How to prepare loose leaf tea

Beginner's Guide

When my friends see me making tea for them, they say: " Oh, I don't have that much time" or “ I don’t have the right utensils.” I wonder what the most famous and influential 16th-century tea master, Sen no Rikyū, who is considered the creator of the wabi-cha style and whose teachings still have a huge influence on Japanese tea culture, would tell them?

Well, here's what: " Tea preparation is just that... "- first boil the water, then pour the tea and drink it properly. That's all you need to know."

However, I think a few tips for preparing tea will really come in handy.

1. Boil water.

2. The ratio of water to tea leaves.
Apparently, we don't often have small scales at home, so you need to know that different teas have different densities, so their amount in teaspoons and weight are not the same. Let's start by knowing that a teaspoon of sencha leaves weighs about 3 g. Measure the amount of water in a container that has a graph in milliliters, and that way you will know what capacity your teapot (or cup) is. Of course, the ideal ratio of water to tea leaves depends on the type of tea and your taste, but for starters we recommend starting with the ratio: 100 ml of water 2-4 g of tea leaves (about 1.5 teaspoons of leaves and about 120-150 ml of water).

3. The water temperature is appropriate.
For green tea, the water should not exceed 80°C, as this will cause the bitter components in the tea to develop more quickly. – catechin and caffeine. I would say 60-70°C is the most suitable temperature. Don’t have a thermometer? And you don’t need one. First, pour the boiled water into an empty teapot (or cup), wait until the walls of the teapot heat up, then pour it into a cup (or another cup), wait until its walls heat up – this will cool the water down to about 20°C. Now your water temperature is – 80°C. If you want it even cooler , pour it again. Now you can pour it over the tea leaves.

4. Pouring holding time – very important!
Don't hold on too long. – the tea will turn bitter. You won't have to look for a timer for a long time – your smartphone is probably always there – next to you. Keep the Sencha tea steeped for about 1 minute and then pour all the liquid down to the last drop (do not leave any on the leaves) into a cup. If you have prepared more than the cup will hold or you are preparing for several people – pour it into a decanter. This way, everyone will have the same strength of tea in their cups.

5. Green tea can be brewed at least a couple more times.
The second infusion is for just a few seconds (and the water temperature may be slightly higher), and the third is for 30-45 seconds.

The more you practice, the more you will know exactly how brewed you like your tea to be.

Well, if you say that you don't have the right utensils to make tea, Sen no Rikyū would answer you with these lines:

If you have one teapot
And you can make tea in it –
That is quite enough.
How much does a person really lack?
What if he needs to have a lot of things?

If you don't have any teapot
Take a pot and put it in it
Boil hot water.
Even then your tea
It may be the best in all of Japan.

(Sen no Rikyū)