So this is driving me crazy :
After the 1st infusion of Sencha, all following infusions in my Kyusu cause the tea leaves to clog the spout. The water only slowly dribbles out and a lot of water is left inside, causing the leaves to soak up even more. I've tried shaking the Kyusu before and while I pour out the tea, but not to much effect.
It's interesting that I almost never have this issue at the 1st infusion. Also, when I go to a Japanese tea house in my town, even the 3rd and 4th infusion don't tend to clog up their teaware. So I guess it's because of the mesh type of my Kyusu? When I look at the ones in my tea house, I can't really tell the difference: they are also using these fine metal meshes, but something must be different?
I thought about buying a Kyusu with either a very coarse grained mesh, probably not even of metal. I've also seen that there are Kyusus that have a metal mesh all around the inner body, probably they don't clog that easily?
Here is an image of my Kyusu (with a centimeter measure for comparison).
Is clogging for these types of meshes a known issue? Is it the type of tea leaves? Am I doing it wrong?
I've also attached a picture of the tea that I am currently drinking. I've heard there are different types of Japanese green tea leaves, some that tend to clog more?
I'd be very happy about any advice. Thanks for your thoughts!
How to prevent clogging after 1st infusion
all i know is that japan is pretty expensive... its almost same as the u.s... but i got a question... how much it cost with JET??.... its kinda new to me ehhehe.... :p :p
Re: How to prevent clogging after 1st infusion?
Hello,
What I do is, in a fluid motion, make a reversed J with my hand brewing the tea. this cuts off the water from the spout, pulling the water (and, subsequently the tea leaves) back into the Kyusu. It's a motion similar to scooping ice cream.
It doesn't really damage the tea leaves or mess up the infusion at all, but it helps prevent the mesh from getting clogged.
I have a bamboo pick as well to remove any that does happen to get caught, as an added measure.
What I do is, in a fluid motion, make a reversed J with my hand brewing the tea. this cuts off the water from the spout, pulling the water (and, subsequently the tea leaves) back into the Kyusu. It's a motion similar to scooping ice cream.
It doesn't really damage the tea leaves or mess up the infusion at all, but it helps prevent the mesh from getting clogged.
I have a bamboo pick as well to remove any that does happen to get caught, as an added measure.