temp and time are the most important things on that kind of teamutroke wrote:I never had the Kaboku sencha, but i'm drinking the Ippodo Hosen sencha and their Kanro Gyokuro now. The Hosen sencha gets super bitter if the water is a bit hotter and you go past the 2 minutes steeping mark. What i do to be consistent is i always boil the same amount of water, exactly for 2 cups (240 ml total) , after it boils i set the timer to wait 6 or 7 minutes for the water to cool down (i don't use a scale thermometer) then set timer to 2 minutes for the steeping. If i wait just 4 or 5 minutes for the water to cool down and i steep longer than 3 minutes...its gonna be bitter, so the key is to use the timer and always use same amount of water for boiling (or heating) so you can keep ur waiting time the same . Some other senchas i had (from other japanese vendors) were much more forgiving, but this Ippodo Hosen (and also a bit their Kanro gyo) has no mercy for hotter water and longer steeps, it just gives you the "definition of bitterness"...i think this was the most bitter japanese sencha i ever had, but if the timing is right, its goodHotLeafJuice wrote: I'm currently drinking some Kaboku sencha from ippodo tea, and although it's a good quality sencha, it's also VERY easy to brew wrong...
Does anyone have any tips on being consistent in brewing more "sensitive" japanese greens?
Thanks.
my fafourite formula for sencha/kabusecha/fukamishu is 60°,60s, 10s10s10s
with slight adaptiations this is at least a good starting point for every tea you brew for the first time
you need at least one yuzamashi and a timer
I do 2-3 steps of watercooling in the beginning, when the water is hotter and 1-2 steps after it cooled down already a bit for each round of brewing
first round of brewing: the boiled water goes into the selected kyusu for a minute
from there to the selected cup(s) for a minute
in the meantime the leaf goes into the kyusu, lid closed
from the cups to a yuzamashi for a minute
from there to the kyusu on the tea, it should have around 60-70 C then
the first step sits 50-60s most often
second round from the boiler/pot to the yuzamashi and again to the cups or the other way round and then to the kyusu
3rd should be enough to have it from the boiler to the yuzamashi and then to the kyusu
all depending on how fast you are cycling
in general they say, you may step down up to 20 degrees C within each step and the next pot is not warm
