Tales of Japanese tea: Controlling the water temperature for sencha

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Controlling the water temperature for sencha

The correct water temperature is 70-80 degrees Celsius (158-175 degrees F) for sencha. It should be higher temperature for low-grade tea and lower temperature for fine tea.
Do you use just cups to cool the hot water, or the teapot and cups? Or do you have a water cooler?
I did some tests for cooling the temperature of hot water with a teapot and cups by pouring the water from a vessel to vessel. The room temperature was about 23 degree C (73F), and it was a cloudy humid evening.

There are three steps at the test.

1. Pouring boiling hot water into a teapot, and leaving it about 30-40 seconds.
2. Pouring the water from the teapot to a tea cup (or cups), and leaving it about 30-40 seconds.
3. Measuring the temperature of the water in the cup (or cups).
I did this test with different amount water and tea wares, to see if I always get the correct temperature, or how these differences affect to the results.

For 4 servings

520ml (18.3oz) boiled water:
Large teapot > 4 large cups = 75 degrees C (167F)

320ml (11.3oz) boiled water:
Medium teapot > 4 medium cups = 72 degrees C (162F)

For 2 servings

320ml (11.3oz) boiled water:
Medium teapot > 2 large cups = 75 degrees C (167F)

160ml (5.6oz) boiled water:
Medium teapot > 2 medium cups = 71 degrees C (160F)

120ml (4.2oz) boiled water:
Small teapot > 2 medium cups = 72 degrees C (162F)

For 1 serving

430ml (15.7oz) boiled water:
Large teapot > 1 Extra large cup = 78 degree C (172F)

320ml (11.3oz) boiled water:
Medium teapot > 1 Extra large cup = 78 degree C (172F)

120ml (4.2oz) boiled water:
Small teapot > 1 large cup = 73 degree C (163F)

80ml boiled water:
Small teapot > 1 medium cup = 68 degrees C (154F)

***Conclusion***
In most cases, you can get the correct temperature (70-80C, 158-175F) for sencha by pouring the boiled water to a teapot and to cups (or a cup) in the room temperature around 23 degrees C (73F).

You can adjust the water temperature by going through the steps faster or slower. I took about 30-40 seconds to let the water cool on each step in the tests. You can decrease about a 4 degrees C (7F) by leaving the hot water in the cups for another minute.

With the steps in the test, now you can have about the correct temperature water for sencha. You put the tea leaves into the tea pot and then pour the water back from cups to the tea pot to infuse the tea (^-^)

Try this with your tea wares. It is good to know the rough standard of the temperature with your own tea wares. It will help you to prepare better tea!

**For your information**
If you prefer higher temperature than what I had on the test, maybe you could skip the step for the teapot, and pour the boiled water directly into the cups.

Cooling water only with the cups