Yuzamashi (water cooler)
A wide open pouring vessel that boiled water is decanted into to bring it down before it reaches shaded green tea. Physically it is the same solution as the Korean sukwoo and the same manoeuvre as pouring between two cups: broad surface, shallow layer, fast and repeatable heat loss.
Identity
- Category
- Accessory
- Native name
- 湯冷まし
- Romanised
- yuzamashi, yu zamashi
- Also called
- Japanese cooling vessel, water cooling pitcher
- Material
- Porcelain, glazed stoneware or glass
- Typical capacity
- 120–300 ml
- Skill level
- Beginner
Porosity
Not porous. It contributes nothing of its own to the liquor, so it can be moved between teas freely and washed with detergent without consequence.
Where it comes from
Japanese, and standard for gyokuro and high-grade sencha where the water goes in well below boiling. The Korean equivalent is `equip-sukwoo`; the two are separate traditions arriving at one object.
Named here rather than presented as generic equipment. The object belongs to a practice, and TeaHQ describes it from the outside.
If you do not own one
A mug, a jug, or a fairness pitcher. What matters is that the same vessel is used every time so the temperature drop is repeatable; a dedicated cooler buys consistency and nothing else.
This one is not marked essential. The tea can be made without it.
Brewing methods it is used for
- Low-temperature brewing (gyokuro style) — A great deal of shaded Japanese leaf in a very small volume of water that is deliberately far below boiling — cool enough that the vessel can be held bare-handed. It is the most extreme low-temperature steeping in common practice, and it exists to extract one part of the leaf while leaving another behind.
- Kyusu brewing (Japanese style) — The Japanese domestic approach to green tea: a moderate quantity of leaf, water well off the boil, short steeps, and two or three infusions from the same leaf with the times adjusted each time.
- Ice steeping (kōridashi) — Ice cubes placed directly on dry leaf and left to melt, with no water added at all. The liquor arrives as the ice goes, drop by drop, and there is very little of it. It is the coldest steeping in ordinary practice and produces the most concentrated sweet extraction of any.
Tea types it suits
Care and maintenance
Rinse only. It touches water and never leaf.
Other accessorys
- Alcohol burner
- Cha dao utensil set
- Cha he (tea presentation vessel)
- Charcoal brazier (fenglu)
- Cup stand (chatuo)
- Electric ceramic tea stove
- Futaoki (lid and ladle rest)
- Hishaku (bamboo water ladle)
- Induction plate
- Kensui (waste water vessel)
- Kusenaoshi (whisk stand)
- Mortar and pestle
- Podstakannik (glass holder)
- Ro and furo (hearth and brazier)
- Ryoro (senchado charcoal stove)
- Stone tea mill
- Tea boat
- Tea cloth
- Tea cosy
- Tea mat (chaxi cloth)
- Tea pet
- Tea pick (cha dao)
- Tea tongs
- Tea tray (cha pan)
- Teapot warmer
- Waste water bowl (jianshui)
- Water cooling bowl (sukwoo)
- Water filter jug
Sources
This page is TeaHQ synthesis. No external source stands behind the description, the material or the account of how the object is cared for. Where the record names a tradition, that attribution is TeaHQ’s own reading of common practice rather than a citation.
TeaHQ names no maker, brand or shop and has nothing to sell. Nothing on this page should be read as advice to buy the object — the substitute note above exists because owning it is usually optional.