Loose Green Tea and How to Brew It
Loose Green Tea
There is an ancient art to brewing loose green tea. The leaves must be allowed room to expand!
This is important. Japanese green tea is compact - it needs room to expand.
Try to use a Japanese teapot that was designed with green tea in mind. It is a one time investment of between $30-$100, and will make your life so much easier.
The inside of this type of green tea teapot has an infuser screen all the way around the inside of the teapot, allowing the tea leaves to expand fully.
This is the best kind to use. These teapots are rather small, about the size of a grapefruit, and usually hold 8-13 ounces or so.
There are 2 common mistakes made in brewing green tea. Firstly, don't allow the water you use to reach boiling point - use it just before this happens and the tea will taste much sweeter as a result. Secondly, use nice fresh, clean water to start with.
Once the water is at the right temperature, pour it into the teapot without any loose leaves in yet. Then,
after a minute, pour in 2 or 3 cups worth of water.
This method pre-warms the teacups, ready for use. Now add 1 heaped teaspoon or 6 grams of loose green tea into the pot. Brew the tea for 2 minutes and no longer.
At this point, before you actually take your first sip, take a look at the color. Smell the aroma. With experience, you will soon be able to the tell the good green tea from the mediocre green tea.
You will see tiny bits of tea floating around that will settle to the bottom. This is normal, drink them up! One teaspoon can make 3 to 5 infusions.
Enjoy!
|
