Tetsubin Water for Brewing Oolong Tea?

by Boris
(Croatia)

Julian, you say in your site one can use tetsubin boiled water to brew oolong tea. Look at this page:

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The tetsubin is meant for boiling water. Using the boiled water from tetsubin and brew tea, it obviously changes the taste of tea. The effect is beyond the reach of your imagination and not to mention beyond the purple clay. It is important to know the type of tea which the cast iron kettle is good for. There are a few groups of tea that cast iron kettle cannot get along.

Tetsubin is suitable for green tea, ripe puerh, yellow tea, white tea and flower tea, yet it is not suitable for oolong, young raw pu-erh and black tea. When it is used for the right category of tea, it makes the taste mellower and sweeter. If it is used for the wrong category of tea such as oolong, the flavor becomes flat.

Tetsubin changes the taste of water because of the activated layer of iron. After casting, Iron kettle is baked in charcoal fire that reduces Fe3+ into Fe2+. The reduced iron Fe2+ actively interacts with the mineral and water and changes the size of clusters. The size of cluster becomes smaller and increase the reaction between minerals in water and substances in tea such as poly phenol.

From the sensery point of view, tetsubin improve the flavor, although it a little reduce aroma. Using tetsubin treated water, you feel more taste at your throat. This effect is a little similar to purple clay. However tetsubin water provide a little more aroma intensity. Based on our experiment, the combining tetsubin boiled water with purple clay teapot gives the best taste for green tea, flower tea and puerh ripe tea.

Source: http://hojotea.com/categ_e/tetsubin.htm
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Answer:

I don't think there is contradiction with what I say, bearing in mind there are many different types of oolong tea, ranging from a green Pouchong or Iron Goddess to a heavily oxidised/roasted Wuyi.

Here is an extract from my webpage:

Cast iron kettles produce water that is heavy with more body. It should be used for the heavily oxidised teas such as Wuyi oolongs, red tea, black tea and the old pu-erh tea.

Source: http://www.amazing-green-tea.com/tea-kettle.html

I hope this helps.

Julian