Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Correct water temperature for sencha


Do you know why Japanese green tea, sencha is usually prepared with lower temperature (around 80degC / 176F) water? Oolong tea and English tea, usually prepared with high temperature water, are often appreciated due to their great aroma. The aroma can be brewed out by using high temperature water. Unfortunately, sencha doesn’t have a rich aroma like Oolong or English tea has, but it has umami or sweetness. That makes the Japanese tea fascinating.


Bitterness (tannin and caffeine) is extracted more when it's brewed over 80degC (176F). Under 60degC (140F), bitterness isn’t infused much and umami (amino acid) can be still extracted relatively. High-grade sencha which has a lot of umami should be prepared around 70degC (158F) water to bring out a great harmony of umami and bitterness. Around 80degC (176F) is good for average sencha. Low-grade sencha which doesn’t have much umami should be brewed around 90degC (194F) water in order to enjoy its aroma and refreshing flavor with the taste of bitterness.


I hope you will try different temperature brewing with your sencha and find out the best flavor for you. The standard brewing time for sencha is about 60 seconds. The substances infuse faster in higher temperature water and slower in lower temperature. So adjust the brewing time according to the temperature of water. Enjoy exploring Japanese tea ☆*:.。. o(≧▽≦)o .。.:*☆

14 comments:

  1. Is organic Oshawa green tea high or medium quality? If not what do you recommend.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I’m afraid to say that I don’t know of Oshawa green tea. I’m sorry.

      Delete
  2. Apart from asking the tea vendor, is there a way to know the grade of my sencha tea? The vendor's menu simply said "Sencha".
    Thanks for the informative good read :)
    Jon

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Jon-san,
      It is quite difficult to know its grade. There is no specific scale to measure it. However, you can guess it by considering its price, and actually observing and tasting the tea.

      - I consider its price as follows (per 100g); -
      High grade: around 2,000yen
      Average: around 1000yen
      Low grade: around 500yen

      - Appearance -
      High grade: Deep green with luster, even pieces of needle shape,
      Low grade: Yellowish or reddish hue, dry surface, uneven pieces including small broken pieces or whitish twigs
      Related post: http://everyonestea.blogspot.jp/2014/03/how-not-to-fail-on-shopping-tea-online.html

      - Flavor and aroma -
      High grade: Rich umami and sweetness, certain bitterness, mellow flavor,
      Low grade: Poor umami, refreshing flavor, Inexpensive teas tend to have roasted aroma. In the finish on tea producing process, sencha is usually roasted slightly. It tend to be lightly roasted for high grade tea and deeply for low grade tea. The roasted flavor is called 火香 ”hika” in Japanese. Hika literally means fire aroma. Hika is not bad thing. It is nice. However, the roasted flavor is sometimes given to redeem a lack of flavors. For good tea, you don’t need to add any additional flavor, or I should say “ you don’t want to”. So usually, you don’t find strong hika in high grade sencha.

      Thanks for visiting my blog. Enjoy your sencha!

      Delete
    2. Wow, thanks for the excellent reply Kohei-san (I hope that's appropriate - I'm Canadian and also have little exposure to Japanese culture).
      Given the price and our qualities of my tea I believe I have purchase mid to high grade sencha. There is some sweetness and bitterness as well - I sometimes steep it too long and then its really bitter.
      Oolong is more a favourite of mine, however, and I more often enjoy making a pot of what the vendor here calls "Iron Goddess of Mercy".
      Lately I have also discovered that I love white tea as well... I guess that's my indulgence :)
      Thanks again!
      Jon

      Delete
    3. I basically have Japanese green teas. I don’t have much experience on Chinese ones. I like the name, “Iron Goddess of Mercy”. The name makes me want to try it. haha.

      Delete
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