In order to prepare Sencha and Gyokuro, you have to take care of "water temperatures". If you find difficulty in obtaining appropriate brewing water temperatures, remember this. "Transfer hot water from pot to pot." Each transferring lowers the temperature by about 10 °C. So, just transfer several times until you get appropriate water temperatures. (ideal temperature; 50-60°C /122-140°F for Sencha, 40- 50°C /104-122°F for Gyokuro).
When you don't want to measure accurate amount of hot water, pour hot water until it rises about 5mm above the tea leaves in the pot, and steep them until they absorb the water. (It takes about 90 seconds.) Use **mawashitsugi-method and don’t miss the very last drop.
Don't throw away the tea leaves right after you prepare a cup of tea. You can enjoy several steeping of Japanese tea as follows:
For the second infusion, add just hot water (the same temperature as the first infusion) enough to cover the tea. Steep for 5-10 seconds and serve it. Be sure not to leave any tea in the teapot. For the third and subsequent infusions, fill the pot with hot water, steep for 5 seconds and serve it.
And.....if you find it difficult to use **mawashitsugi-method, just transfer all the tea from the teapot to another empty one. With this, you can share the tea with the perfectly equal strength and color.
These are tips and tips to prepare Sencha and Gyokuro. Got it?
*yuzamashi
A temporary vessel for adjusting water temperatures
**Mawashitsugi-method
Pour tea a little at a time into each cup in turn, and then fill it in the reverse order. With this, the color and strength of tea will be the same as it is.
