If you only have a regular size teapot and
if you have many guests, how do you serve tea?
It’s good to have a large teapot if you occasionally
need to serve tea for many people. Otherwise,
for common households, you can prepare the tea only a few servings. I recommend you to choose the right sized
teapot by considering your main use. For
special occasions, try the method that I introduce today. You can serve the double number of serving
with your teapot.
The method is adding and blending the first
and the second brewing, which allows you to serve twice of the amount at once. You can achieve the same quality for all the servings.
What
you need (8 servings)
Tea leaf: sencha 8 grams (2g per serving, Prepare
your tea for 4 servings which is enough for the teapot and you have to do it
twice to prepare 8 tea cups all in all.)Hot water: 560ml (8 servings)
Teapot: 280ml (make it twice to make 8 servings)
Pitcher: 560ml or larger
Tea cup: 8 pcs
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| 1. Put 280ml boiled water each into the teapot and the pitcher |
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| 2. Transfer all of the water from the teapot into the first four cups for the first brewing. Have the water in 80C/176F |
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| 3. Put the tea leaves into the teapot and pour the hot water into the pot from the four cups |
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4. Leave the pot for one minute. While waiting, transfer the water from the pitcher into the other four cups for the second brewing.
|
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5. When the time comes, pour the tea from the teapot into the pitcher
|
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| 6. Transfer the hot water from the four cups and wait for about 30 seconds |
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| 7. Pour the tea from the teapot into the pitcher containing the first brew |
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| 8. Stir the tea lightly and then serve into the eight cups!! |
The idea is that you mix the first and second brew and double the serving amount of your teapot. You may do the procedures in some different orders. It is fine as far as you can serve the same quality tea for every cup.
Posts
Beautiful pictures as always. I also love my Eva Solo tea pot, the curves are so perfect for holding and viewing. Your cups and kyusu are great too. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteDo you think tea tastes different when brewed in smaller pots as opposed to larger ones? I think it does taste different, but am not sure why. Is there a maximum amount of leaf (grams) that you would steep at once for a small group? I ask because in the example above you could have used a large teapot but chose not to go that way.
ReplyDeleteHi, vci-san,
DeleteI often use different teapots depending on different types of tea. So, I have not quite realized if the size of teapots affects the taste of tea. But, it can be possible. The water temperature might be affected with the size. Also, the differences of the material of the pot and the type of strainer will have something to do with the taste. I think that different teapots brew different tea.
The maximum amount of leaf for a small teapot depends on the type of tea and how you want to prepare it. But when it comes to preparing sencha in a regular way, you can calculate the amount of leaf as follows:
The amount of leaf = Capacity of teapot ÷ 80ml (one serving) × 2 grams (amount of leaf per serving)
For example, If you have 280ml teapot, the tea leaf you would use will be 6 grams (280ml÷80ml×2g). It will be the maximum for the regular sencha steeping.
But here, I’ve just used the average number for serving (80ml) and tea (2g). If you really want to see the maximum, you can use 70ml for serving and 3g for tea. In this case, you will use 12 grams of tea (280ml÷70ml×3g) and the brewed tea will have a richer flavor. So, it really depends on how you want to brew it.
Am I answering your questions? If I’m misunderstanding your questions or my explanation is not clear, please feel free to let me know.
Hi, yes your first paragraph related to my question. I agree water temperature might be affected by the size of the pot, although if it is preheated it shouldn't matter too much.
ReplyDeleteMy question had more to do with the difference between;
"adding and blending the first and the second brewing" versus, brewing a larger amount of tea in a larger teapot. The taste would be different between the two because the first method adds the 1st brew + 2nd brew combining these flavors, while the second option only uses the 1st brew. It seems every brewing variable (teapot size, material, time, brews, water..) alters the results in an interesting way. At any rate, since reading your post I've found mixing the first and second brews saves me time while working and it is nice with certain sinchas that are very strong in the first brew but lighter in the second so mixing them works well.
Regarding the second half of your answer, you have an interesting way of calculating the amount of tea to pot size, makes sense. An alternate method that I use is to take the size of teapot in ounces and approximately reduce by 1/4, then using a ratio of 1:1, grams leaf:ounces water, proportionally increase to fill pot 3/4. I use this method and calibrate up or down depending on the tea.
I’m sorry that I mistook your question. You are right. The tea tastes differently between “the one blended the first and second brew with a small pot” and “the one consisted of the first brew only with a large pot”. The later tea basically has a better quality.
DeleteOne gram of leaf for one ounce of water sounds good to me! You can have rich flavor out of this ratio, so I guess that you must be an enthusiast of green tea who can appreciate the true flavor!
Hi Kohei,
ReplyDeleteI enjoy your blog. I am a fellow tea enthusiast and will be in Japan all of July--I would love to connect with you, share tea, and talk, while I'm there.
I’m happy to see you if you a chance to come to my neighborhood! We can go to the tea ceremony at Nagakute together if you want.
DeleteHi Kohei,
DeleteSo sorry for my slow slow reply. Thank you very much for your generosity. I am familiar with Sado, enjoy a delicious Gyokuro, although I am more into Chinese tea and Chinese tea ceremony and have lived in China and Taiwan. Nonetheless, I am very interested in Japanese tea and tea culture. I would like to share and enjoy tea with you and anyone else I can while in Japan!
I will be arriving in Tokyo June 27, and my basic plan is stay there until July 2 or so, go to Kanazawa for a few days, and I will then be in Nagoya by July 8.
I don't know the geography of Japan very well aside from major places, nor do I have a detailed idea of what exactly I want to do, I'm very flexible about many things.
When and where do you think would be a suitable place for us to meet/how can I find you/is there a way I can contact you via phone or email when I'm there so we can meet up?
Nick
Alright! Would you find me on Facebook? We can talk more about details there.
Deletehttp://www.facebook.com/kohei.yamamoto.92
In fact, I'm not on FB. Can I email you?
DeleteSure, of course.
Deleteinfo@everyonestea.com
Hi there! Nice stuff, do keep me posted when you post again something like this!
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