Lily Wan

How to Enjoy a Cup of Green Tea

Tea is the world's second most popular beverage.  If not handled properly, those same polyphonies that provide health benefits can ruin the flavor, making the tea taste bitter. It's particularly important not to over-steep.

Tea is the world's second most popular beverage, after water. Many people enjoy a cup of green tea--they find it relaxing and tasteful. It has many health benefits and is a good substitute for coffee after a meal as it has less caffeine. Steeping the perfect cup/pot of green tea is a tricky process. If not handled properly, those same polyphonies that provide health benefits can ruin the flavor, making the tea taste bitter. It's particularly important not to over-steep

1. Put 3 grams (approximately one teaspoon) of loose green tea into a ceramic cup or inside the ceramic filter of the cup if there is one.

2. Do not use boiling water for green tea, shincha and other delicate green teas. Instead, bring water to a boil then let it sit for 2-3 minutes. Water temp should be around 70-80 C. Pour water over tea leaves, into your ceramic cup. Water can be a bit higher for other green teas.

3. Put a cover on top of the cup, and let it sit for 1-3 minutes. The newer the tea, the less one should steep it.

4. Open the cover of the cup--remove filter if using one. (Shincha and sencha are best steeped using a filter, then removing filter and leaves from cup or pot.) Smell the tea first to enjoy its pleasant aroma. Then take a look at the bright green color of the tea.

5.  Relax and slowly sip your first taste of the tea. Let it roll down your tongue and savor the subtle scent of the sweet grass. Slowly, enjoy every sip of your green tea.

6.  If drinking green tea with leaves still in cup/gaiwan, wait until one third of the tea is all that is left in the cup, and then add more hot water. You can repeat the above procedure with the same loose green tea leaves up to three times or more. If using a filter, tea leaves can be infused 1-2 more times.

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