I just bought some tea from Adagio and I am trying to see which ones I
like. Being more or less a beginner at tea, I want to make sure that I
am brewing them correctly so that I don't reject a good tea becasue of
faulty brewing technique.

Adagio is not much help with brewing information. I have a small jar
of Earl Grey Bravo. The only instructions on the jar are "212° 5 min".

Their website is not much more helpful. The preparation page,

http://www.adagio.com/info/preparation.html?SID=0d31718aee8e4d014040d0e90f81410c

has one paragaraph:

Suggested ratio is one teaspoon of leaves per cup of water. However,
the light and voluminous teas will taste best with twice that. To
steep, please use boiling water (212F) when preparing black, dark
oolong and herbal teas. And it's important to use cooler (180F) water
when steeping green, light oolong and white teas. And remember to not
over-steep, or your tea will taste bitter. Rule of thumb is 5 min. for
most black, 7 min. for dark oolong and white, and only 3 min. for
light oolong and green teas.

Square Peg wrote:

On Sat, 23 Aug 2008 19:08:06 -0700 (PDT), Rainy gmail.com>
wrote:

Square Peg wrote:

Boiling quickly or slowly definitely has effect. Try it.
Slowly boiled tea is sweeter and has less spark,
less flavor. I generally prefer quicker boiled tea.

BTW forgot to add that it's good to aerate water
before boiling, I do this by shaking the plastic
water jug for ~15 seconds.

I'm not sure if a quick electric kettle will be as
good as gas stove boiled water. I suspect it
won't but can't give any proof or reasoning.

This will apply more to greens and whites
and light oolongs than other teas.

On Sat, 23 Aug 2008 22:38:39 -0700 (PDT), Rainy gmail.com>
wrote:

I definitely will.

I don't understand how bringing the water to boil somewhat more
quickly can make a discernible difference. It makes sense (to me) that
letting the water boil for a long time can remove oxygen, but does
that apply to an extra minute or two on the way to boiling?

Square Peg wrote:

On Sun, 24 Aug 2008 01:44:37 -0700 (PDT), Rainy gmail.com>
wrote:

Square Peg wrote:

On Sun, 24 Aug 2008 02:42:11 -0700 (PDT), Rainy gmail.com>
wrote:

i believe rainy explained his opinion clearly.
if you do not find a difference, then that is you opinion.

everyone has differing opinions.