To the very last drop.
Temperature, time, and the way you pour.
All of it becomes the umami of a single cup.
How to Brew Sencha — The MIOKA Method
What You Need
| MIOKA sencha (HITOSHIZUKU) | 3 g per person |
| Water | 60 ml per person, brought to the boil once |
| Kyusu teapot | 200–300 ml capacity |
| Cups and a timer | 1–3 cups; a phone timer is fine |
It Begins with Water
With sencha, water temperature decides everything. Too hot and it turns astringent; too cool and the umami never emerges.
Soft water suits sencha best. If you're using tap water, filtering it is ideal. Whatever the water, bring it to the boil once before use. Boiling with the lid off over a low flame for five minutes drives off any chlorine smell and leaves the water rounder.
How to Brew
STEP 1 Cool the water in a cup
Pour boiling water into a cup, filling it about four-fifths (roughly 60 ml). Moving it into a cup drops the temperature by around 10℃. Transfer it two or three times between cups and you'll arrive at roughly 70℃.
This is the most important step in brewing sencha. It warms the cups and measures the water at the same time.
STEP 2 Put the leaves in the pot
Add 3 g of leaves per person — about one lightly filled teaspoon.
* 6 g for two, 8 g for three. The amount does not scale in direct proportion.
STEP 3 Pour the water in
Pour the cooled 70℃ water quietly into the pot. Once poured, don't shake the pot.
STEP 4 Wait 60 seconds
Set a timer for 60 seconds. In that time the leaves open slowly inside the pot.
* For something fresher, raise the water to around 80℃ and shorten the wait to 30 seconds.
STEP 5 Pour in rotation, to the last drop
With more than one cup, pour a little into each in turn without shaking the pot. This is called mawashitsugi, pouring in rotation. Keep going until the very last drop has been drawn out.
Strength and volume come out even. And leaving no water in the pot is what protects the taste of the second infusion.
Tips
・ Learn 70℃ by feel. Two transfers between cups gets you close.
・ Measure leaves by the size of the pot, not strictly by the number of people.
・ Don't shake the pot — it draws out extra astringency.
・ Never lift the lid while the leaves are steeping.
・ Once poured, leave the lid slightly ajar so the leaves don't stew.
More
A second infusion
HITOSHIZUKU holds up well into a second infusion. Wait just 10 seconds after pouring. Slightly hotter water (around 80℃) works here too. What rises is a lighter finish, different from the first cup.
Cold-brewed sencha, for summer
Put 10 g of leaves and 500 ml of cold water into a pitcher. Leave it in the fridge for three to four hours. Poured over ice, it gives a clear sweetness with no bitterness at all.
Rounder, or fresher
| Rounder | 70℃ for 60 seconds. Umami and sweetness, slowly. |
| Fresher | 80℃ for 30 seconds. Fragrance and astringency, clean and brisk. |
Change the temperature and the timing to suit the day. The same leaves will show you a different face.
For sencha itself, see #T003｜What is Sencha. Teapots and cups: Kyusu (HISHIMA)・Kyusu (KOKUGEN)・Yunomi sets.
Inside a single drop, the hours of Kyoto.
The fragrance stays, right to the last.
Fragrance Beyond Time and Borders.
