Hey Teaheads.This is Don from Mei Leaf.
In THIS video, Brewing White Tea: The Temperature Test.
In this video Celine and I are going to try to work out the BEST water temperature for
brewing white tea.
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On YouTube we've been asked the question, by a COUPLE of people, to do videos on how
to brew white tea.
One of the things about WHITE tea is that everybody uses a SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT temperature
of water, I've found.
So WE were talking before.
Why don't you tell the YouTube viewers what temperature water YOU brew your white tea
at.
Celine: Okay.
I brew my white tea at a LOW temperature - at about 85 degrees Celcius MAX.
Don: Eighty-five Celcius is about 185 Fahrenheit.
Celine: Yeah.
I do it because I feel like, because it's BUDS, it's more FRAGILE, so I don't want to
scorch IT.
But I DO brew it for LONGER.
Don: Okay.
But ACTUALLY buds are NOT that fragile.
They're not like YOUNG LEAVES that are very thin and fragile.
A bud is actually made up of LAYERS that will BECOME leaves.
So they're actually quite DENSE, and it takes quite a lot of TIME for water to go.
That's why you're brewing it for LONGER, because it takes a for the water to go in.
So they're not as FRAGILE as they LOOK.
Celine: Yeah.
All right.
Don : I was like YOU.
I was brewing around 85 Celcius, or 185 degrees Fahrenheit, before.
But for SOME REASON, over the past THREE or FOUR years, I've been kind of getting HOTTER
and HOTTER in my brewing, and I've found that I've preferred brewing it CLOSE to BOILING
- kind of 95 - 96 degrees Celcius, which is about 205 degrees Fahrenheit, something like
that.
So what we're going to try to do is try and AGREE on what is the best temperature water
for white tea.
Specifically, we're brewing Silver Needle.
So what we're going to do now is brew TWO batches in GLASSES - ONE at 85 degrees Celcius,
and ONE at 95 degrees Celcius.
We're going to put about 3 grams of buds to about 300 ml.
It's NOT STRICTLY Gong Fu style.
The reason for that is because the great thing about Silver Needle is that when the water
has INFUSED IN it starts to BOUNCE AROUND vertically.
Celine: Yeah, to STAND.
Don: We want to SEE that, and we want the glass to have ENOUGH ROOM to do that.
So if I do it Gong Fu style I'd be putting TOO MUCH LEAF in, and you wouldn't REALLY
be able to see the leaves BOBBING AROUND.
So THAT will tell us when to pour them off.
We're going to do that now, and you're going to see it in FAST MOTION.
The glass on the RIGHT is the HOTTER water, and the one on the LEFT is the COOLER water.
You can IMMEDIATELY see that the hotter water is EXTRACTING much quicker, the tea is becoming
DARKER and slightly more of a YELLOW hue, compared to the one of the left which is GREENER
and LIGHTER.
Don: Also slightly more TRANSLUCENT than the hotter water, which makes me think that the
BOILING water STRIPS the DOWNY HAIRS off the tea buds.
You can SO CLEARLY see that the hotter water is making the tea buds EXPAND, GO VERTICAL,
and they're starting to DROP, which means it's time for pouring.
THIS one, and THIS one was the COOLER one.
THIS ONE took about THREE minutes to brew, and the one at 85 degrees took...
Celine: About FIVE minutes?
Don : Yeah.
A COUPLE of minutes more.
What we did is we WAITED until the buds started to go VERTICAL, MOVE AROUND a bit, then we
poured it off.
THIS ONE obviously took a little bit longer because it's cooler water.
Okay.
Let's taste.
Celine: Yay!
Don: So THIS is Celine's style.
Don and Celine: Cheers!
Don: Nice tea.
Celine: Ah!
It's SO FLORAL.
I LOVE that.
Don: It's got FLORAL, a little bit DEWEY, quite FRESH.
Celine: Very SOFT.
Don: Very soft.
A little bit MELON, like honeydew melon - a slight MELONINESS to it.
"Meloniness"?
Is that a WORD?
Celine: I like that, meloniness.
Don: Very soft, quite THICK.
The TEXTURE is quite thick.
Okay.
Let's try the HOTTER.
Celine: That's good.
Don and Celine: Cheers!
Don: Very different.
Celine: Oh my God.
WORLD of DIFFERENCE.
Don: What do you think is the difference?
Celine: DEFINITELY more WOODY.
Don: Yeah.
Celine: Woody...
Don: It's got a NUTTINESS to it.
Celine: Nuttiness, like VANILLARY.
Don: Yeah, so kind of MORE on the DARKER end of the spectrum, WOODS, slight LEATERINESS
to it as well.
And the FINISH?
Celine: Menthol.
Don: And the FINISH is very different, right?
Celine: Yeah.
MUCH DRIER.
Don: Yeah.
It's got more of a BITE to it.
It's got more of a kind of QUENCH to it.
THIS ONE is very, very SOFT finish.
Have you finished that one?
Celine: Yeah.
Don: Let's give this one another go.
SO DIFFERENT, isn't it?
Celine: Oh my God!
It's SO DIFFERENT.
Don: REALLY SOFT finish.
So which do you PREFER?
Celine: I still LOVE the FLORAL side of THIS ONE, BUT it's QUITE NICE to get a bit more
of that WOODY kind of NUTTINESS.
Don: I'm kind of the SAME as you.
I REALLY LIKE these flavour notes, very FRESH, slightly CREAMY, DEWEY.
It's REALLY NICE, and a nice THICK LIQUOR, which I think comes from it took a couple
of minutes LONGER.
So the longer you INFUSE, generally the THICKER the mouthfeel.
I LIKE that.
But, for me, it's ANNOYING that it just ENDS.
It's like SOMETHING is MISSING.
Celine: Yeah.
Don: When I was in China, and I was drinking white tea with a farmer, he was brewing his
tea with BOILING hot water, and I said to him, "Okay.
You brew HOT as well?"
He said, "Yes.
For ME, if you have tea that doesn't have that FINISH, that DRYNESS, that slight BITTERNESS,
then the tea is LONELY."
That's what he said.
Celine: Awe!
That's so CUTE.
Don: Which is KIND OF how I FEEL with this.
It's kind of MISSING something, and I find that a bit FRUSTRATING.
But THIS one has got a REALLY NICE, SATISFYING finish.
Celine: Yeah.
Don: You know what we're going to do?
Celine: Uh!
Oh my God!
Don: Let's just see.
Let's just see.
It MIGHT work.
Okay.
This is a COMBINATION of the two.
Celine: Experimental.
Don: Let's try.
Don and Celine: Cheers.
Don: Mmm.
Nice.
You're getting the EXACT IN-BETWEEN, aren't you?
Celine: I'm quite IMPRESSED with that.
Don: You've still got the FRESHNESS and the MELONINESS -I love that word.
But you ALSO get that FINISH.
You get that DRYNESS, and those NUTTY, VANILLA, slightly SWEETER notes to it.
The TEXTURE is in-between as well.
Celine: It's actually QUITE NICE though.
Don: Yeah.
You know what we should do?
Celine: What?
Don: Let's brew one at 90 degrees, just so that we've TESTED it all.
Celine: Yes.
Don: Okay.
We're going to brew one at 90 degrees.
So, we will be right back…
Okay.
We've done it.
This is 90 degrees.
Let's quickly pour it.
You can see the buds have started to move up and down a bit, so we're pouring it off.
It took about FOUR minutes, so it was EXACTLY in between.
It's interesting.
Right.
Okay.
Here we go.
90 degrees, which is about 195 degrees Fahrenheit.
Let's see what THIS tastes like.
THIS one HERE is still the MIX that we had before.
Celine: Hmm.
Cheers.
Ooh!
That's nice.
Don: Wow!
That's REALLY nice.
Let's COMPARE it to the one we had before.
This one has gone a BIT COOLER now, and it's OXIDIZED slightly, but we remember the taste.
That one's a bit more WOODY.
Celine: Yeah.
Don: But I THINK that's because it's been LEFT for a while.
Celine: I agree.
Don: But is really NICE.
Celine: I think you don't even need to MIX two pots together.
Just brew at 90 degrees.
Don: Yeah.
I think you're right.
This is EXACTLY in between.
So it's got the MELON, the FLORAL, the DEW, and the MEADOWY tastes, but it’s ALSO got
that WHISPER of woodiness, those DARKER, MOSSY, NUTTY, kind of ACORNY - those GREEN acorns.
Celine: Then the SWEETNESS of the vanilla kicks in.
Don: Yeah.
Celine: But it's STILL kind of FRESH.
Don: And you get the DRYNESS as well.
Celine: Yeah.
Yeah.
Don : You get the QUENCH, the FINISH.
It's really INTERESTING.
So what we've ESTABLISHED, really, is that white tea is really, really SUSCEPTIBLE to
different temperatures of brewing, and depending upon your MOOD you can brew accordingly.
So if you feel like a more SOFT, very LIGHT, tea then brew a bit COOLER.
If you feel like a really DARK, LEATHERY - slightly moving into VARNISH, kind of, woody notes
- then brew HOTTER.
You know what it is?
Celine: What?
Don: Image a meadow with like a FOREST right next to it.
So 85 degrees is like STAYING in the meadow, 95 Degrees to BOILING is like moving into
the forest, and you're starting to pick up those lovely FRESH wood notes and nuts.
And 90 degrees is kind of, you're STRADDLING between the meadow and…
Celine: Yeah.
It's like PERFECT IMAGERY.
Don: So THIS is MY favourite, actually.
Celine: Yeah.
I agree.
I think we've been BOTH proven wrong.
Don: Yeah.
Exactly.
Okay.
Well, there you go.
That's good to know.
Celine: That's all right.
Don: OUR favourite is 90 degrees for Silver Needle.
I'm sure that there will be some DIFFERENCES depending on the tea.
But EXPERIMENT, PLAY AROUND.
See what you prefer, and WHAT MOOD you're in - if you feel like staying in the MEADOW
or moving to the FOREST.
Celine: Try it out.
But DEFINITELY, 90 degrees is my FAVORITE.
Don: DEFINITELY.
It hits the RIGHT BALANCE, doesn't it.
It's like PERFECT.
Celine: Perfect.
Don: That's it Teaheads.
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Other than that, I'm Don Mei from Mei Leaf, with Celine.
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Bye.