Will Boiling Water Ruin Green Tea?

A common myth regarding green tea is that it shouldn’t be prepared with boiling water.

This is absolutely false, because some green teas such as bancha and houjicha are supposed to be infused in boiling water.

I’ll give you a short explanation of why different green teas use a different temperature.

Water temperature and the taste of green tea

Water at a higher temperature will extract more caffeine and catechins, while lower temperature water will do so at a lower degree and still extract amino acids.

This happens because amino acids like L-theanine are sufficiently soluble at lower temperatures, while caffeine and catechins aren’t.

Why is this important? Because caffeine is bitter and catechins can be bitter and astringent.

On the other hand, some amino acids give green tea sweetness as well as umami taste.

So the best way to prepare gyokuro, a green tea with a high amino acid content, is with lukewarm or even cold water.

Sencha can be prepared with hot water for best results. Using boiling water would make it too bitter and astringent.

Lower grade teas like bancha, genmaicha and houjicha, have a light taste and don’t have much amino acids anyway. Thus, they can be prepared with boiling water.

However, you should prepare tea in the way that works best for you. If you want to boil your sencha because you want it to be very bitter and astringent, by all means go ahead.

Another reason that you might want to use water at a higher temperature is because the aroma of the wet tea leaves will be more intense.

Precisely, professional tea tasters in Japan prepare tea with boiling water. That makes it easier to detect defects in the aroma, taste and even the color of the liquor.

If you know what you’re doing, it’s fine.

I encourage you to experiment and see the results for yourself. Don’t just blindly follow what you read online.