Extract slowly in cold water
and the astringency recedes, leaving the sweetness.
All it costs you is a little patience.
Cold Brew — sencha and wakocha.
Why It's Sweeter
The same leaves taste different brewed in cold water. The reason is temperature.
Theanine, the compound behind umami, dissolves even at low temperatures, while the catechins behind astringency need heat to come out. Extract slowly in cold water and you take only the sweetness and the umami. That is how cold brewing works.
It suits anyone who finds bitterness and astringency difficult, and anyone drinking alongside children.
What You Need
| Leaves | 10 g |
| Cold water | 500 ml |
| Vessel | A pitcher, or a bottle with a lid |
* With tea bags, use three or four. No straining needed — easier still.
How to Make
STEP 1 Combine
Put 10 g of leaves and 500 ml of cold water into the vessel. That's it.
STEP 2 Wait in the fridge
Three to four hours for sencha; six to eight for wakocha. Setting it up before bed and drinking it in the morning works well.
STEP 3 Take the leaves out
When the time is up, remove the leaves or strain into another vessel. Don't leave them in. The astringency comes out, and the point of cold brewing is lost.
* Keep refrigerated and drink within the day.
Sencha or Wakocha
| HITOSHIZUKU (sencha) | WASAI (wakocha) | |
|---|---|---|
| Time | 3–4 hours | 6–8 hours |
| Colour | Pale golden-green | Clear amber |
| Flavour | Umami leads. Clean | Clean sweetness, a floral note |
| Suits | With meals, or at work | An afternoon pause, with something sweet |
What's interesting about cold-brewed wakocha is that it is faintly sweet without any sugar. If iced tea reads to you as astringent, this is worth one try.
Ice Brew
On a day when you can't spare the hours, there is a way to extract directly with ice.
Put 4 g of leaves and a generous amount of ice into a kyusu, and wait for the ice to melt. It extracts drop by drop, so the yield is very small — but the umami is extraordinarily concentrated. For anyone who wants to taste sencha's umami to the full.
A pitcher for summer
Organically grown leaves from Wazuka. Both sencha and wakocha suit cold brewing.
For hot sencha, see #R002｜How to Brew Sencha. On the teas themselves: #T003｜What is Sencha・#T006｜What is Wakocha.
Some flavours only waiting can draw out.
Add ice, and take a cup of summer.
Fragrance Beyond Time and Borders.
