Brew assistant
Pick a tea and a brewing style. Everything below is transcribed from that tea's own authored parameters — nothing is scaled from another style, because a ratio and a steep time do not transfer between styles.
Water temperature
65–75 °C
Typically 70 °C
Leaf for 250 ml
6.3–10 g
Typically 7.5 g
Ratio
2.5–4 g /100 ml
No rinse
Infusion schedule
A session of 3–4 infusions is typical. The schedule below is authored to 3; beyond that, extend each steep noticeably rather than repeating the last time.
- Infusion 1120sUnrolled leaf is already open, so there is no opening phase — the two minutes are extraction rather than wetting.
- Infusion 245s
- Infusion 375s
Equipment
- Kyusu
- Dobin
- Yunomi (Japanese teacup)
- Thermometer
- Brewing timer
- Kyusu filter — The filter built into the pot is the property that most decides whether it suits your tea: sasame, obiami and drop-in basket differ mainly in filtration area.
- Yuzamashi (water cooler) — A wide shallow vessel drops boiled water fast and repeatably before it reaches leaf that would scorch.
Vessel: The largest kyusu available, and dose by weight rather than by spoon. Tencha is flat, brittle and extraordinarily bulky for its mass; a scoop that would be right for sencha is a fraction of the leaf here.
Note: Almost nobody brews tencha, because almost all of it goes to the mill — these figures are a synthesis for a preparation that exists mainly where the leaf is made. Cooler than sencha because the leaf is shaded, and generous because it has never been rolled: the cell damage rolling causes is what makes ordinary green tea give up its solubles quickly, and tencha has not had it.
What this does not tell you
These parameters are a synthesis of common practice rather than recorded practice for this specific tea.
No caffeine estimate is authored for this tea, so the assistant cannot tell you how strong the cup will be in that sense.
Leaf weight is a weight. A teaspoon is not — a fluffy white tea and a tightly rolled oolong differ several-fold by volume, so scales beat spoons here.
Other authored styles for this tea: Western brewing (teapot or mug) · Gongfu brewing (gaiwan) · Low-temperature brewing (gyokuro style)
Methods TeaHQ describes but cannot give numbers for
1 of 28 brewing methods have no authored parameters on any tea. They are listed rather than hidden: the method exists and is described, the numbers are simply not written yet. Nothing here is estimated from a neighbouring style.
- Herbal infusion (tisane)
Herbal infusion is on that list for a second reason as well: the herbal catalogue is two records held in review, so there is nothing to brew even once parameters exist.