Preparing Japanese tea
In Japan, tea preparation is a meticulous art, revealing even the most subtle flavors of the tea leaves. Traditional infusion methods such as senchado, using a yuzamashi to cool the water to the right temperature and a kyusu teapot or shiboridashi to infuse the leaves in the ideal amount of water, illustrate the attention paid to every detail.
Gyokuro set
Cooling pot
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Gyokuro set
Gyokuro set
Cooling Pot
Cooling Pot
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Shiboridashi teapot
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Shiboridashi teapot
Shiboridashi Teapot + Cooling Pot
Shiboridashi Teapot + Cooling Pot
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Kyusu teapot
Kyusu teapot
Hitoshizuku teapot
Kobashi teapot
Senchado: The Traditional Method
Senchado is the traditional Japanese method for brewing Japanese green teas, emphasizing precision and balanced flavors.
Preparing the water:
- Boil the water, then let it cool to the right temperature in a cooling pot: the yuzamashi ;
- Pour the remaining water into the cups to heat them, then into the kyusu teapot or shiboridashi containing the tea leaves.
Infusion:
- Leave the leaves to infuse for 30 seconds to a minute, depending on their quality;
- Pour the infusion from cup to cup, going back and forth to balance the infusion in each cup;
- Empty the teapot completely to stop the infusion.
For subsequent infusions, reduce the infusion time to around 15 seconds.
Shiboridashi: a refined alternative to the kyusu
The Shiboridashi is a small, handleless teapot, mostly made of stoneware and used to brew high-quality Japanese teas, particularly gyokuro and premium sencha. It concentrates the aroma and is very simple to use.
- Place tea leaves in the Shiboridashi.
- Pour cooled water with a yuzamashi (approx. 60-70°C) over the leaves;
- Leave to infuse briefly, usually between 30 seconds and one minute.
- Pour the infusion from one cup to the next, going back and forth to obtain the same degree of infusion in each cup;
- Pour the tea completely out of the pot to stop the leaves infusing.
Like the Kyûsu, the Shiboridashi allows several successive infusions.