Studio green tea (sencha)
Japanese green tea brewed at low temperature, tender green, both vegetal and delicately bitter. Drunk without sugar, in small bowls, it is the drink of attention and concentration.
Japanese green tea brewed at low temperature, tender green, both vegetal and delicately bitter. Drunk without sugar, in small bowls, it is the drink of attention and concentration.
The secret is not the tea, it's the water: too boiling, it burns the leaves and you'll only get bitterness. Let it cool down, pour it over the leaves, and wait — barely a minute, the time to breathe once or twice. I prepare it myself for the team, because a man who brings tea also looks at faces, and sees who is tired. Drink it without sugar. You don't embellish a true thing; you learn to love it as it is.
- •Sencha leaves — one measure per small pot (tea)
- •Spring water — according to number of bowls (infusion)
Studio green tea (sencha)
Japanese green tea brewed at low temperature, tender green, both vegetal and delicately bitter. Drunk without sugar, in small bowls, it is the drink of attention and concentration.
Why this dish? Miyazaki is known for preparing tea (and coffee) himself for his team. Green tea punctuates the Japanese day like breathing punctuates work: a short, shared pause that straightens the mind before returning to the drawings.
The secret is not the tea, it's the water: too boiling, it burns the leaves and you'll only get bitterness. Let it cool down, pour it over the leaves, and wait — barely a minute, the time to breathe once or twice. I prepare it myself for the team, because a man who brings tea also looks at faces, and sees who is tired. Drink it without sugar. You don't embellish a true thing; you learn to love it as it is.
Ingredients (period version)
- Sencha leaves — one measure per small pot (tea)
- Spring water — according to number of bowls (infusion)
Ingredients
- Sencha green tea leaves — 6 g (≈ 2 tsp) (tea)
- Filtered water — 400 ml (infusion)
Method
- Boil the water, then let it cool to 70–80°C (pour it into empty bowls to cool it and warm them).
- Put the leaves in the teapot (kyūsu).
- Pour the cooled water over the leaves, steep for 60 to 90 seconds.
- Serve by dividing into several passes from bowl to bowl, so that each bowl has the same strength.
- Keep the leaves: a second, shorter infusion is possible.
How it was made : Tea has been cultivated in Japan since the Middle Ages; *sencha* (leaf tea, not powdered like matcha) became popular in the Edo period and became the drink of every household. Serving tea to one's colleagues or guests is, in Japan, a codified and deeply social gesture of care.
The contemporary twist : In summer, cold-brew (*mizudashi*) overnight in the refrigerator: a sweet, non-bitter iced sencha for long hot days at the studio.
Hayao Miyazaki · Charactorium