The secret to making the perfect cup...
To get the most out of your tea and ensure you can enjoy for the years to come, we encourage you to read this page as an introductory guide. Brewing tea requires three components: tea, water, heat.
Tea:
The world of Japanese tea is deep and vast, and full of many wonderful discoveries. Make sure to try different types to find what you like, as there are hundreds of varieties available. The tea must be fresh in order to get full enjoyment from your leaves.
Water:
We recommend using soft spring water where possible. Hard water and minerals impede on the flavour expression of the tea. Most tap waters are also filled with chemicals and minerals.
Heat:
Different teas require different water temperatures. Some leaves are more delicate in their nature asking for cooler water, while other more roasted and robust teas demand higher, close to boiling temperature water.
Why is measuring tea and water important?
The ratio between tea and water has a significant impact on the extraction. Too much water can lead to a thin and weak brew, whereas too little water can make some teas undrinkable due to bitterness or intensity. This is the same for water temperature.
We recommend following the guidelines at first, and then you can experiment to adjust the extraction quality to your personal liking.
What utensils do I need?
Loose leaf tea preparation involves some essential tools - quite a different act to simply putting a teabag in a cup. Our attention here goes to the type of pot, size of a cup...
Thermometer
If you are a beginner in tea brewing, we recommend using a thermometer for a more precise outcome. After time you will learn to sense the timing and temperatures intuitively. Precision will always give you consistency.
Have a look at our simple and ecological measuring implement to get you the perfect brew. View our metallic coil, non-mercury thermometer here.
Scale
Any weighing scale with the capacity from 0.01g would do! There are some great compact options out there for portability and storage issues.
Most average tea servings are 6-8g for two cups, approximately 2-3 teaspoons. View our selection of wooden teaspoons.
Strainer
Most kyusu tea pots have built-in strainers. If you are looking for an alternative option to a teapot, a tea strainer is the way to go.
It's a flexible choice which allows you to brew your tea in pretty much any container (it's also a perfectly good back-up method for when you don't have a teapot to hand). You can also brew other types of tea and herbs with it too. Click here to check our lovely eco tea strainer.
How to properly store tea
Why is it important to store tea correctly? Due to the delicate nature and high quality of our loose leaf teas, it is strongly recommended to store the tea correctly. This will prolong their shelf life and ensure you can continue to enjoy each cup as fresh as possible.
The tea is degraded by exposure to heat, light and moisture. This breaks down the compounds in the tea, reducing their freshness and flavour, as well as the healthful and medicinal properties of the leaves.
Therefore, it is best to store the tea in an opaque, air-tight container, away from any natural and artificial light sources. For extra freshness you can store in an air-tight container in the fridge.
In Japan, the name for tea canister is 'chazutsu', and comes in many different shapes and sizes. If you're in need of a new home for your freshly opened loose leaf tea, you can see our beautiful metal washi-wrapped caddies here:
Tea preparation methods
Kyusu Pot
Uwade, Yokode, Ushirode, Houbin or Shiboridashi? For those who want to master their tea making, we’ll help you to pick the right pot for you ;)
Matcha bowl
Prepare and enjoy matcha tea in this traditional way, a cultural phenomenon unique to Japan. Elevate your tea experience with ceremonial matcha.
Cold brew
Cold extraction preserves all the good stuff and true taste of your tea. Read more to find out how to make a refreshing cold brew.
Tea drip
One of our favourite methods - for its wonderful flavour extraction. We encourage you to experiment with our ceramic tea drip.
