I've been mostly drinking Chinese and Taiwanese oolongs for the past few months but have been trying to mix in some more sencha again, especially with shincha season approaching. I still sometimes find sencha a bit too bitter, at first I just thought that I must just prefer tea w/o astringency. However I wonder if I'm brewing the sencha too strongly - a couple of regular tea drinkers, but not frequent sencha drinkers, thought the sencha I made was "strong". One was a tea from Ito-En - Hoshino competition grade sencha. I made it today using 4 gms of tea in about 4.5 oz of 160F water, preheated the kyusu w/the same water. I brewed it for 2 mins and thought it was ok but maybe a bit bitter. Was this too long? - first brew should be 1.5 mins? or 1 min? I don't have enough sencha left to experiment - need to wait for shincha to arrive. I thought I knew what I was doing since I've been drinking tea "seriously" for a few years now, but now not so sure about what is best for sencha, even though I know that differs from person to person.
Thoughts? Chip?
1 tsp for what volume of water? 4 gms was probably just under 2 tsp for the 4 or 5 oz of water I used.spot52 wrote:I do a tsp. of tea for 1.5 minutes. I do not know the temp. I just don't let it get to a rolling boil. I don't get any bitterness. But that is just the way I do it, others may vary for sure.
TokyoB
Apr 12th, '09, 11:00
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The variables can be adjusted to find your cup, but each tea can be a little different, and if it is asa, chu or fuka will affect mostly time and amount of leaf to water.
I think a lot of us use a simple ratio method to determine how much leaf to water we will use, but this is going to vary a bit depending on type of sencha and personal taste.
A ratio of .6 - 1 gram leaf per 1 ounce (30 ml) water. I personally tend to go lighter for asamushi and heavier for fukamushi. So for Den's Zuiko (asa) I am around .7 grams per ounce for 90 seconds at 160*. Fukamushi Supreme from O-Cha I am going a gram per ounce (just did minutes ago, yum) 45 seconds or so in 160*.
Unfortunately, this will all change with shincha which is more intense, I tend to adjust down a bit in leaf.
Also, organics tend to use more leaf btw.
I think a lot of us use a simple ratio method to determine how much leaf to water we will use, but this is going to vary a bit depending on type of sencha and personal taste.
A ratio of .6 - 1 gram leaf per 1 ounce (30 ml) water. I personally tend to go lighter for asamushi and heavier for fukamushi. So for Den's Zuiko (asa) I am around .7 grams per ounce for 90 seconds at 160*. Fukamushi Supreme from O-Cha I am going a gram per ounce (just did minutes ago, yum) 45 seconds or so in 160*.
Unfortunately, this will all change with shincha which is more intense, I tend to adjust down a bit in leaf.
Also, organics tend to use more leaf btw.
I never go above 1 minute with sencha, generally I use 7 gramms with 200 ml water, 75 C water and 1 minute with a fast pouring kyusu, second infusion is 20 seconds, if you read carefully no japanese site recomends brewing sencha above 1 minute, and with deep steamed only 40 seconds, and second infusion is instant pour, I use 2 minutes for gyokuro only, and finally banko purple clay reduces the astringency of sencha, with sencha miyabi from o-cha I even felt it sweet, and consider that japanese tea is best made with water boiled in activated iron tetsubin, I read that a good tetsubin makes water sweeter and fresher that your average water boiler, this year I am going to buy a tetsubin so I hope I can confirm the heavenly combination of bankoyaki and tetsubin, and a good exhibition grade sencha.
Hmmm...that's on the high side for amount of leaf but you make up for it with a shorter steep time. How many times do you steep the tea in total? I usually go for three but the third is often not that great.Oni wrote:I never go above 1 minute with sencha, generally I use 7 gramms with 200 ml water, 75 C water and 1 minute with a fast pouring kyusu, second infusion is 20 seconds, if you read carefully no japanese site recomends brewing sencha above 1 minute, and with deep steamed only 40 seconds, and second infusion is instant pour, I use 2 minutes for gyokuro only,
Last edited by TokyoB on Apr 12th, '09, 11:26, edited 1 time in total.
Apr 12th, '09, 11:25
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Oni wrote:I never go above 1 minute with sencha, generally I use 7 gramms with 200 ml water, 75 C water and 1 minute with a fast pouring kyusu, second infusion is 20 seconds, if you read carefully no japanese site recomends brewing sencha above 1 minute, and with deep steamed only 40 seconds, and second infusion is instant pour,
BS ... I am sorry, but most of the brewing info on Japanese sites simply does not translate well or simply does not compute for the vast majority of Western Japanese tea aficionados. Of course if you use the amount of leaf some of the sites recommend, you would brew shorter. But I do not think that is optimal. I stand behind my times, but if it works for you, who am I to dispute, maybe you are part Japanese.
Any more leaf is like throwing money away and I already get at least 5 steeps. Also, TokyoB, the more leaf will possibly make your tea more astringent, something you are already trying to avoid.
But there is no "rule of thumb," only guidelines and schools of thought to apply and adjust to taste.
Tetsubin kettles may be nice, but in the real world, for most of us they are too fussy and demanding and impractical and present a whole new set of variables that I will pass on for now.
And finally, one day I will get a banko and test this out, til then, I have no complaints, only praise about quality Tokoname and Hagi for brewing.
.
With asamushi sencha (Kaboku for instance) I usually use about 4-4.5 g for 100 ml and about 80s for first steep (70-75°C).
Japanese sites usually advise to use lots of leaves, especially Ippodo which gives 10g per 210 ml, 60s (instant pour for second and third steeps), 80°C. But you don't have to follow these indications blindly.
Japanese sites usually advise to use lots of leaves, especially Ippodo which gives 10g per 210 ml, 60s (instant pour for second and third steeps), 80°C. But you don't have to follow these indications blindly.
olivierco,olivierco wrote:With asamushi sencha (Kaboku for instance) I usually use about 4-4.5 g for 100 ml and about 80s for first steep (70-75°C).
Japanese sites usually advise to use lots of leaves, especially Ippodo which gives 10g per 210 ml, 60s (instant pour for second and third steeps), 80°C. But you don't have to follow these indications blindly.
Do you usually make 3 steepings this way (i.e. using relatively more leaf)? Do you find the third steeping still enjoyable/not too weak or bitter? Do you ever go beyond 3?
On a side note, what size pot do you usually use to brew 100ml?
TokyoB
I use one and a half tablespoon of leaf, I know it is around 7 grams, beacause once I recieved 4 packs of yame tea each 5 grams, and I had some sencha left and I measured out my usual amount and I think it is around 2 grams more, and with gyokuro I use 10 grams for my houhin, and I also use very soft water, total 70 water hardness, my tea specially deep steamed do not become too astringent, but if I use less it becomes too weak, believe me I tried a lot of variations, less leaves, more leaves, amounts, all result diffrent brews, I adjust for each tea, but the brewing time never above 1 minute for sencha.
the teapot hold 250 ml, so this is how much space does the tea take up (wet leaves)
the teapot hold 250 ml, so this is how much space does the tea take up (wet leaves)
Apr 12th, '09, 14:47
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I find the greater amount of leaf doesn't work so well for me. I wind up using closer to one-half gram per ounce, 60 to 90 seconds, and 160° - 170°. But it seems to me that I get wild variation from one session to another even when I think every detail is exactly the same! Sencha may actually be trickier to brew than Dan Cong.
But when everything works ... WOW!
But when everything works ... WOW!
I too struggle with sencha. I have had some that were some what drinkable, but I want to keep trying till I find one that is really, really good. My problem too, is astringency. Funny that I like it in a Darjeeling, but not in a green. That and vegetal tastes and fishy smells. Not liking many vegetables is another huge hurdle. But I do like matcha so I do think there are Japanese greens out there for me. But finding the one and the correct brewing technique is the challenge.
This summer I plan on doing some cold brewing and also trying a pour through
technique. I am taking my time, trying them as they come across my path. Eventually I know the right tea and technique will come.
This summer I plan on doing some cold brewing and also trying a pour through
technique. I am taking my time, trying them as they come across my path. Eventually I know the right tea and technique will come.
I think there is a lot of wiggle room with sencha...
at work to save time instead of doing 2 or 3 brews, i just brew once for 4 minutes, then dilute with water.
i had been doing two separate 2 minute infusions and mixing them together to get an even taste, but then i thought, what is the point of this when i could just brew once for 4 minutes... and then dilute to taste...
at work to save time instead of doing 2 or 3 brews, i just brew once for 4 minutes, then dilute with water.
i had been doing two separate 2 minute infusions and mixing them together to get an even taste, but then i thought, what is the point of this when i could just brew once for 4 minutes... and then dilute to taste...