Preheating kyusu

[thirtysixbelow]

I recently noticed some discussion on preheating vs not preheating the kyusu before brewing. I'm just curious about the reasoning behind the choice. It seems to me that not preheating the kyusu means you can use warmer water which might extract more flavor in the first few seconds before the excess temperature is absorbed by the kyusu. Is the goal to use hot enough water to offset the preheat so the resulting brewing temperature is same after everything levels off? What are the benefits and are there any rules for which teas might benefit (shincha, fukamushi, asamushi) or is it just trial and error?

[olivierco]

Preheating permits to have a better temperature control. It also prevents to "cook" the leaves by pouring too hot water directly on them.
It is also a convenient way to cool your boiling water and clean your kyuusu.

[Chip]

I agree with Olivier, definitely more control when preheating!

This is mostly personal choice and there are no strict rules, or no universal rules, as is the case with most brewing parameters.

I find there are times one way works better than the other for a particular sencha. I generally preheat for sencha, and always preheat for gyokuro. I virtually never preheat for bancha, genmaicha, houjicha, etc.

Preheating prevents rapid temp drop when pouring water into the kyusu, thus a lower temp can be used. This is particularly helpful with more sensitive sencha for instance.

If however I notice the tea seems "too soft" for me, I will use a higher temps and not preheat, this seems to "shock" the leaf a bit ... or wakes the leaf, thus releasing higher flavor notes. The temp then quickly drops and the leaf is usually not harmed. Had I preheated and used this higher temp, the leaf would likely be "cooked" as Olivier indicates.

When I do not preheat, for high quality sencha I go around 175*, when I do, I go around 160*. Preheating is only for the first steep.

[thirtysixbelow]

If however I notice the tea seems "too soft" for me, I will use a higher temps and not preheat, this seems to "shock" the leaf a bit ... or wakes the leaf, thus releasing higher flavor notes.

By too soft do you mean lacking any astringency?

[Chip]

... can mean several things including lacking flavor, desired intensity, high points (muted), balance (possibly due to complete absense of astringency or bitterness), or even lack of aroma which affects taste so dynamically.

Yeah, soft ...

[TEAcipes]

i was told that by pre-warming the kyusu, and then letting the tea leaves steam a bit in there prior to brewing, the tea fairy comes out & makes a better cup

no, seriously though, it works.

[Chip]

i was told that by pre-warming the kyusu, and then letting the tea leaves steam a bit in there prior to brewing, the tea fairy comes out makes a better cup

no, seriously though, it works.

Ahhh, so it must be the sweet TeaFairy smell that comes up to greet my nose when I do this, realllllly quite nice!!!

[Domn]

I preheat my kyusu for temperature control.
Also I lower the temperature of water more quickly this way, because I do not own water cooler.

[Oni]

I do not use a water cooler, just pour the water in the cups than back in the teapot and so on, I think preheating your kyusu is like foreplay, offcourse you can do your thing without it, but it is usually better to start with it.

[Sam.]

I think preheating your kyusu is like foreplay, offcourse you can do your thing without it, but it is usually better to start with it.

[Pentox]

I don't normally preheat out of sense of laziness. Then again though I use a zoji for my water and don't have to worry about it being too hot so much. Preheating with zoji water tends to mean i'll use twice as much of it.

If you compensate your temp vs preheating I don't find too much of a difference in taste, at least not one that's worth the effort.

[TIM]

I think preheating your kyusu is like foreplay, offcourse you can do your thing without it, but it is usually better to start with it.

hmmm... Well put. Here's foreplay in live action:

http://theteagallery.blogspot.com/2009/ ... encha.html

[Sam.]

Very nice Tim. On a more serious note, I generally don't pre-heat my kyusu, also out of laziness, but in my next tea-purchase I'm buying a samashi water cooler and a thermometer so I might as well start since it will be easy now!