About Candie Expertise I can answer questions about specific teas and their health benifits including herbals. I can help you find a specific tea or accessories that you are looking to purchase.
Experience I have an online tea store and have done extensive research on the subject for the last few years. I am the editor of the Tea catagory for dmoz and am very familiar with all the other tea sites. I write articles on tea for Suite101 and other publications.
Expert: Candie Date: 11/16/2005 Subject: Green Tea preparation
Question Hello,
I recently returned from a trip to HangZhou where I purchased Longjing (Dragon Well) tea. We were instructed in a class to steep without a cover, and informed that we could steep many times and that the leaves were edible. I am trying to follow up and verify some information that I have found since then:
1) The first brew of the tea should be disposed.
"The secret is to blanch the tea for about one minute and discard the water to steep out some of the bittertasting compounds in the leaves. Once the water is discarded, you can start brewing real green tea." http://www.healthy.net/scr/column.asp?ColumnId=6&ID=118
--- I have begun using an individual french press for this process, but I am wondering if this process is actually a good idea or not? We did not blanch the tea in my class in China.
2) I don't have a reference, but I've read both that the leaves can be eaten, and that the leaves should not be eaten until a few brew cycles. Please clarify.
Thank you for any information,
Rita
Answer The item about disposing of the first infusion after one minute is only for pu-erh teas (not green teas) and even then you just rinse the leaves and pour off the water immediately. Green tea should never be bitter unless you brewed it with water that was to hot. Your water temperature should be 180 degree F or less.
You can eat the tea leaves before they are brewed but they are tough and chewy unless you brew them at least once. The flavor of the leaves will mellow with each brew so you may find that you like the flavor better after a few infusions. I often add brewed tea leaves to asian salads.
