Sencha quality and foam, anyone heard this?

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Mar 27th, '12, 04:25
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Sencha quality and foam, anyone heard this?

by Xell » Mar 27th, '12, 04:25

I saw recently someone saying, that the more foam when brewing sencha, the better it is, kind of indication of quality. Does anyone know about this something? Just trying to figure out where this came from. When i prepare tea i try to pour water as gently as possible and usually i don't see any foam.

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Mar 27th, '12, 05:28
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Re: Sencha quality and foam, anyone heard this?

by chado.my.teaway » Mar 27th, '12, 05:28

Year ago a I heard something like this. I dont know what thinking about that. I can see the foam in oolong and black tea brew. And sometimes in green.

I heard that the foam provides a good-brewed tea, not quality.
There's no denying that the more a firm stream of water, the more foam.

I hope you understand me;)

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Mar 28th, '12, 02:50
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Re: Sencha quality and foam, anyone heard this?

by Kevangogh » Mar 28th, '12, 02:50

The amount of foam has a lot to do with the water and how it was heated. If you try to use microwaved water you'll get almost no foam.

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Re: Sencha quality and foam, anyone heard this?

by Chip » Mar 28th, '12, 11:43

I never noticed "foam" before, but yesterday there was a decent amount of foam or bubbles in my kyusu as I brewed.

Not sure otherwise what you may be referring to Xell? :mrgreen:

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Mar 28th, '12, 13:38
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Re: Sencha quality and foam, anyone heard this?

by Xell » Mar 28th, '12, 13:38

Because several people mentioned foam i got interested why it appears and why they talked about it being related to quality. Today i got "Kinetics and equilibria of tea infusion. Part 11 The kinetics of the
formation of tea scum" by Michael Spiro & Deogratius Jaganyi. Didn't read yet, but seems it's not as simple, as just how water was heated.

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Mar 31st, '12, 04:46
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Re: Sencha quality and foam, anyone heard this?

by Xell » Mar 31st, '12, 04:46

As far as i understand, foam in tea has a lot to do with saponins contained in leafs. Here's a photo of what i meant (not mine). Though didn't search on why some teas have more and some teas have less and how it affects the taste, but they idea actually got interesting, might return to it later :)


Image

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Re: Sencha quality and foam, anyone heard this?

by Stentor » Mar 31st, '12, 05:11

I think even if there was something to it (which I doubt), foam would be a poor indicator of quality of leaf. Can't you just get similar kinds of bubbles (or "foam") by pouring the water/tea from an elevated position so that it hits the liquid that's already in the cup very hard, causing air bubbles to form?
It seems hard to differentiate between the possible cause for this "foam".
I don't think you can get a lot of foam/bubbles if you pour very gently.
But please, convince me otherwise :)

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Re: Sencha quality and foam, anyone heard this?

by Tead Off » Mar 31st, '12, 06:16

I only want foam in my matcha, please. :D

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Mar 31st, '12, 09:35
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Re: Sencha quality and foam, anyone heard this?

by Xell » Mar 31st, '12, 09:35

Stentor wrote:I think even if there was something to it (which I doubt), foam would be a poor indicator of quality of leaf. Can't you just get similar kinds of bubbles (or "foam") by pouring the water/tea from an elevated position so that it hits the liquid that's already in the cup very hard, causing air bubbles to form?
It seems hard to differentiate between the possible cause for this "foam".
I don't think you can get a lot of foam/bubbles if you pour very gently.
But please, convince me otherwise :)
Inside kyusu i won't pour from high height, i think it's wrong to do, but i saw some videos of tea-masters pouring from kyusu to cup from quite a height. Depends on how much saponins are contained in tea, foam can vary. So i wonder, if tea with more or less "foam" have something in common. Somehow i feel like there is nothing to it, but going to try and see if pouring into cup from longer distance changes taste or not.

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Re: Sencha quality and foam, anyone heard this?

by JRS22 » Mar 31st, '12, 10:00

It's quite a relief to learn that the bit of foam I see around the edges of the cup aren't from sloppy rinsing!

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Re: Sencha quality and foam, anyone heard this?

by Seeker » Mar 31st, '12, 10:28

I think I can clear this up -
stop using your chasen with your sencha!
Chasen is for use with matcha only.
:mrgreen:

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Re: Sencha quality and foam, anyone heard this?

by Chip » Mar 31st, '12, 10:49

Pouring from height can help to cool a tea ... I will occasionally do this if I am pouring into a pitcher or a larger yunomi ... and I want the tea cooled a bit. (plus sometimes it is a bit fun ... :oops: )

I do notice now that as I pour from vessel to vessel to cool the water before brewing, any bubbles that form disappear very quickly. However bubbles in my kyusu as I am brewing, remain. I would have thought this had something to do with the increasing viscosity ... and maybe air released or displaced by dry leaves absorbing water. :?:

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Apr 1st, '12, 15:38
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Re: Sencha quality and foam, anyone heard this?

by Kevangogh » Apr 1st, '12, 15:38

You can get foam from the very same batch of tea leaf that gave no foam on a different infusion five minutes prior. It depends on how you heat the water.

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Apr 1st, '12, 21:25
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Re: Sencha quality and foam, anyone heard this?

by chingwa » Apr 1st, '12, 21:25

I don't normally have foam in my kyusu... at least, not that I've noticed.... have a I been making my tea "wrong" all these years? now I'm starting to wonder... :D

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Apr 2nd, '12, 01:24
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Re: Sencha quality and foam, anyone heard this?

by Kevangogh » Apr 2nd, '12, 01:24

From my observations, I think it tastes better with a bit of foam, I aim for that.

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