The tea bush and the technology for processing its leaves were brought to Japan from China. Like many Chinese varieties, the most famous Japanese teas are green teas. They have a characteristic herbaceous flavor and contain more moisture than Chinese teas. For this reason, Japanese tea is recommended to be stored in a cool place. Also, unlike Chinese pu-erh tea, these teas should not be stored for long.
It is necessary
- - tea;
- - soft water;
- - teapot.
Instructions
Step 1
To enjoy properly brewed Japanese tea, use soft water to brew it. You can take water softened by freezing. To do this, you need to freeze it in any suitable container and remove the opaque white center from the resulting ice.
Step 2
For brewing tea, it is recommended to use a teapot with a strainer. The strainer may already be built into the teapot and large enough for the leaves to enter the cup. This, of course, is not necessary, but it is perfectly acceptable. The kettle must be warmed up before brewing.
Step 3
Heat the water to the optimal temperature for brewing the tea of your choice. For sencha, one of the most famous types of Japanese tea, this temperature ranges from seventy-five to eighty degrees. Genmaicha, a mixture of sencha and rice, is brewed at the same temperature. For gyokuro, which is considered the highest grade of Japanese tea, you need water with a temperature of no higher than fifty to sixty degrees. It is believed that the higher the grade of the tea, the lower the temperature of the water in which the tea leaves are poured.
Step 4
Some Japanese tea drinkers prefer to heat the brewing water to a boil and cool to the desired temperature, or mix boiling water with water at room temperature. So, by mixing the same amount of freshly boiled water and water at room temperature, you get a liquid heated to sixty degrees.
Step 5
Place the tea leaves in a teapot and cover them with water. For two teaspoons of sencha, you need one hundred and fifty milliliters of water. The same amount of Gyokuro leaves will require one hundred milliliters of water.
Step 6
Wait for the tea to brew. Typically, Japanese tea is not infused for more than two minutes. Sencha is infused from a minute to one and a half, gyokuro - two. Pour all the liquid into cups without leaving anything in the teapot.
Step 7
Many Japanese teas can be brewed several times by increasing the water temperature by ten degrees. An exception is matcha powder. Roasted hojicha is also not suitable for re-brewing.
