The single most common mistake new loose-leaf drinkers make is pouring boiling water over every tea. Boiling water is right for some teas and disastrous for others. Get the temperature right and a tea you thought was bitter or thin can transform.
Why temperature matters Different teas release their flavor and their bitter compounds at different rates. Delicate green and white teas hold fragile aromatics and a lot of catechins that turn harsh and astringent in very hot water. Robust black teas and roasted oolongs, on the other hand, need near-boiling heat to fully extract their depth. Use the wrong temperature and you either scorch the leaf or leave half the flavor behind.
A practical temperature guide - Green tea: 160 to 175 degrees Fahrenheit. Hotter than this and it turns bitter and vegetal. - White tea: 175 to 185 degrees. Gentle heat protects its subtle sweetness. - Oolong: 185 to 205 degrees, depending on how roasted it is. Lighter oolongs lower, darker oolongs higher. - Black tea: 200 to 212 degrees. It wants full, near-boiling heat. - Herbal and pu-erh: a full 212-degree boil.
How to hit the right temperature without a gadget A variable-temperature kettle makes this effortless, but you can manage without one. Bring water to a boil, then let it sit: roughly thirty seconds off the boil gets you to about 200 degrees, and a couple of minutes brings it down to green-tea range. Pouring boiling water into a cold pot also drops the temperature a little.
Master temperature before you worry about anything else. It is the variable that separates a bitter, disappointing cup from a sweet, aromatic one, and it costs nothing but a minute of patience.