Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Preparing regular sencha and Long (Deep) steamed sencha


Good morning everyone! Yesterday I talked about regular sencha and long steamed sencha. But my translation of “fukamushi sencha” was not quite correct. I should have said deep-steamed sencha instead of long-steamed sencha. Hereinafter, I call it deep-steamed sencha. Sorry.

Preparing of either sencha
Water: 60-90ml/serving 70-90 degree C (140-194 F)
Higher grade sencha: Use small amount (60ml) and low temperature (70degree C) water
Low grade sencha: Use plenty (90ml) and high temperature (90degree C) water
Leaves: about 2g /serving
The difference for preparing regular and deep-steamed sencha is brewing time.
Regular sencha: 1-2 min
Deep-steamed sencha: 45 sec – 1 min

Usually deep-steamed sencha leaves have more broken leaves and are finer; therefore infuse faster than regular sencha does. And it is better to use fine-mesh strainer for deep-steamed sencha. See that 1 min brewed deep-steamed sencha on the left in the picture is even darker than 2 min brewed regular sencha on the right. I used 70 degree C (140F) water for both here.

What I introduce here is just a standard brewing. You can try different amount or temperature of water, different amount of leaves, or infusing time. You will be surprised by the great potential of sencha. Today, I also wanted to talk about the taste, but maybe tomorrow. See you soon. Have a nice day!

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