How long to steep white tea?

For the past 4 years since I've discovered loose leaf tea, I've read
from various sources that white tea should be steeped at around 175 F
and for about 3 minutes. Lately I've been giving myself a little
refresher on the subject, and I was browsing around on adagio's site.
According to them, white tea should be steeped for 7 minutes. To me,
this seems like an eternity for such a delicate tea. Upton Teas, who I
believe to be a bit more knowledgable on this subject, still recommends
that all their white varieties be steeped for 3 minutes. As do most
other sources.

Since adagio seems to be the odd man out here, I still feel I should
steep all my whites for no more than 3 minutes. But I was wondering if
anyone else has heard of this or if anyone practices this.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Terry Youngkin <terryyoungkin@> wrote:
>
>Since adagio seems to be the odd man out here, I still feel I should
>steep all my whites for no more than 3 minutes. But I was wondering if
>anyone else has heard of this or if anyone practices this.

Try it. I think you'll find it becomes bitter with extended steeping
times, although it is possible that some higher grade whites have less
of a problem in that regard.

I have accidentally steeped white and green teas for extended times and
the results were never pleasant. On the other hand, you can leave the
Ten Ren _Oriental Beauty_ black tea there for hours without a problem.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."