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I thought this might be good food for thought, especially for a group such as this with many industry members and devout tea drinkers.

We have a good reputation for knowing our teas and how best to brew them. When the majority are caught boiling green teas and over-/under-steeping others, it helps to have appropriate guidelines. But I know especially that it is easy to get stuck to strict rules, and easy to forget one of the most certain aspect's of tea: it is hardly black-and-white.

I admit, that I can get overzealous about procedure, though I finally had an experience which seriously showed me how to appreciate the gray areas of tea.
A man, yesterday, served me a top-grade Gyokuro (about 10,000 yen for 100g), steeped it in cold water (below room temp.) and in less than the time it would take to prepare black tea, gave me an exquisitely sweet cup of tea.

I am not proposing a new method, but it opened my eyes. I still have my biases and tendencies to follow procedure. I think it's only right to have a preferred method for my teas, but at least I can see the possibilities beyond the strict rules.

Let me know what you think. This is a group I feel can appreciate the experience I had and take it for what it's worth. As someone who's job it has been to educate proper tea prep. to help the spread of tea, I can't think it's appropriate to share this with people who aren't ready for it. But it was pretty damn good gyokuro...

Cold-brewed sencha. I make it all the time.

You say you had your rulebook, and this shattered it? Au contrare, cold brewing has an entire rulebook of its own.

Perhaps it's useful to think more in terms of a recipe book than a rule book.

If one can create ABC conditions for XYZ ingredients to infuse, certain results may be expected.

But new ideas and approaches can certainly yield interesting new results!

One of the funnest things about tea...is its preparation. Most of us have our own personal tea ceremonies, and I most certainly do also.

But the most fun thing for me about tea preparation is learning how to brew a new tea or a familiar tea even better. I think we all follow this mantra at least to a degree.

Tea is so awsome in every respect including our fascination with preparation.

I will agree with Chip; it is a treat discovering new ways of looking at your daily ceremony, and that certainly was the intention of this infusion.

Cold-brew sencha shouldn't be new to most of us, and far from how I would describe Nabeshima-san's gyokuro. He wouldn't be caught tossing this tea in your typical cold brew summer treat, but with just the right approach and in an appropriate quantity it really did make a ceremony. Something entirely unique which showcased parts of the tea's character even better than your standard 60-degree brew.

It was very intentional that he chose to pour cool water on those leaves for me, or there would be no reason not to have gone the typical route. I appreciated what he was trying to share with me; and you are right, it does add a new perspective to my recipe book. It's a time in my life when I am anxious to gather recipes in several different areas. Meeting interesting people is a fantastic way to go about it.

It took courage for me to chuck boiling hot water on some top grade liu an gua pian - I didn't waste the tea and am now much braver in pushing chinese greens to their limit temp wise, often with great results. Similarly some pu-erh can benefit from far lower temps than the 100c usually quoted.

Live and learn etc........ just remember you're not always right - A year ago I would have dismmissed someone who prepared green tea with almost boiling water.

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...it's like deja vu all over again...

Probably a dumb question, but how does one go about cold-brewing sencha? It sounds interesting, since I tend to like my drinks cold.

Can I use it with any sencha? Any other green teas? How cold does the water have to be? How long do you steep it.

I want to know more!

Hi Forky,
Here is one method for cold brewing, there are others. Cold brewing does give it a different taste.

Cold Brewing Sencha

Mary R wrote:...it's like deja vu all over again...

Hahaha, nice Mary.

Chip wrote:Hi Forky,
Here is one method for cold brewing, there are others. Cold brewing does give it a different taste.

Cold Brewing Sencha

Thanks for the link.

One thing I'm not clear on, though, is how cold the water has to be. Are we talking.. like 40 degree water.. or like .. 65 degree water? Or am I missing the point?

To be honest, vendors tell you all different things regarding this as well as brew time.

Some say put it right into the fridge for an hour, others say overnight. Others say to pour ice water over it and it is ready in 10 minutes.

I like it hot sencha generally, but I would like to play around with this over the summer.

Shameless plug, but its on topic:

http://anotherteablog.blogspot.com/2007 ... usion.html