Matcha water temperature?

"The temperature of the hot water is another factor that will determine the tea's taste. This is dependent on the season, and small adjustments are made to accomodate changes in weather". It goes on to say boiling water in winter, in spring add cool water to boiling kettle before pouring to reduce temperature slightly. It looks like boil or hot,hot,hot to me.

The Tea Ceremony,Sen'O Tanaka,Sendo Tanaka,Dai Nihon Chado Gakkai,Kodansha International Ltd,Printed in Japan,1973 first edition,

1998 second edition,ISBN 4-7700-2507-6,p136.

PS Excellent reference book on the Japanese Tea Ceremony. My only critique no Kana to go with the Romanji. You won't see a thermometer at a tea ceremony. All typos mine.

Jim

Evojeesus wrote:

According to trusted (by me) sources o-cha.com and matchasource.com,

80C is about right. I can tell when I've used too-hot water because the bitterness is really apparent, particularly with thin grade tea.

I take part in Tea Ceremony, and, btw, here in the states, we do often use a thermometer since the pouring and whisking are done away from guests, but it is practice and intuition that usually tells us when to pour.

80C is temperature we use in this lineage. There is debate regarding the whisking techniques and many lineages use different whisk methods. A very fast whisking is forgiving if the water is a little too hot. If this is for ceremony and not for personal drinking, the ceremonial rules are pretty restictive. We never use boiling or very hot water. That is considered abusive to the sacred tea. Perhaps, in Japan the lineages have more tolerance for hot water. In my school, the tea is considered "holy" and cannot be disturbed with very hot water. Hope this helps. Shen

I believe even in Japan nobody would use hot water -- isn't it an integral part of the ceremony to add a splash of cold water to the pot before taking hot water out for whisking? If nothing else, that would instantly lower temperature by a few degrees, no? I've only ever sat in on one such ceremony, so I'm by no means an expert, but I think boiling water is, indeed, never used...

I also wonder -- I've had matcha in a temple that was served cold. My guess is they used cold (spring) water to make it, because it was cooler than the hot summer day when I drank it. It was very refreshing and rather nice.

MarshalN

I just tried making my standard morning matcha with cold water and I agree wholeheartedly with "refreshing and rather nice." It was harder to get to a full froth, but that seems to be the only difference. I think it's the perfect drink for outdoors in hot weather.

No this is indeed quite interesting, I will have to try this tonight. Was the water ice cold, or just room temp?

I am always on the lookout for good cool summer tea drinks. I live in the south, down here they smother their iced tea with sugar, as a rule. I have grown to appreciate "Southern" iced tea if you leave out the sugar and add a healthy sprig of spearmint.

Mike

I have been trying this for a couple of days now and it is really a great summer drink. Contemplative whisking is a nice plus. As to the temperature, if the water is ice cold (out of the fridge) I find I don't get any bubbles at all, and the taste is kind of undercut by the shock of the coldness. I much prefer room temp.

Don't suppose anyone's tried iced pu'er?

Even aside from the shock of coldness, I think at room temperature there's simply more taste to be had.

They used to serve it at the late, lamented Wild Lily Tea Market in the East Village in New York. I didn't like it, but it wasn't a "pure play" of iced Pu'er: there was ginger if I remember correctly. Thinking about it now, I wonder if it was decent Pu'er, too.

/Lew