The secret is a large portion of tea leaves, and cooling the hot water slightly.
(1) Put some tea leaves in a small tea pot.
Put one heaped tablespoon of tea leaves (about 5 g) into the teapot for each person. If it looks like a little too much, that’s the perfect amount.
(2) Pour the boiled water into a yuzamashi (water cooler).The optimal temperature for deep steamed green tea is about 70°C. So first pour boiled water into a yuzamashi (water cooler). By doing this, you can lower the temperature of the boiled water by around 10°C. (If you don’t have a yuzamashi, a teacup will work just fine. This also has the effect of warming up the teacup.)
(3) Pour the hot water from the yuzamashi into a teacup.Pour the boiled water that has been in the yuzamashi into a teacup. This lowers the temperature by around a further 10°C, and also warms up the teacup. (The optimal temperature for shincha (the first tea of the season) is 80°C, so in that case it’s fine to omit this stage.)
(4) Pour the cooled boiled water into a small teapot.Wait for about 30 seconds, without moving the teapot. If the teapot is shaken the tea will be cloudy with a bitter taste. Please wait for the delicious flavor to slowly dissolve into the water. However there’s no need to wait the second time the teapot is filled. The tea leaves are already opened up, so please pour it straight after putting the hot water into the teapot.
(5) Drink the delicious deep steamed green tea that has been cooled to the right temperature.The delicious flavor is condensed in the last drop. To ensure that you can also drink delicious tea from the second pot onwards, please don’t leave any hot water in the teapot.