Brewing and storage
Aya Green Tea’s deep steamed green tea allows you to enjoy the ultimate UMAMI flavour.
The temperature of the water and the ingredients of the tea itself determine the quality of your cup of tea. To make a delicious brew, it is important to understand these two factors and use our recommended technique.
The relationship between water temperature and tea ingredients
The amino acids that create the umami flavour in the tea do not change depending on water temperature – they dissolve into the water even in warm water under 70 degrees. However, catechin and caffeine, which determine bitterness and astringency, dissolve more in water the higher the temperature.
Therefore, if you want to enjoy umami flavour, choose a high quality Sencha green tea and brew it with water at a lower temperature than usual. This way, you can reduce astringency and bitterness and fully appreciate the umami flavour. If you would like to get the full benefits of catechin and caffeine, brew your tea at high temperature.
In addition, the amount of tea leaves and brewing time also make a difference, so make reference to the chart below and learn how to make the perfect standard cuppa. After that, try changing each amount depending on how you feel that day.
| Tea cups | Amount of tea leaves | Water temperature |
Steeping time | Amount of water |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fukamushi Sencha green tea |
3 | 3g | 70℃ | 20-30 secds | 240ml |
| Genmaicha | 3 | 5g | 80℃ | 20-30 secds | 240ml |
| Hojicha | 5 | 15g | Boiling water | 30secds | 650ml |
From the second brew
Most of the nutrients dissolve into the tea during the first brew, so it is best to brew the tea at a higher temperature the second time, and cut the time in half.
The water used and chlorine smell
The color and flavour of the tea is affected by the level of hardness (amount of magnesium and calcium ions) of the water. Using soft water (particularly water with a hardness of 30-80mg/L) with Japanese tea is best to allow the umami, bitterness and astringency to reach a good balance. When using mineral water, it is also best to use a soft variety (under 100mg/L is best).
When using tap water, we recommend boiling the water for three to five minutes to remove the chlorine smells as much as possible. Australian tap water is hard, however leaving the water out overnight, or boiling it thoroughly for five minutes can reduce this.
- About water hardness
- Soft water: 0-100mg/L
- Moderately: soft water 101-300mg/L
- Hard water: 301mg/L or more
Brewing Japanese green tea
Fukamushi Sencha green tea / Genmaicha green tea
Fill the cups 80% with hot water in advance.
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Place the tea leaves in the teapot.
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Put the cooled boiled water from the cups in the teapot and wait for the tea to brew.
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Pour the tea into the cups a little bit at a time, making sure all the cups are the same quality and density. Be sure to use up all the tea.
Refer to above chart for Water temperature, amount of tea leaves / water and steeping time.
Tips:
The best temperature to enjoy the tea is 70 to 80 degrees.
For the second brewing, wait only 10 seconds for the tea to brew.
Hojicha
Place the tea leaves in the pot.
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Pour boiling water into the teapot and wait for the tea to brew.
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Pour the tea into the cups a little bit at a time, making sure all the cups are the same quality and density. Be sure to use up all the tea.
Refer to above chart for Water temperature, amount of tea leaves / water and steeping time.
Tips:
The best temperature to enjoy the tea is about 80 to 100 degrees.
For the second brew, you can serve the tea almost immediately.
Storing the Japanese green tea
To keep the tea fresh, it is important to consider the storage method. Depending on the method of storage, it is possible to keep tea from degrading in quality. After opening the packet, it is important to keep it fresh.
Opened tea degrades in quality due to changes in humidity, oxygen, light and temperature. In addition, it is very sensitive to smells. This can also lead to a loss of flavour.
To prevent exposure to air and humidity, use an airtight container or bag. Glass containers allow light to pass through, so they are not recommended. Please store the container in a cool, dry place.
When storing tea in a refrigerator or freezer, use an airtight container so that it doesn’t pick up any smells. Also, to best reduce exposure to air and keep the tea fresh, separate the tea into serving sizes before storage. When removing the tea from the fridge, allow the tea to return to room temperature before opening to prevent it from absorbing any unnecessary moisture.
Aya Green Tea’s packaging techniques
Almost all of our products are delivered in a zip lock bag for freshness. (Excluding some items) Once tea is opened, it usually loses its freshness, however a zip lock bag allows you to reduce exposure to air, keeping the tea fresher for longer.
All of our products are vacuum packed and/or treated with nitrogen (Depending on the shape of the tea, some are not appropriate for vacuum packing, so are only nitrogen treated)
We pack fresh delicious tea and deliver it to your door.
