Want to embrace the health benefits of green tea but don't fancy incorporating it into your diet because it all tastes bitter and boring?
We hear this feedback all the time and it breaks our hearts! There is a huge amount of diversity and complexity of flavour in the huge range of speciality green teas produced around the world. As our Tea Sommelier Louisa, explains, "bitter, mono-flavoured green tea is normally the result of using poor quality, dusty green tea then steeping it in boiling hot water which is effectively burning unoxidised leaves."
As explained in our How to Brew section, white or green teas shouldn't be steeped in boiling water like regular black tea but at a water temperature no higher than 80 degrees; these teas aren't oxidised or cooked in an oven like black teas, so by pouring boiling hot water on them, you are effectively burning them, leaving you with a burnt, bitter taste.
If a thermometer is not a piece of equipment you have lying around at home, you can achieve 80 degrees by adding a quarter of cold water to the tea leaves before topping up with three-quarters of hot water - you're welcome!