The Perfect Cup of Green Tea
Standard Brewing Method
Boil at least 7 cups of water in a kettle.
Warm up the cups and tea pot by pouring in hot water. This is especially
important if the cups are cold.
Empty out the hot water from the tea pot in to tea cups when it has warmed
up. Add 3 tablespoons of Mount Fuji green tea leaves in the pot.
Transfer the hot water from the cups to the tea pot and leave the tea pot for
1 minute before serving tea.
Serve the tea into cups, being careful to fill each to three quarters full.
Instructions for brewing iced green tea
Detailed Considerations for perfect brewing
Brewing pure leaf teas is easy. Water quality, temperature, quantity of
leaves, and steeping time are all important factors in preparing tea. Tea should
be made to match your personal taste. This will get you off to a perfect start.
Water Quality
Tea is only as good as water. We recommend using non-chlorinated water for
brewing tea, especially for subtle green and white teas. Chlorinated tap water
destroys the flavor of tea. When available we recommend using a carbon
block water filter system which gives water a pH level of slightly over 7.
Water Temperature
Never boil water. This is contrary to conventional wisdom that recommends
bringing the kettle to a boil. The reason is that boiling water tends to "cook
and stew" the tea leaves. In addition, when water is boiled, oxygen evaporates,
and the crisp mineral texture in the brew is lost. White and green teas
should be steeped with well below boiling water. That is, at temperatures not
exceeding 140F to 175 F. Lower temperature water gives the tea a "fuller body".
When you see the Fish Eyes breaking the surface, (those first small
bubbles) the water is at 160 -180F and is ready to pour.
Whereas, Oolong, Red, PU-ER, and Black teas can be steeped with near boiling
water.
Quantity of Leaves and Steeping time
Always use lesser amount of leaves and steep longer. This provides more
control to the tea drinker. Secondly, avoid tight metal ball strainers or narrow
teapots. Pure tea leaves offer the best flavor when provided ample room to brew
and exude their best. Finally, we prefer letting the leaves sit in the water and
not necessarily straining them out. Good quality tea leaves, when used in
correct quantities will not go bitter, unless left for a very long time.
As a general rule of thumb, the smaller the leaf the less leaf you'll need.
The fluffier the tea leaves (mostly, white teas, some chinese greens) the more
the tea leaf you'll need.
Steeping Times
For conventional style of brewing, we recommend that for brewing a 16 ounce
pot of tea is to use 1.5 teaspoons of leaf and brew for 3.5 to 5 minutes.
White teas:
If brewed in a pot, most white teas can be steeped for 5-7 minutes, with well
below boiling water.
Green teas:
It is easy to steep many green teas for too long. Most Japanese green
teas (such as Bancha, Sencha, Gyokuro, Genmaicha) can be steeped in the range of
2.5 to 3.5 minutes. It can sometimes be difficult to obtain many infusions from
Japanese green teas.
On the other hand, many Chinese teas are very forgiving, and can provide
multiple infusions. As a general rule of thumb, the darker the tea leaf, the
faster the infusion.
Oolong teas:
High quality Oolong tea leaves are tightly rolled into small pellets or
twisted sideways. As such they have the ability to give many infusions. In
general, a teaspoon of leaf for a 16 ounce teapot with 5-6 minutes ofd steeping
will provide full flavor.
Black/Red teas:
Most "First Flush" (teas of the first plucking of the year- generally, March
thru april) black and red teas should be steeped at 175F. This is because they
still contain some green leaves and are not as hardy as teas in the later part
of the year. Second Flush teas are more hardy, and can be steeped with near
boiling water. Use 1.5 teapoons of leaf for 16 ounce teapot and stepep for 3-4
minutes.
Pu-er teas:
Pu-ers are the most forgiving of all teas. For most Pu-ers, the longer you
steep, the smoother they become. For the compressed pu-ers, steep at least 6-8
minutes. Loose leaf Pu-ers take significantly less time at about 3-4 minutes
Herbal teas:
All the herbals (non Camellia Sinensis teas), have different steeping times.
Depending on your taste, most flower top herbals (Chamomile, Red Clover,
Echinacea, etc) can be steeped 5 minutes or longer. Flower petal teas such as
Rose hips, Hibiscus take significanty less time. Root herbals such as Ginseng,
Kava Kava, require significant time (10 to 15 minutes) to bring out the flavor.
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