Drinking Sencha "grandpa style."

[fire_snake]

I'm experimenting with green tea and I've devoted most of my time to the world of Japanese greens.

I have some wonderful Ureshino Sencha from Japantea.

http://www.japantea.org/tealist.html

Today I brought it to work and thought I'd just rough it a bit and try some brewed and enjoyed straight from a mid-size mug. I added leaves to the mug (not much) and hoped they would settle to the bottom during brewing. I was expecting the tea to be rather bitter because there wold be no decanting, so, crestfallen, I awaited the boiling water to cool a bit.

A minute or two later, the water still uncomfortably hot, I poured it around the wall of the mug and let the brew sit for a few minutes. So now I'm way past the recommended brewing time for Sencha. Fearing the worst, I took a few sips.

Grassy, spinachy, sweet, buttery. Refreshing. Not even a hint of bitterness. I slowly made my way through to near the bottom over the next little while, with just enough water to cover the leaves near the end. Glistening and shining like emeralds, I admired the leaves and sampled the aroma: incredible. I've never experienced such intense, vibrant, varied flavour from the "standard" brewing methods I've tried so far. And the water I used was quite hot. The aroma was grassy, buttery sweetness, just like the taste. I sensed a toffee sweet smell mingling with a mild grassy aroma. A cotton-candy like quality. It's almost indescribable.

I added more water to the brew for a second infusion. New notes of sweetness, a buttery finish going down past the tongue. No bitterness. Even near the bottom of the mug.

Four infusions later and I must say, this was quite an experience. I did not use a lot of leaf, but it filled the bottom quarter of the mug nicely. The leaves stood up well to each successive addition of hot (and progressively cooler) water to the brew.

Grandpa style. Kinda. But remarkably effective. Must be high-quality Sencha to be able to achieve this result, I'm guessing.

Cheers,

Christian

[Chip]

Interesting post. I have never remotely tried this.

I see you use progressively cooler water for each steep?

[edkrueger]

I have tried this as well. Works well with well groomed really light steamed asamushi–anything else and you are swallowing too many leaves. I have also done this with a gaiwan using the lid as a strainer. My trick is to put the leaves in, add about 1/3 to 1/2 of the cup's worth of room temperature water and fill the rest with boiling water. Drink half and refill with boiling water. This keeps the temperature about right and makes each "brew" a little hotter.

[fire_snake]

I was surprised as well. The leaves eventually sank to te bottom. This was after several minutes, however. I thought that I had overbrewed it. But not so. It was almost like drinking a Long Jing.

As you get nearer the bottom you'll need to sip with a little more caution in order to keep more water than leaf near your mouth. However, this way, the mug spends a little more time making contact with you, and the aromas make themselves known and tend to linger. It's quite enjoyable.

Maybe I got lucky. Who knows. I'll have to try this again.

[Stentor]

Interesting.
It'd be nice if you could take a few pictures next time and post them here!

Like edkrueger said, you can drink Japanese tea directly from a gaiwan, though this is done mostly with Gyokuro or Kabusecha as far as I know, probably because it can be drunk highly concentrated. So it makes sense that you'd be able to drink Asamushi Sencha in lower concentration from a tall glass.

Also thanks to edkrueger for describing your method of drinking half and then adding more hot water. This makes a lot of sense to me.

I might give this a try for the fun of it. It also opens up new possibilities for when I'm not at home and don't have other tea ware available.

[fire_snake]

I'm using Gyokuro here, specifically Yame Gyokuro nami from Japantea. Gyokuro is a little more messy and the results are not as pronounced as with Sencha. It seems Sencha might be a more ideal candidate for this brewing "method" (I hesitate to call it a method because there's not much method at all!)

Stage 1:

Leaves added to mug or cup.



Stage 2:

Water added to vessel, poured on wall. Leaves are agitated and floating about. It'll take a few minutes for everything to settle to the bottom. Fears about over-brewing start creeping in.



Stage 3:

We're about halfway done here. The taste is robust, no bitterness (at least for me, with Sencha.) Leaves are more or less out of the way. Notice how there is decent separation between leaves and liquor. This is a very intimate experience. There is really no separation between you and the tea. You get it all and experience it all. Everything is laid bare. The aroma, the taste of the liquor, the way in which the leaves gently adjust at the bottom when the mug is tilted.



Stage 4:

We're done the first infusion. There is just enough water to cover the leaves. At this point we can admire how the leaves glisten, how emerald green they are, how they collectively move with the water if we swirl the brew a bit. This is the time to really enjoy the aroma as well. We're ready to add more water. I chose progressively cooler water the first time I tried this for fear of pulling out bitterness, but experimentation at this point is in order. It think high-quality Sencha (I used Gyokuro here but the results weren't that great) can stand higher temps.

[bryan_drinks_tea]

I did this all the time when i worked briefly as a commercial painter. Leaves, hot water, and a decent sized mug. I actually had really, really enjoyable tea during that time!

[Stentor]

Very nice post fire_snake!

It think high-quality Sencha (I used Gyokuro here but the results weren't that great) can stand higher temps.

Keep in mind that usually a good rule is: "the higher quality the (japanese green) tea, the lower the brewing temperature". So I don't think it's about whether it can stand higher temps, it's about whether it will shine at the low temps. With some teas, by using temperatures that are too high, you deprive yourself of some of the best nuances in aroma and taste the tea has to offer. Some you downright ruin with temperatures that are too high.
The particular mug you used seems somewhat thick walled (?) so I think you might want to start with even lower temperature than you would with a thin walled brewing vessel.
But like you said yourself, experimentation is in order!

[fire_snake]

Very nice post fire_snake!

It think high-quality Sencha (I used Gyokuro here but the results weren't that great) can stand higher temps.

Keep in mind that usually a good rule is: "the higher quality the (japanese green) tea, the lower the brewing temperature". So I don't think it's about whether it can stand higher temps, it's about whether it will shine at the low temps. With some teas, by using temperatures that are too high, you deprive yourself of some of the best nuances in aroma and taste the tea has to offer. Some you downright ruin with temperatures that are too high.
The particular mug you used seems somewhat thick walled (?) so I think you might want to start with even lower temperature than you would with a thin walled brewing vessel.
But like you said yourself, experimentation is in order!

This is a good point. I've been playing with brewing at lower temps, using Gyokuro mainly, since I ran out of Sencha. I'm getting some nice results and I think I might actually develop a taste for Gyokuro, although I find it lighter and less fuller-bodied than Sencha - though that characteristic cotton-candy sweet aroma is there, which to me is a very good sign. Still rather weak compared to Sencha, though. And a little more "eggy" than I'd like. But that's just me. I might warm up to it in time.

I'm going to order more Yame Sencha, though. I find myself craving it and preferring it to Dragonwell. My palate seems to have changed to favour Japanese greens. Odd, because I started out loving Dragonwell and my first Sencha experience was a disaster. But when I finally tried *good* Sencha that I ordered from Japantea, things changed. I find that I'm better at brewing Japenese greens as well, and that's just grandpa style. I find that I can drink all the way down to the leaves and there would be very little - if any - bitterness.

Now I just have to find a Kyusu set (or perhaps even better - a Houhin set?) that's made of porcelain. I'm not sure I like the idea of clay altering or enhancing the taste of my tea.

Is there a kind of glazed clay tea-ware (hagi? bizen? etc) that has very little to no porosity? I like the rustic look of this sort of teaware, but I've been quite set on porcelain. I have yet to buy Japanese teaware.

Thanks

Christian

[Xell]

For me this is a bit opposite, i'm starting to like sencha more than gyokuro. May be because i was drinking gyokuro too much and i got bored for now

About kyusu, i didn't visit big shops yet. But so far i didn't really see unglazed kyusu or teacups. I'm using big cheap kyusu for daily tea sencha or genmaicha, glass pot with mesh for houjicha and small 280ml Tokoname kyusu for gyokuro and sencha, when i want to enjoy the taste and process of brewing.

[fire_snake]

For me this is a bit opposite, i'm starting to like sencha more than gyokuro. May be because i was drinking gyokuro too much and i got bored for now

About kyusu, i didn't visit big shops yet. But so far i didn't really see unglazed kyusu or teacups. I'm using big cheap kyusu for daily tea sencha or genmaicha, glass pot with mesh for houjicha and small 280ml Tokoname kyusu for gyokuro and sencha, when i want to enjoy the taste and process of brewing.

Yes I find Sencha has more up-front robust body than Gyokuro. Maybe it's just my palate, so everyone else's mileage may vary.

I have held off on buying Japanese teaware for the moment. I'm very wary of clays that can potentially alter or otherwise "enhance" or "round out" the flavour of Japanese green tea. High quality tea needs no such alteration (I assume!) - not even subtle alteration. I might very well be wrong here, but although clay Kyusus of various kinds - Tokoname, Hagi, etc - might be traditional and certainly beautiful, they *appear to me as an affectation that might be best left behind.

I have a feeling I might be wrong about this, and I hope so. Because I've seen some gorgeous Tokoname and Banko ware, for instance. Then I run into the problem of Kyusu vs. Houhin. If I drink high-quality Sencha I assume Houhin. However I don't see why a Kyusu can't do the same thing.

I have already decided between small cups vs. one (or two) larger Yunomi. I find that a larger drinking vessel allows me to experience the tea more intimately, especially the aroma.

Christian




*I'm still learning