My Theory- Tea and Mountains and Temperature

I really need to go on top of a mountain and make some tea. Why? Because I was looking at mountain pictures or something the other day when I noticed that the climber remarked that while he was going to make a cup of tea on top of the mountain, he didn't expect it to be any good because the altitude was too high to reach 212 F (boiling temp at sea level).

Here's how boiling temperature and altitude go:

Altitude (ft/m)- Boiling Temperature (F/C)

•  0/0- 212.0/100.0
• 250/76- 211.5/99.7 (This is about where I go to college)
• 500/152- 211.0/99.5 (This is about where I live when on the west coast)
• 1000/305- 210.1/98.5
• 2000/610- 208.1/97.8
• 3000/914- 206.2/96.8
• 4000/1219- 204.3/95.7 (One of the lower elevations of good quality tea)
• 5000/1524- 202.4/94.7
• 6000/1829- 200.6/93.6
• 7000/2134- 198.7/92.6
• 8000/2438- 196.9/91.6 (Pretty much the highest elevation of tea I've seen online)
• 9000/2743- 195.0/90.6
• 10000/3048- 193.2/89.6

As you can see, tea isn't even really grown at an altitude that has a boiling temperature of anything lower than 205/96. Higher quality tea from higher altitudes are grown at places where the boiling temperature of water is even lower, far below 200/93!

So why are we trying to boil our tea at 212/100?

I will tell you from personal experience, tea can brew at basically any temperature, especially green and white tea (I haven't tried it with a yellow, but I suspect yellow would be the same, as with less oxidized oolongs). In an older post, you will notice me brewing Japanese gyokuro with snow. I have yet to record these differences well, but the taste of the tea will change markedly about every 10/6 degrees.

You may be saying, "Well that sounds fine and all for the less oxidized and fermented teas, but the darker teas still need really hot water." and I will disagree with you. They grow black tea at those high altitudes too, you know. Very good pu-erhs come from some very high altitudes. Also, I've always suspected that the reason why I hated red tea (black to all of you Westerners who are new here) was because it was being brewed at too hot of temperatures like is commonly done to all other teas. Sometimes I've also noticed that I really dislike my pu-erhs if they're brewed with boiling water, but I like them better at around 195. So that's where I brew my tea at the maximum.

Here is my tea temp range (F):
White: 1-120
Green: 1-120
Lightly oxidized oolongs: 120-160
Dark oxidized oolongs: 120-175
Red (back) tea: 160-195
Pu-erh (and other fermented teas): 185-195

And note, these are not set in stone and are personal preferences. Also, I don't have enough experience with black teas to really tell you that is my minimum temperature for sure. But I do have one that I've been drinking recently that I like (lychee flavored is why hahaha) and I've liked it at 195.

Why are the ranges so high (especially for whites and greens)? Depends on my mood. Some days I want to be hit in the face by my tea's massive flavor (lower temp) and some days I want a more mellow ride and a hot cup in my hand (higher temp).

Note that the amount of L-theanine and caffeine will change depending on the temperature you brew your tea at. More caffeine is released at higher temperatures, contributing to the mistaken theory that darker teas have higher levels of caffeine. L-theanine is more present in tea brewed at lower temperatures, contributing to the noted relaxing effect and false idea that there is less caffeine in the lighter colored teas (L-theanine counters the stimulatory effect of caffeine). Also note that while L-theanine is noted to be in higher concentration in more white and green teas, it is not absent from the others. I haven't figured the exact specifications of that entirely yet, but I'm getting closer. Ask me if you want my sources for anything, I suppose I should just put up a post and update said post with all my sources anyways.

So in conclusion: drink tea at lower temperatures!