There are many ways of brewing green tea. Today I would like to explain one of the unique ways of brewing Japanese green tea. This is NOT an authentic way. For that you can look in here –> Brewing Guide ShiZen Tea.
I call this the espresso style and it is one of the way I use to find out the characteristics (taste, color, and aroma etc.) of the tea. It is very very simple.
What you need
You do not use any tea pot kyusu. You will need a small shallow bowl. If it has a spout to aid the pouring it will be the best.
- Loose Leaf (half of tea spoon)
- 60C/140F Warm Water (1/4 cup or even less depending on the bowl)
- Small Shallow Bowl (with a spout ideally)
- Small Tea Cup
The amount for loose leaf and warm water will vary depending on the bowl size.
This time I used the small beaker like glass ware I got from the Hyakuen Shop (Japanese version of Dollar Shop).
And used the Matsuba for the tea cup.
For the Loose leaf, we have used the Organic Sencha Superior Green Tea.
Step1: Add Tea Leaf and Prepare Water
Add the Sencha Superior loose leaf to your bowl and prepare warm water
Step2: Brew it for 2-3 minutes
After you put in the water brew for 2-3 minutes .
Pour the water so it will be slightly above the tea leaves. You will notice that the tea leaves will be floating on top.
While you are brewing, try smelling the tea. You will notice it will have a pretty strong aroma than usual brewing. Also you can see the tea leaves opening up and moving. You will not experience this in Tea Pot Kyusu brewing (unless its a clear glass kyusu) so it is pretty interesting.
Step3: Pour it out and Enjoy!
Please pour out the teas slowly or you will have many tea leaves ending up in your tea cup. You can even use a strainer if you have one.
Then you will have a very thick tea like espresso and you will notice the strong umami (savory) will spread through out your mouth. If you feel the bitterness too much it might be better to test in lower water temperature. You will clearly be able to notice the characteristics of the tea since everything is concentrated and strong.
You can also try second shots with the same tea leaves, but of course it will not be as strong as the first shot.
I recommend to use hi-end teas like Superior Sencha, but of course using genmaicha and hojicha will also be interesting.
Thank you for reading!
Yosuke
ShiZen Tea