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

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

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.

Sencha Instructions

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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