Nearly everybody who tells us they do not like green tea has been drinking it scalded. Boiling water cooks the leaves, and cooked leaves are bitter.
How hot is right
Green tea likes water at about eighty degrees, white tea a little less. Black tea and herbs are happy at a full boil.
Without a thermometer
Boil the kettle, then leave it with the lid open for two minutes. Or pour a splash of cold water into the cup first, then the hot. Either gets you close enough.
If the tea tastes of spinach, the water was too hot. If it tastes of nothing, it was not steeped long enough.
The second cup
Good whole-leaf green tea gives two or three cups from the same leaves. Pour off every drop the first time and steep the second a little longer. The second cup is often the best.
