How to Brew Tea: Kyusu
For sencha, put 5g of leaf in a 150-250ml kyusu and pour in 150ml of water at 70-80°C (158-176°F). Steep 60 seconds, then pour every drop out. The second steep is 10-15 seconds at 80-90°C (176-194°F) and the third 30-45 seconds; most sencha gives 3-4 infusions.
A kyusu is a Japanese teapot, most often with a hollow handle set at 90 degrees to the spout. You hold the handle with one hand and the lid with your thumb, and tip the pot sideways to pour. Most hold 150-350ml, and many have a fine ceramic or stainless mesh built in behind the spout to catch small leaf. The side-handle design came to Japan from China and became standard for sencha in the Edo period. Tokoname in Aichi and Banko in Mie are the best-known kyusu-making centers, and their unglazed red and purple clays are prized for softening the edge of green tea. Glazed and porcelain kyusu are just as practical for daily use, and they do not hold flavor from one tea to the next. Japanese green teas are steamed rather than pan-fired, and steaming leaves the leaf soft and finely broken. That leaf releases flavor fast and turns bitter quickly in hot water, so kyusu brewing uses cooler water, about a minute for the first steep, and a full pour-off to stop extraction. The fine built-in strainer handles the small particles in fukamushi (deep-steamed) sencha that would clog a Western basket. The kyusu suits sencha, fukamushi sencha, kabusecha, gyokuro, genmaicha, hojicha and bancha.
Recipe
Teaware
- 150-350ml kyusu with fine built-in strainer
- Yuzamashi (cooling pitcher) or a spare cup
- 2 small teacups
- Kettle
- Scale or 1 level tablespoon measure
- Thermometer (if the kettle has no temperature setting)
- Timer
Steps
- 1
Boil and cool the water
Boil the water, pour it into the two empty cups, and let it sit for about 1 minute.
Each transfer between room-temperature vessels drops the water about 10°C, so boiling water in cups reaches roughly 80°C.
- 2
Add the leaf
Put 5g of sencha in the empty kyusu, about 1 level tablespoon.
Fukamushi sencha is denser; 4-5g is enough.
- 3
Pour cooled water into the kyusu
Pour the water from the cups into the kyusu over the leaf. It should now be 70-80°C.
This also measures the right amount of water for the cups you are serving.
- 4
First steep
Close the lid and steep 60 seconds without moving the pot.
Do not swirl; agitation releases bitter catechins from the soft leaf.
- 5
Pour alternately
Pour a little into each cup in turn, back and forth, so both cups match in strength.
The last part of the pour is the strongest; alternating spreads it evenly.
- 6
Pour the last drop
Tilt the pot fully and shake out the final drops.
The final drops carry the most concentrated flavor, and water left behind makes the next steep bitter.
- 7
Open the lid
Leave the lid slightly ajar between steeps.
A closed lid steams the wet leaf and dulls the second infusion.
- 8
Second and third steeps
Second steep: 80-90°C water for 10-15 seconds. Third: 85-90°C for 30-45 seconds.
The leaf is already open, so the second steep needs hotter water but far less time.
Tips
- Sencha: 5g, 150ml, 70-80°C, 60 s first steep.
- Fukamushi sencha: 5g, 150ml, 70-75°C, 30-45 s first steep.
- Gyokuro: 6g in 60ml at 50-60°C for 90-120 s; second steep 20-30 s at 60-70°C.
- Hojicha and genmaicha: 5g in 200ml at 95-100°C for 30 s; one or two steeps.
- If the built-in strainer clogs, tap the pot gently mid-pour rather than shaking it.
Common Mistakes
- Using boiling water on sencha — the cup is bitter and the umami disappears; cool water to 70-80°C.
- Leaving liquor in the pot — it stews the leaf; pour out every drop after each steep.
- Closing the lid between steeps — the wet leaf steams and goes flat; leave it ajar.
- Steeping the second infusion as long as the first — the open leaf over-extracts; cut it to 10-15 seconds.
- Brewing gyokuro like sencha — 80°C water destroys its sweetness; use 50-60°C and a higher ratio.