To rinse or not to rinse?

September 12, 2011
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When buying tea online or in one of our stores, you may have noticed on certain bags a pen mark next to the word “rinse”. This mark is to indicate a tea that will benefit from few seconds under a small amount of hot water (at the same temperature recommended for the infusion) ... there are several reasons for rinsing.

IT HELPS THE LEAVES TO "WAKE UP":
Teas made of large leaves, sometimes rolled (such as wulong, especially when cooked and aged) or compressed (such as Pu Er), can benefit from rinsing to help them unfold before brewing.
The leaves being heated and partially open easily release their aromatic compounds and chemicals in the infusion. It is, therefore, important to refrain from prolonged rinsing (more than ten seconds) since that would cause leaching of the delicate and precious aromas.

WASH AWAY BROKEN PARTICLES, PLANT DEBRIS OR DUST:
Whether for debris, leaf dust or residue due to ageing of some teas (mostly true for Pu Er), it is preferable to "wash" teas of debris. Smaller tea particles among the larger leaves can make the tea bitter and thick.
Pu Er teas are routinely rinsed before infusion: sometimes having matured in 'rustic' cellars where there is often dust, moisture and bacteria we want to clean up (once or even twice) the leaves that are about to be brewed.

DRAINING BITTERNESS :
Some Chinese green teas (and all young sheng Pu Er) undeniably improve by rinsing before brewing. This is the case for the famous Gunpowder tea that has a particularly unpleasant bitterness if not rinsed.
Some other quality Chinese greens, such as Yong Xi Huo Qing and Xin Yang Mao Jian and even higher grades, will ideally be rinsed to free them of their typical bitterness.

In summary, rinse:

  • almost all wulong (except perhaps for the Bai Hao, which is not rolled tight and is composed of smaller buds and leaves),
  • Pu Er, Chinese green teas in small leaf or rolled,
  • tea with lots of particles (due to age or reach the bottom of a bag),

 

Use water at same temperature as recommended for the first infusion, for just a few seconds.

After pouring water over the tea, dispose of the rinse water keeping the leaves in the apparatus, be it an infuser, teapot or gaiwan. The leaves are now ready to infuse.

Bonne dégustation!

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