Brewing · · 3 min
Brewing green tea at altitude
Water boils at 91 °C in Kathmandu. A short note on why that makes better tea than your kettle at home.
Water boils at about 91 °C in Kathmandu and around 88 °C on the hillside where the leaf is picked. Nobody there owns a thermometer, and the tea is better for it.
Green tea wants 75 to 85 °C. At sea level a kettle overshoots that by twenty degrees and scalds the leaf, which is why so much good tea tastes bitter in European kitchens.
What to do at home
Boil, then wait two minutes with the lid off. That is roughly 80 °C in a cold cup.
Or pour a splash of cold water in first and top up.
The altitude is not magic. It is just a kettle that cannot make the mistake.
Bikash Thapa
Plucks, fires and grades the leaf in Myagdi. Writes most of the harvest notes.
Next in the journal
Senior dogs and hard chews