At our tea lesson in Sayama, one of the cups that surprised us most was sencha brewed with ice-cold water.
No kettle, no waiting for water to boil. At the lesson, it was ready in about two minutes. We wondered how much flavor cold water could bring out in such a short time. The tea was delicate, yet to us, its umami stood out even more clearly than in the hot tea we had just tasted.
One small cup · About 2 minutes
What you’ll need
- 1 heaped teaspoon of sencha (green tea) per person, and then a little more — cold water asks for more leaf than hot does. A single-serving tea sachet works too; one per cup is what we used here.
- 1 teacup of ice-cold water per person — straight from the fridge, or water with a few ice cubes melted into it.
- A small teapot or a cup with a strainer.
How to make it
- Put the tea in your pot or strainer.
- Pour in the ice-cold water and start tasting after about two minutes. Let it steep a little longer if you would like more flavor; the timing will depend on your tea and how much you use.
- Pour all the tea into your cup, leaving the leaves in the pot. If you are brewing directly in a cup, remove the strainer or tea sachet.
That is the whole method. No heat, just cold water, a little patience, and tea that tastes calmer than you would expect for something made this fast.
Why cold water brings out a different flavor
Cold water extracts less of some of the compounds that give green tea its bitterness and astringency. Amino acids that contribute sweetness and umami still infuse into the water, allowing those flavors to stand out. The balance changes with the leaves, water temperature, and brewing time.
One more thing worth knowing
There is another lesson tucked into this one: a good tea like this can be brewed a second time, sometimes a third — hot or cold — each cup a little different from the last. And the leaves are not quite finished either.
At the lesson, we also tasted the brewed leaves with a few drops of dashi soy sauce. We enjoyed them as a small vegetable side dish — another way to appreciate the tea we had just been drinking. It is a small reminder that a good tea is not finished when the cup is empty.
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