Today's NYTimes has a great article in Food section by Harold McGee about the relationship of heat and food. He touches upon the bitterness of tea or coffee as a result of using higher than desired water temperature. How true!
For my favorite Oolong tea from Taiwan, my daily experience concludes that using water at temperature about 200 degree F (when water starts to boil gently) and steeping tea for 2 minutes produce refreshing cup of tea without bitterness. (Boiling water or long steeping tends to draw out bitter components from tea leaves.)
