Learning How to Brew Green Tea

I’ve never gone out to purchase green tea leaves before. Yes, I have drunk plenty of green tea during my time in Japan, but they were either bottle cold green teas, or those served to me at restaurants. In other words, I have never brewed green tea by myself, and that realization honestly came to me as a surprise!

Anyway, with this supporter campaign, I set out to purchase my first package of green tea leaves, particularly those from Shizuoka. I wasn’t sure how to find a “good one”, so I just picked up the first green packaged tea I saw at the closest supermarket.

“A mild sweetness with a refreshing after-taste.”

“Grown in Shizuoka.”

“548 yen for 100grams.”

Everything sounded good, so returned home for a relaxing Sunday afternoon.

Since it was my first time brewing green tea, I thought I might as well read through the instructions carefully, starting with the hot brewing. The 4-step instructions are as follows:

1. Put about 2 teaspoons of green tea leaves per person (about 4 grams) into the tea pot

2. Pour in some slightly-cooled boiled water (of about 80 degrees) into the tea pot (and use the tea cups to measure the amount of water).

3. Brew the tea for about 40 seconds (and gently shake the tea within the pot to break up the leaves and let even more of the flavour release).

4. Evenly pour the tea into the cups (and pour until the final delicious drop).

First of all, I find it quite funny that each step has little fine prints for further instructions. And also, underneath everything there were two extra notes:

1. The tea leaves have been grinded finely, so it is recommended that you use a tea pot with a fine net strainer.

2. You can also make a more dense tea and then add ice for some cold green tea.

It is quite nice that the package included so many details to help me make the tea as good as I can. It definitely was more than just “pour it and soak it”.

I read on to see how the process of making coldbrew green tea differs from making it hot. The “4” steps instructions are like this:

1. Put 3 tablespoons of green tea leaves per person (6 grams) into a glass jar.

2. To avoid the tea leaves from floating onto the top of the water, pour the water very slowly into the pot (of about 500mL).

3. Shake or stir the tea slowly and put it into the fridge for cooling.

4. Use a strainer and pour the tea evenly into glass.

Honestly, I am a bit confused as to how much water I am supposed to use, since it recommended 500mL for the 6 grams, which is for one person. At the same time the instructions said I should pour them evenly into different glasses, implying that I am serving it to more than one person.

Anyway, the extra instructions also say:

1. Use water that was boiled once to avoid bad tastes, making it more delicious.

2. Just as the length of cooling, adjust the richness of the flavour to your liking.

Both sets of instructions result in a very wordy piece of reading with some redundancy. While it can be bothersome, it did also educate me a lot on how green tea should be brewed. Here comes a new habit for my summer days in Japan!

This post is supported by Shizuoka Green Tea Guide, one of City-Cost's Supporters helping City-Cost bloggers to enjoy life in Japan and engage in new experiences.