check tomorrow what temperature that is 🍃
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ShuShu
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Sat Apr 14, 2018 7:35 pm

Victoria wrote:
Sat Apr 14, 2018 2:01 pm
I enjoy letting some of my teas, from first two steeps that are hotter, cool a little before sipping, so much so that I usually have one or two cooling cups lined up for that purpose. Flavor is more pronounced this way. Not sure about an ideal tasting temperature since it would depend on which tea you are tasting. With green Japanese teas I don’t cool, with roasted oolong or yancha I line the cups up. I’ll check tomorrow what temperature that is 🍃
Thanks Victoria. Totally agree about Japanese greens. In fact, I sometimes feel that 20 seconds can make my sencha more bitter. But, as you say, with roasted yancha, I feel that the distinction between the granite rocky flavor and the floral one is much more pronounced after a couple of minutes.
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Bok
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Wed Apr 18, 2018 1:35 am

I have noticed that as well with Taiwanese oolongs, usually the better the quality, the more likely it can be enjoyed in a cooler state to discover different properties not apparent when hot.

Some roasted teas turn easily sour though, it does not work for TGY and some other darker oolongs in my experience. There is some nice creaminess coming out in greener oolongs as well and some teas become very sweet when lukewarm!

Tea which has been steeped too light gains in body as well.

When I tasted some Yancha in a shop in Shanghai the owner put away the first rinse/brew to be enjoyed after the tea had been spent brewing and to compare the differences to the hotter brew. I remember it was quite lovely! He also mentioned that this is only advisable with high quality tea, for others there is no point.
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