My water is not the temperature the kettle says

In short

The number on a kettle describes the water in the kettle at the moment it stopped heating, and several degrees are routinely lost between there and the leaf. Some of the loss is predictable and can be planned for; some indicates a kettle that has drifted.

Likely causes, in order

Most likely first. Answer the question under each one before moving on — several of these look alike in the cup and are told apart only by what was done to the leaf.

1. 1. Heat lost into a cold vessel

   Equipment

   Check: Do you preheat the pot or gaiwan before brewing?

   Fix: Rinse the vessel with hot water first and discard it. A cold porcelain gaiwan can take five to ten degrees out of the water instantly, and a thick stoneware pot considerably more.

2. 2. A long or narrow spout shedding heat during the pour

   EquipmentInferred by TeaHQ, not established

   Check: Are you pouring through a gooseneck?

   Fix: Set the kettle a few degrees higher, or pour faster. A slow stream through a long narrow spout loses noticeably more heat than a short fast pour.

3. 3. Limescale on the element

   Equipment

   Check: When was the kettle last descaled?

   Fix: Descale it. A scaled element heats unevenly and the sensor reads the water beside it rather than the average, so a controlled kettle becomes progressively less accurate as scale builds.

4. 4. The kettle has never been checked against a thermometer

   Equipment

   Check: Do you know what it actually delivers at each setting?

   Fix: Measure once with a probe at each setting you use and write the offsets down. Ten minutes of calibration is worth more than any further adjustment of brewing parameters.

5. 5. Reheating from warm rather than from cold

   EquipmentInferred by TeaHQ, not established

   Check: Was the kettle already hot when you started it?

   Fix: Some kettles overshoot when restarted from warm and some cut out early. Empty and refill with fresh cold water, which also avoids the flatness of twice-boiled water.

Tea types this applies to

• Green tea
• White tea

Brewing methods this applies to

• Gongfu brewing (gaiwan) — A high-leaf, low-volume, many-infusions approach: a great deal of leaf in a small vessel, steeped for seconds at a time and poured off completely, repeatedly.
• Kyusu brewing (Japanese style) — The Japanese domestic approach to green tea: a moderate quantity of leaf, water well off the boil, short steeps, and two or three infusions from the same leaf with the times adjusted each time.

Guides covering this

• Making tea in a microwave — It works, it is worse than a kettle for reasons that are physical rather than snobbish, and there is one genuine hazard worth knowing about before you do it.

Related problems

Sharing a cause category, a tea type or a brewing method with this one.

• My green tea tastes flat and looks dark in this house — A delicate green tea that tasted bright elsewhere comes out dull and heavy here, with a darker, browner liquor than it should have and none of its aroma.
• My teapot came out of the dishwasher damaged or tasting wrong — A pot or cup returns from a dishwasher cycle dulled, with faded decoration, a fine web of surface cracks, or a persistent taste that was not there before.
• There is sediment in the bottom of my cup — A layer of fine dark particles settles out, and the last mouthful is gritty.
• My second infusion is much worse than the first — The first steep is good and the second is bitter, flat or both.
• The leaf clogs my strainer and the pour stops — Liquid backs up behind the strainer or the pot’s built-in filter, and the last of the tea will not come through.

Sources