Today’s lunchtime tetsubin of green tea was courtesy of The Tea Spot, who kindly sent me a sample of their Organic Sencha. The liquor was as expected: pale greenish yellow, and the first glass seemed a bit astringent, despite my low temperature short steeping. However, the second glass was much smoother with even a silky quality to it.
My hypothesis (developed on the basis of other teas as well…) is that green tea is always more bitter when imbibed at a higher than a lower temperature. Added to that, I drank the first glass right after a big bowl of freshly sliced strawberries sprinkled with sugar and doused with cream. That sweet flavor may have made the tea seem more bitter by contrast.
I’ll try a second infusion later today…
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I definitely agree that there’s a correlation between temperature and bitterness with green teas!
I never brew sencha over 160F, over that I find it tends to develop bitterness, all greens are sensitive but Sencha is even more finicky than most. At least, that seems to be my own sweet spot, to each its own :-)
how grassy did it taste? its unique to japan green tea
Fellow Steepsters: I always brew green tea at a lower temperature than black—much lower, in fact. But what I’ve been noticing is that the temperature at which the liquid enters my mouth matters, too! Often I find that the first cup is slightly more bitter, but by the time I get to the second cup it is considerably smoother. Both were were poured into Bodum double-walled glasses from the very same pot at nearly the same time, so the explanation is not the brew but the temperature at which I imbibed. Well, it could also be what I was eating, as in this case: strawberries sweetened with sugar! ;-)
I definitely agree that there’s a correlation between temperature and bitterness with green teas!
I never brew sencha over 160F, over that I find it tends to develop bitterness, all greens are sensitive but Sencha is even more finicky than most. At least, that seems to be my own sweet spot, to each its own :-)
how grassy did it taste? its unique to japan green tea
Fellow Steepsters: I always brew green tea at a lower temperature than black—much lower, in fact. But what I’ve been noticing is that the temperature at which the liquid enters my mouth matters, too! Often I find that the first cup is slightly more bitter, but by the time I get to the second cup it is considerably smoother. Both were were poured into Bodum double-walled glasses from the very same pot at nearly the same time, so the explanation is not the brew but the temperature at which I imbibed. Well, it could also be what I was eating, as in this case: strawberries sweetened with sugar! ;-)