Sencha brewing temperature and time

By exactee · Updated 2026-10-13

Brew sencha with water at 70–80 °C (158–176 °F), using about 1 g of leaf per 60 ml (5 g for a 300 ml teapot), for about 60 seconds. Second steep: only 15–30 seconds with slightly hotter water; third: about 1 minute. Deep-steamed (fukamushi) sencha needs even less: 30–45 seconds.

What sencha is

Sencha is Japan’s everyday green tea. Unlike Chinese greens, which are usually pan-fired, sencha is steamed right after picking, then rolled into thin needles and dried. Steaming gives it its bright green colour and a fresh, grassy, sometimes seaweedy and savoury (umami) taste. It is also the reason sencha is so sensitive to hot water.

Brewing parameters

Not sure which you have? Fine, broken-looking leaf that makes a cloudy, deep green cup is fukamushi. Long, intact needles and a clear yellow-green cup is asamushi or chumushi.

Step by step (kyusu or small teapot)

1. Boil water and pour it into your cups. This warms them and cools the water by several degrees.
2. Put 5 g of sencha in a 300 ml kyusu or teapot.
3. Pour the water from the cups onto the leaves. You are now around 75–80 °C (167–176 °F); for cooler, wait a minute first. Without a thermometer, see these methods.
4. Steep about 60 seconds. Don’t stir or swirl much; fine leaf clouds the tea.
5. Pour out every last drop, alternating between cups so each gets the same strength. The last drops are the strongest.
6. For the second infusion, pour hotter water and steep just 15–30 seconds: the leaves are already open.

Why the second steep is shorter

Sencha leaves are rolled tightly but break easily. After the first infusion they are fully soft and open, so they release flavour almost instantly. Many people find the second infusion the strongest and most savoury, and that is why sencha resteeps well. More in resteeping tea.

Sencha in a mug

No kyusu? Use a mug with a fine infuser basket. Use about 4–5 g per 300 ml, water at 75 °C (167 °F) and 1 minute, and lift the basket out fully. Sencha’s fine particles slip through coarse infusers, so a fine mesh helps.

Why does my sencha taste bitter?

• Water too hot: this is the cause nine times out of ten. Try 70 °C (158 °F).
• Steep too long: sencha goes from sweet to harsh within a minute.
• Leaves left wet in the pot between infusions: pour out completely.

Full diagnostic in why tea turns bitter.

Cold-brewed sencha

Sencha is perhaps the best tea of all for cold brewing: about 10 g per litre in the fridge for 3–6 hours gives a sweet, savoury, low-bitterness tea. See cold brew tea.

Storage

Sencha fades faster than most teas. Keep it airtight, dark and away from strong smells; once opened, try to drink it within a couple of months. Unopened packs can go in the fridge, but let them reach room temperature before opening, or moisture condenses on the leaves.

Caffeine

Sencha contains caffeine, roughly in the range of other green teas, plus L-theanine. Lower temperatures and short steeps extract a little less caffeine than long, hot steeps, but sencha is never caffeine-free.

Sencha, gyokuro and bancha

All three are Japanese steamed green teas, but they are grown and picked differently. Gyokuro is shaded for around three weeks before harvest, which raises its savoury amino acids; brew it much cooler, around 50–60 °C (122–140 °F), with more leaf and less water. Sencha is grown in full sun and is the everyday middle ground. Bancha is made from later, larger leaves; it is milder, lower in caffeine and happy with hotter water around 80–90 °C (176–194 °F). Roasted bancha or hojicha can even take boiling water. If your “sencha” tastes flat at 70 °C (158 °F), check whether it is actually a bancha.