Low-temperature gyokuro brewing vs ordinary kyusu brewing
Both are Japanese, both use a small pot, and the parameters have almost nothing in common. Gyokuro brewing uses a great deal of leaf in a very small volume of water at a temperature at which most drinkers would assume nothing would extract.
brewing method
What is being compared
Point by point
| Aspect | Low-temperature brewing (gyokuro style) | Kyusu brewing (Japanese style) |
|---|---|---|
| Water temperature | Very low — around 50 to 60 °C, and lower for the finest leaf. | Around 70 to 80 °C for sencha. |
| Leaf to water | High: a large dose in a very small volume. | Moderate. |
| Volume per infusion | Tiny — a few mouthfuls. | A cup. |
| Steep length | Long by Japanese standards, because the water is so cool. | Short, and shorter still on the second infusion. |
| What arrives in the cup | Sweetness and a savoury depth, with almost no bitterness. | A balance of sweetness, briskness and the marine note steaming gives. |
| Vessel | A houhin or shiboridashi, held by the body. | A kyusu, held by the handle. |
| What goes wrong | Water too hot, which flattens the tea into an ordinary green. | Water too hot, which makes it bitter — a different failure from the same cause. |
The short answer
Gyokuro brewed at sencha temperature is not ruined so much as wasted: it becomes a reasonable green tea costing several times what a reasonable green tea costs. The low temperature is not a refinement, it is the method, and without it there is no reason to buy the leaf.
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