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

>>
>>
>>Square Peg wrote:

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

>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Square Peg wrote:
>>>>

>>>>>
>>>>> Is your point that the water must be brought to a boil quickly or that
>>>>> it has to be gas and not electric or microwave regardless of speed?

>>>>
>>>>Boiling quickly or slowly definitely has effect. Try it.

>>>
>>> I definitely will.
>>>

>>>>Slowly boiled tea is sweeter and has less spark,
>>>>less flavor. I generally prefer quicker boiled tea.

>>>
>>> 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?
>>>
>>> Depending on the amount of water and the wattage of the microwave, I
>>> would think that the microwave could bring it to a boil about as
>>> quickly as a gas range. So I did a little test. I put 32 ounces of tap
>>> water in a saucepan on the largest burner on the gas range. I put 32
>>> ounces of water in a 32 oz pyrex measuring bowl in my 1250 watt
>>> microwave. I turned on the gas burner to the highest setting and then
>>> hit the start button on the microwave and then started a stopwatch.
>>> Here are the readings for each container to (a) the start of boiling
>>> and (b) rolling boil:
>>>
>>> (a) (b)
>>> Gas 5:28 5:58
>>> Microwave 5:42 6:06
>>>
>>> Looks like a dead heat to me. With more water, the gas range would do
>>> better and with less, the microwave would.
>>>
>>> So, it looks like tea made with water heated on this gas range should
>>> taste the same as tea made with water heated in this microwave.
>>>
>>> Agreed?

>>
>>No, there was a very big difference between
>>water I heated with slow electric range and
>>slow heating by a spirit lamp, which I think
>>should be very similar, if not the same,
>>as butane or propane burner. Again, I'm no
>>scientist so I don't know what the reason
>>is for the difference.
>>
>>I should add that I might not even care with
>>simple black teas. With green and whites
>>difference is very big, with high grade
>>black like a golden yunnan, difference is
>>still pretty big. With slow-heating electric
>>range, golden yunnan is much, much
>>sweeter. But it's already a pretty sweet
>>tea and it loses some flavor like that.
>>

>>>

>>>>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'll add that to my test parameters.
>>>

>>>>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.

>>>
>>> Even if they take exactly the same amount of time to reach the desired
>>> temperature?

>>
>>Yes, that's my point exactly. I know for sure
>>that with different boiling time there's a
>>difference in taste. When boiling time is the
>>same, I think there would be, based on my
>>experiements with a spirit lamp and also
>>based on experiments with heating slowly
>>on a gas range.

>
> I am trying to separate the "time" factor from the "heat source"
> factor. At the risk of beating a dead horse, let me ask one last
> question:
>
> Suppose that,
>
> a. I have three identical glass over-proof pots.
>
> b. I put exactly 32 ounces of spring water from the same bottle in
> each pot having the exact same initial temperature.
>
> c. I heat each pot of water to exactly the same temperature (the
> correct temperature for one of your green or white teas). One on a gas
> range, one on an electric range, and one in a microwave oven. I
> arrange for an electric range and a microwave that get the water to
> the required temperature in exactly the same time as the gas range.
>
> d. I brew three pots of tea, one with the water from each water pot.
>
> I think I have kept all variables constant except heat source.
>
> Do you think you could tell which pot of tea was brewed from which
> water pot (heat source)?