Should you rinse tea?

To rinse tea, briefly wet the leaves with hot water, then pour that water away. This is common with pu-erh, dark tea and some oolongs. For many other teas, you can go straight to brewing and drink the first infusion.

Biluochun leaves opened up after brewing in a gaiwan.
Photo: Dark NirK · CC BY-SA 3.0

Steps

When to try it. A brief rinse wets tightly rolled or compressed leaves and may carry away some loose fragments. To compare the flavour, prepare two equal portions: rinse one and brew the other directly. Green, yellow, fresh white and loose black tea are often brewed without rinsing. Discarding water also discards some flavour, though the first infusion is not necessarily the best one.
How to rinse. Use water at your chosen brewing temperature. Add it to the leaves and start pouring it away almost immediately, after about 3–5 seconds. Drain fully into a separate vessel; only use a tea tray if it has a reservoir or drainage. For tightly compressed tea, you can let the damp leaves rest briefly after draining. Age or compression alone does not require a second rinse. Do not try to fix an objectionable smell with repeated rinsing.
What rinsing cannot guarantee. It does not sterilise tea or guarantee the removal of pesticides or other contaminants. If you have reason to doubt the tea’s condition, do not try to make it safe by rinsing. Leaf fragments do not themselves prove contamination, but unidentified dust should not automatically be dismissed as harmless leaf.
Caffeine remains. Some caffeine enters the rinse water, but a brief rinse does not make tea caffeine-free. There is no universal removal percentage: the leaves and brewing conditions matter. If you need to avoid caffeine, choose a caffeine-free drink; mature leaves or repeated rinses cannot guarantee that result.

Questions and answers

Must I always discard the first infusion of pu-erh?

No. Rinsing is a common way to wet compressed tea and can be a flavour preference, rather than a safety requirement.

Does white tea need rinsing once it is seven years old?

No. There is no such age threshold. Consider the particular tea, its form and the result you want.

Can I drink the first infusion without rinsing?

Yes, provided the tea itself is fit to drink. Skipping a rinse does not automatically make the first infusion unsuitable.