Temomi Shincha 2010 Brewing

Today, I finally had a time to brew my own Temomi Shincha. Temomi Shincha is once-a-year enjoyment for me and lets me remember fond memory of my grandfather. When I was working for my father's tea factory, my mother occasionally made Temomi Cha just for fun. She sometime shared the tea with my grandfather, and he was delighted with it. Every time he drank Temomi Cha, he said "Kyohei, this is the tea I drank when I was kids. It is delicious!!"

The following is the way I enjoyed Temomi Shincha 2010.

I didn't have a special tea pot for Temomi Cha, so I used a regular 12 oz. tea pot. To be honest, this tea pot was too large for brewing Temomi Cha properly.

For the 1st infusion, I used 100F water and steeped for 3 minute.

After 3 minutes, tea leaves were partially opened, so I waited extra minute.

After a minute (total 4 minutes), I poured the tea little by little into 2 cups. *Remember the last drop is the most flavorful, so make sure no water remains in your pot.

For 2nd infusion, I used 130F water and steeped for a minute.

In the 2nd infusion, we could enjoy much more astringency than the 1st infusion. This was because most of the sweetness (amino acid) in the leaves had been extracted into the 1st infusion.

After the 2nd infusion, tea leaves were completely opened and changed back into whole leaf. Of course, we could enjoy 3rd infusion, 4th infusion, or more.

If you see the open leaves closely, you can see how suavely my mother kneaded the leaves. Surface of the leaves are so beautiful, and there is no damage on it.

I made Temomi Salad, too. After the 3rd infusion, I steeped the leaves in boiling water for more than 5 minutes. This took bitterness out from the leaves and made the salad smooth taste.