Sencha brewing guide

How to Brew Sencha Tea – A Guide

You've acquired some excellent sencha tea, and you even have a kyusu teapot – but how do you get started with brewing it?

Japanese sencha is one of the most sensitive teas when it comes to brewing parameters. At the same time, this is precisely why it's so versatile and customizable – which can be both exciting and intimidating, especially for beginners.

This guide provides a reliable starting point, virtually guaranteeing you can brew delicious tea every time.

Before you open the tea…

Let's review what you'll need to get the most out of the tea leaves.
Brewing tea doesn't require complicated tools, but well-chosen equipment helps make the experience consistent and enjoyable.

Essential tools:

• Kyusu or hohin teapot

• A teacup (e.g., yunomi)

• Scale with at least 0.1 gram accuracy

• Kettle

The three most important factors

1. Tea leaf–water ratio

2. Water temperature

3. Steeping time

These all influence the final result – by mastering them, you can have a much greater impact on what you get from your tea.

Step-by-step: Brewing Sencha

Recommended basic settings (for orthodox sencha):

1–2 g / 50 ml | 70–80°C | 60 sec, 0 sec, 45 sec

(This guide applies to "normal" steamed senchas – i.e., asamushi and chuumushi types.
Deep-steamed, or fukamushi, senchas require a slightly different method.)

Step 1 – Measure the tea leaves

Use 1–2 grams of tea per 50 ml of water.
For higher quality teas, it's worth choosing the larger amount.

Example: We used 3g of tea for a 70ml yunomi cup.

Step 2 – Fill your cup with freshly boiled water

This simultaneously measures the required amount of water and preheats the cup.
Meanwhile, the water cools to approximately 85–90°C.

Step 3 – Pour the leaves into the kyusu teapot

Try to spread the leaves evenly across the bottom of the teapot.

Step 4 – Pour the water from the cup into the teapot

The water poured into the cool teapot will cool again, this time to about 75–80°C – which is ideal for sencha.
Start the timer and steep for 60 seconds.

Step 5 – Wait patiently

Do not move the teapot, do not stir the leaves – this prevents over-extraction.
If you want to cool the water further, leave the lid of the teapot open.

Step 6 – Pour and enjoy

Pour the tea slowly – this is how the flavors of Japanese teas unfold best.

Some important reasons why you should pour slowly:

• the filter doesn't get clogged

• less fine tea dust gets into the cup

• tea doesn't leak unnecessarily from the teapot

Important: always pour out to the last drop, as that's where most of the flavor is.

If you are filling multiple cups, alternate between them (or use a decanter first) to ensure even flavor.

Additional steeps - infusions:

A good quality sencha can be steeped up to 3 times. Always leave the lid of the teapot slightly open between infusions to allow the leaves to "breathe".

• Second infusion: pour water over it again (following the previous steps), but pour it out almost immediately – 0–5 seconds is sufficient.

• Third infusion: with slightly hotter water, steeped for approximately 45 seconds.

+1 tip: Experiment!

One of the biggest advantages of sencha is that it is highly customizable.
If you play with the temperature, quantity, and time, you'll get completely different taste experiences – from the same tea.

You can find our sencha tea selection here