Now, you may be wondering why their is a picture of a smoggy and polluted Chinese city under a post about “Rinsing Tea”. Well, as we all know, many teas are grown in china. From the plethora of Chinese green teas to the expensive and aged pu’erhs, there are a whole lot of Chinese tea.
With the Olympics in China being pretty soon, I have started to hear a lot about all the pollution in China. Things about acid rain and dust just settling all over the streets.
The uncleanliness of China (due to all the factories, and other factors) has made me think about whether my Chinese tea is clean. Some Chinese teas are laid in the sun while the oxidation process occurs, and it is easily possible for dust dirt etc. to settle on them.
I have never heard of anyone getting sick or something like that from their tea leaves, but I don’t think it would be a bad idea to rinse your tea leaves in water before actually using them to brew your cup of tea. Besides the pollution factor, just thinking about how many times tea may change hands before one buys it really makes me think that washing / rinsing tea is a good idea. I mean, what if a worker in a tea store spills some tea on the ground; he might just pick up the leaves with his hands and put it back in the tea container, and then go on to selling it to you. Things like this really make me feel like rinsing tea leaves is not a bad idea.
Rinsing tea leaves is not an exact science, and some people do it while others do not. I personally just pour some hot water over my tea leaves for around 10 seconds, prior to using them for brewing my tea. When I do this I really don’t taste too much of a change in the taste of the tea. Some people say that this actually loosens up the tea and makes it taste better. Also, if you want the tea to lose some of its caffeine, then you can leave the tea in hot water for 30 seconds to one minute prior to use.
Although I rinse my tea, some people argue that rinsing tea makes tea lose some of its flavor. Many people say this for green and white teas, which are usually only infused once. I still like to rinse these teas for a few seconds though, to get dust etc. off (if it does exist, who knows…). I guess no one will really know if rinsing tea leaves actually does anything, but for me, it really doesn’t sound like a bad idea.
Tags: 12 Comments
12 responses so far ↓
I too wash my tea before steeping. I think it does “open up” the leaves. Also, I watched the Les Blank documentary “All in this Tea” and tea is handled by many hands.
I think if one is making tea with packed tea bags there is nothing as such to clean the tea before making, but if it is loose tea better clean the tea, look you can’t get everything at the same time one has to compromise a bit.
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I never rinse my tea. Personally, I don’t want to take the chance of diminishing its vibrant flavor by having even a single second of it brewing without it contributing to the final product. That being said, I can see the reasoning behind doing it.
good tea ideas
I have never thinked of that aspect. The tea must be clean to help us to stay healthy. I also rinse my tea before steeping it.
I’ve never really thought about it. I know that you are supposed to rinse pu-erh before you drink them and now having thought about it I’ve seen the way tea is produced and I definitely watch it.
I too wonder about any dust, etc… on tea, especially since they still use leaded gasoline in China. In fact I read some places actually use auto exhaust to help dry the leaves faster!
I personally rinse the leaves with cold water. While this probably isn’t as effective as hot water, I don’t have to worry about losing any flavor.
I usually fill my teapot half with cold water and the rest with boiling water to rinse. Works pretty well.
Basic hygiene is a good reason to rinse teas. I feel its a good idea with stronger teas, but with the milder ones you will lose out on the flavor.
I s’pos it depends, where the leaves are from and what pesticides are used etc
Sounds like there’s more coming between my tea and me than just an infuser (see my blog at http://teatimewithaccargill.blogspot.com/). Yuck!
I am drinking green tea and read the post,I am enjoy this kind of life, and thanks for your post!