(7 steps) How to Brew the Perfect Cup of Sencha

A step-by-step guide to maximizing the taste of this brilliant tea!

This article was last modified November 24th, 2021. by Yuki

Leaves of Japanese Sencha Tea

Sencha is perhaps the most standard type of Japanese green tea. Although standard, the world of Sencha is deep and the quality ranges from excellent to poor.

The nutrients in Sencha differs depending on the grade of the tea.

If you have a Sencha of high-grade, that probably means that there are high levels of Theanine (the umami taste component), and less catechin (which is the astringency component).

You should infuse the tea at a slightly lower temperature to enjoy the umami taste more. Here’s the typical way of brewing Sencha.

We’re going through the preparation of Sencha using Japanese tea tools. If you don’t have the proper Tea tools – don’t worry! You can find alternatives in the kitchen.


Video Instructions for Brewing Sencha


Quick Guide

Normal-Grade Sencha High-Grade Sencha

Servings

2 servings

2 servings

Water (ml)

200 ml

200 ml

Leaves (g)

4g

4g

Leaves (roughly in teaspoons)

2 tsp

2 tsp

Temperature (Celsius)

90°

70°

Brewing time (Seconds)

90 seconds

90 seconds

Sencha Instructions


Step1: Preparation

What do I need in order to make Sencha?

Make sure you have everything ready. For Sencha, you would need the following.

  • Sencha leaves
  • Teaspoon
  • Medium-sized Kyusu (Teapot)
  • Medium-sized Chawan (Cups)
  • Yuzamashi – a bowl to cool down boiled water (Optional)
Tools for brewing Japanese Sencha tea

From left: Kyusu, Yuzamashi, and Chawan

The most essential item you need is obviously the Sencha leaves.

It's pretty difficult to find an alternative for that if you want to drink Sencha! Make sure you find some, or you can stop by our online shop and check out our Sencha selection as well.

For the Chawan teacups and Kyusu teapot, it is ideal to find the right size for your needs.

For example, if you're serving 200 ml of Sencha, you'd want to look for a teapot with the capacity of around 250 ml. Having the perfect size actually maximizes the taste.

However, if you don't have perfect size tools, don't fret. Start off with what you have in the kitchen now. You can gradually complete your tea tools as you go along.

A Yuzamashi is a bowl to cool the water down to optimal temperatures. You can use any bowl instead. Find a lipped bowl for easier pouring of water.


Step 2: Measuring the Amount of Tea Leaves

Pouring Sencha leaves into the chawan

2-3g of Sencha Leaves per person

When brewing Sencha you would typically use 2-3g of tea leaves per cup per person.

This is about 1 teaspoon of leaves. Use this as a benchmark to adjust the amount of servings required.

If you have 5 people, then the amount of leaves calculates to 10-15g. In this case - 10g will be enough to brew good tasting Sencha. If you’re drinking alone, you can use 4-5g of leaves, and you can enjoy a good tasting second infusion as well.

Thake the required amount of Sencha tea leaves, and pour it into the Kyusu teapot.


Step3: Prepare the right amount of boiling water in the Chawan cup

Measure the water

Measure the water

The next step is to boil the water.

Once it’s boiled, don’t put the boiling water directly into the Kyusu teapot! It will be too hot and extract too much astringency from the tea. You’ll have to lower the water temperature first by pouring the boiling water in the Chawan cups.

This is also a good step to measure the amount of water you need for the infusion.

By pouring the water into the Chawan cups, you'll know the exact amount of water required for serving.

Typically, the Chawan would be filled up to about 4/5 of the cup.

Keep in mind that when you infuse the tea, the tea leaves will absorb the water so the amount at the end will become less. They would absorb about 4 times the mass of the leaves.


Step 4: Lowering the water temperature before infusion

Pour water into the teapot

70 degrees for high-grade, 90 degrees for normal grade sencha

Next step is to lower the temperature of the water for it to reach optimal temperatures for the Sencha.

For a high-grade Sencha, lower the temperature from 100 degrees Celsius to 70 degrees. For a normal-grade Sencha, 90 degrees Celsius will do.

Remember the temperature has lowered a little already, as you poured the boiling water into the Chawan.

To lower the temperature further, you can use a “Yuzamashi”, which is a bowl to lower the temperature of the water. If you don’t have one, well, you can use anything!

Each time the boiling water is transferred to a bowl or a Chawan, the water temperature will drop between 5 to 10 degrees.

This will depend on many factors such as the size of the bowls and room temperature, but generally in Singapore, you can expect the drop to be closer to 5 degrees. You can use this mechanism to reduce the temperature of the boiling water to optimal levels.

Once the temperature is optimal, put the water into the Kyusu, and start the infusion.


Step5: Brew

Wait for the Sencha to brew

Seep for 90 seconds

Let the Sencha seep for roughly 90 seconds. The nutrients will be extracted, and tea leaves in the pot will spread.


Step 6: Serve and Enjoy!

The key when you serve Sencha to multiple people is to keep the richness of the tea to be the same. The tea will become richer as you pour. In order to keep this even, Sencha is poured in the following order.

Mawashisogi to serve Sencha

Pour in this order

This is called “Mawashisogi”. If there are 3 Chawans, once you pour in the order of 1 – 2 – 3, then after that you pour again in the reverse order of 3 – 2 – 1.

The key is to serve until the LAST DROP. If tea is remaining in the Kyusu, the second infusion may not be as enjoyable.


Step 7: Second Infusion

For the second Infusion, use boiling water directly and infuse for a short amount of time (30 – 45 seconds) to extract the nutrients and release the aroma.

Because the tea leaves have already absorbed the water, you will not need to consider the additional water being sucked by the leaves.


FAQ

Trying to pour equally by doing the Mawashisogi is difficult. Are there any tips on how to do this?

It's easier to even out the tea if you go back and forth between the chawan cups several, several times. The issue with this is that it is a little time consuming, and may not be the most elegant of ways.

I also recommend pouring all the tea into one bowl first, and then serving it from there. Once it's poured into a bowl until the last drop, then you don't need to conduct the Mawashisogi from there anymore. The tea is already evened out in the bowl.

You can actually use your Yuzamashi for this. It works well as it's lipped and easy to pour water into the Chawan cups.

The negative to this approach however, is that the temperature of the tea might reduce further.


Author Yuki

Yuki

Yuki is the Editor-in-Chief AND Community Manager at Tealife. He bleeds Japanese Tea and loves being a part of the Japanese Tea journey of others. Writes, does events, conducts tasting sessions, drinks, drinks and drinks tea! Easily accessible - hit him up on whatsapp (+65) 85882980.