Sencha in a Western Pot

[Qoppa]

I recently acquired some sencha to try, and I'm wondering how to go about brewing it using my big 24oz western style teapot. Specifically, what's a good water to leaf ratio, and how much should I try brewing at once? If I like it enough, maybe my next purchase will be a kyusu, but until then...

[entropyembrace]

Hmmmm less than ideal but...

For 24 fl oz try 4 teaspoons of leaf...or about 16g. Or you could half-fill the pot and use half that amount of leaf.

Given most western pots have very thick walls you´ll need to be extra careful with your water temperature...maybe start at 150ºF. I brew most of my sencha at 160ºF or 175ºF but that´s in a thin walled kyusu that loses heat quickly.

For infusion times try starting with 1 minute for the 1st infusion, 30s for the 2nd and for the 3rd back to 1 minute.

If it´s tasting too astringent or bitter half the infusion times next time you try.

If it´s tasting too weak you can change the 1 minute infusions to 1.5 minutes or 2 minutes...but keep the 2nd infusion at 30s. Also you could try increasing the temperature a bit to 160ºF

I´d recommend pouring through a fine mesh strainer since a western teapot isn´t likely to have a spout that can cope with all the fine particles in sencha.

[skarphedin]

You could try to brew it guerrilla-style: find a glass jar that can hold about 2dl (6-7 oz) and has a lid. Pre-heat with some hot water and empty. Put in the tea and pour in water enough for one cup. Place the lid on it and let the tea brew for the appropriate time. Then pour through a fine mesh strainer into your preferred cup.

I used this method for some time, before I got myself a kyusu. It's far from optimal, but it's nice to be able to watch the leaves brew through the glass, and I also like to have some tea particles in my tea. In addition it's easy to clean, and you don't have to break out the big pot just to brew a cup of tea.

[Qoppa]

I like the idea of brewing it in a glass jar for now. I'll see what I can find, but hopefully this will suffice until I can get my hands on a kyusu!

[AlexZorach]

I also love brewing in glass like that; I got the idea from Gingko of Life in Teacup. But I find, for me at least, it works better with Chinese green teas than Japanese ones.

I know this may seem sacrilegious to those anti-infuser people out there, but when brewing sencha in a western-style teapot, I always use a stainless-steel basket infuser. I use 1 teaspoon per cup of water, which is on the low side, and steep for about 3 minutes, less for stronger teas, but that's just how I like it. I typically make a second infusion then.

It's a matter of personal taste, experiment, and figure out what you like.

[Qoppa]

I'm a tad embarrassed to admit only recently did I actually muster the courage to try brewing my sencha. I used a glass jam jar, but both of the times I tried, it ended up quite astringent. I'm following the times and temperatures given by oliverco here. The first time I tried, I used too hot water right off the bat, so all my infusions were on the bitter side. I tried again today, and while my first infusion wasn't astringent, it was a bit weak. For the second infusion, I think I again used too hot of water and it was a very astringent cup. I ended up throwing out the leaves after that cup, not wanting to try again.

I'll get the hang of it yet! It's probably also partly my sencha - the stuff I'm using is rather cheap, and also now over a month old. I figure it'll be good to practice on until I learn how to make it taste good. Once I can brew good sencha, maybe I'll invest in a kyusu and some higher quality leaves.

[Stentor]

If it's too weak on the first infusion, just use a little more leaf.
However, the post you linked suggests a lot of leaf already. This much leaf will only work with high grade sencha. If the one you have is lower grade, then you're better off using much less leaf. Try using something like 3 g for 150 ml and see how it turns out. It may be a little weak but it's a good starting point. If you use way too much leaf with lower grade tea it can taste very, very bad. I had an experience once when I randomly tried a lot of leaf with lower grade sencha and it ended up smelling and tasting kind of like tobacco, yuck.

In my experience, the second infusion is the most important one as far as the quality of subsquent infusions go. You ruin the 2nd, you ruin the rest.
Using almost the same temperature as for the first infusion may help. Try only increasing the temperature by very little for subsequent infusions.

Let us know how it works out.

[iannon]

If it's too weak on the first infusion, just use a little more leaf.
However, the post you linked suggests a lot of leaf already. This much leaf will only work with high grade sencha. If the one you have is lower grade, then you're better off using much less leaf. Try using something like 3 g for 150 ml and see how it turns out. It may be a little weak but it's a good starting point. If you use way too much leaf with lower grade tea it can taste very, very bad. I had an experience once when I randomly tried a lot of leaf with lower grade sencha and it ended up smelling and tasting kind of like tobacco, yuck.

In my experience, the second infusion is the most important one as far as the quality of subsquent infusions go. You ruin the 2nd, you ruin the rest.
Using almost the same temperature as for the first infusion may help. Try only increasing the temperature by very little for subsequent infusions.

Let us know how it works out.

+1 Great post! the second is the most tricky for sure

[Qoppa]

So I tried reducing the amount of leaf to only 1.5 tsp, and while this resulted in a nice (but a bit weak) first cup, the second one was still astringent. Both steepings used ~180ml of water at 160-170F. The first steep was for 1 minute, and the second for 20 seconds.

Any other thoughts? I'm tempted to blame the sencha and the fact that it was really cheap, but it could just as easily be my lack of experience in brewing sencha.

[olivierco]

Any other thoughts? I'm tempted to blame the sencha and the fact that it was really cheap, but it could just as easily be my lack of experience in brewing sencha.

You should buy a good sencha (You sure will be able to find one among all the recommendations made in this forum) and compare.

[entropyembrace]

So I tried reducing the amount of leaf to only 1.5 tsp, and while this resulted in a nice (but a bit weak) first cup, the second one was still astringent. Both steepings used ~180ml of water at 160-170F. The first steep was for 1 minute, and the second for 20 seconds.

Any other thoughts? I'm tempted to blame the sencha and the fact that it was really cheap, but it could just as easily be my lack of experience in brewing sencha.

It´s probably the tea...the cheapest sencha that I´ve tried was also the most astringent and hardest to brew.

[Qoppa]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I'll finish off my current sencha using single steeps, and then probably purchase some nicer stuff to try.

[Chip]

Crappy sencha can however be good practice in brewing sencha ... get over the learning curve with the cheap stuff.

And if you can make the crappy tea taste good, then you will be able to make the good stuff sing!

[kymidwife]

I thought I didn't like green tea at all until I bought a decent grade to work with. My initial brewing skills were poor, but when I got better, I still had a pretty lousy cup of tea. You can make a bad tea worse with brewing parameters... but you can't make it better than it is. I wish I could get back the money I wasted on poor sencha so I could apply it toward some sae midori or yutaka midori. Mmmm.

Sarah

[bryan_drinks_tea]

Crappy sencha can however be good practice in brewing sencha ... get over the learning curve with the cheap stuff.

And if you can make the crappy tea taste good, then you will be able to make the good stuff sing!

truer words have never been spoken. If i knew back then what i know now....