“Can you drink the first steep of tea?” This is a common question among tea lovers. In the past, due to poor tea-making environments and issues with tea transportation and storage, tea hygiene was sometimes a concern. Today, however, Taiwan tea is strictly regulated regarding hygiene and pesticides, so there is no need to purposely discard the first steep of Taiwan tea.
Why the first steep of tea used to be discarded
The main reason was food safety. Because of early tea garden management, packaging, hygiene, and most importantly, concerns over pesticide regulations, tea drinkers grew accustomed to treating the first steep as a “rinsing steep” and pouring it out to wash away dust and any potential pesticide residues.
However, over the past few decades, Taiwan’s tea-making environment, packaging, transportation, and pesticide regulations have made significant strides. As a result, this unwritten tea-drinking rule has become much less common over the last twenty years. Not only tea merchants who drink tea every day, but even tea farmers and tea factories practically nobody discards the first steep anymore.
Can you drink the first steep of tea? Will there be pesticide residues?
As mentioned earlier, Taiwan has strict regulations on pesticide use in tea. Moreover, most common pesticides are “fat-soluble” and do not easily dissolve in water. Unless you are eating the leaves themselves, it is very difficult for pesticide residues to leach into the tea liquor during normal brewing. For the small fraction of water-soluble pesticides, the leaching amount is extremely low; experiments show you would have to drink 90 liters at once for it to reach a level that affects health. Therefore, you generally don’t need to worry about pesticide residues when drinking Taiwan tea.
Can you drink the first steep of imported tea?
Processing conditions and pesticide usage vary for each type of tea, so if you have doubts, it’s best not to drink it. Additionally, due to storage and transportation, Pu-erh tea inevitably accumulates dust and can sometimes mold, so it is recommended not to drink the first steep.