The Japan Shelf

Japanese Tea Beyond Matcha: 8 Things, and the Second Brew Nobody Mentions

Written in Japan · Updated August 2026

Matcha is what Japan exports. Sencha is what Japan drinks. The gap matters because they are made completely differently, and the leaf tea side needs almost none of the equipment matcha does — but it does need a teapot that pours properly and one habit most people abroad have never been told about.

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No. 1

Kyusu Teapot with Ceramic Mesh · $30-70

The side-handled Japanese teapot. What matters is the filter: a ceramic mesh fired into the pot wall, spanning the whole side. Japanese leaf opens wide and needs room, and a metal tea ball crushes it into a corner where water never properly reaches it.

  • Ceramic mesh built into the wall, not a metal basket
  • 300ml suits two people
  • The side handle is for pouring with one hand while steadying the lid
Link coming soon
No. 2

Sencha · $15-30

The everyday tea here, and about three quarters of what Japan produces. Steamed rather than pan-fired, which is why it tastes green and marine rather than toasted like Chinese green tea. If you buy one Japanese tea, buy this.

  • Brew at 70-80C, never boiling
  • Buy small bags — it fades within a couple of months of opening
  • Fukamushi is a deeper-steamed style, cloudier and more forgiving
Link coming soon
No. 3

Hojicha · $12-25

Roasted green tea. Brown, toasty, and low enough in caffeine that it is what gets served to children and to elderly relatives here, and what most households drink in the evening. It is also the one Japanese tea that is difficult to brew badly.

  • Boiling water is fine — unlike sencha, it will not turn bitter
  • Very low caffeine, suitable at night
  • The easiest starting point if sencha has gone wrong for you before
Link coming soon
No. 4

Genmaicha · $12-22

Green tea with roasted brown rice in it. It began as a way to make expensive leaf go further, which is a much less romantic origin than it usually gets given, and it stayed popular because the toasted rice smell is genuinely good with food.

  • Goes with savoury food better than plain sencha
  • Also forgiving about water temperature
  • Some versions include matcha powder — richer, cloudier
Link coming soon
No. 5

Yuzamashi Cooling Vessel · $15-35

A small open bowl that boiling water is poured into first, to drop the temperature before it reaches the leaf. Almost unknown outside Japan and it removes the need for a thermometer entirely — one transfer loses roughly 10C.

  • Boiling to about 80C in two transfers
  • No thermometer, no waiting and guessing
  • Doubles as a serving jug for cold brew
Link coming soon
No. 6

Yunomi Cups · $20-45

Taller than they are wide, no handle, thick walls. Held around the body with both hands. The shape keeps the tea hot longer than a wide cup, which matters because Japanese tea is served in small volumes and refilled.

  • Around 150-180ml — small on purpose
  • No handle, so the wall thickness is doing real work
  • Buy an even number, they are used in pairs here
Link coming soon
No. 7

Airtight Tea Canister (Chazutsu) · $25-60

Japanese tea loses its aroma faster than almost any other tea, because it is steamed rather than fired and the leaf stays chemically active. A double-lidded canister that seals under its own weight is the difference between tea that lasts two months and tea that lasts two weeks.

  • Double lid — the inner one is the seal
  • Keep it out of the fridge, condensation ruins leaf
  • Buy tea in quantities you will finish in six weeks
Link coming soon
No. 8

Cold Brew Bottle · $18-35

Mizudashi — cold brewing — is the standard summer method here and it is the most forgiving way to make Japanese tea. Cold water does not extract the bitter compounds at all, so the temperature problem simply disappears.

  • Leaf plus cold water in the fridge, three to six hours
  • Impossible to make bitter
  • Ordinary sencha works, no special product needed
Link coming soon

How to choose

If you buy two things

A kyusu and a bag of hojicha. Hojicha tolerates boiling water and short attention, so it will not punish you while you learn the pot. Move to sencha once the pot is familiar.

Kyusu, or the teapot I already own?

Your teapot will work if it has a wide filter or none at all. It will not work well if it has a small metal ball or a narrow spout basket — Japanese leaf triples in size and needs the whole pot. That is the only real requirement.

Loose leaf or tea bags?

Bags are entirely normal in Japan and nobody here considers them a compromise for weekday tea. Loose leaf is better and the gap is smaller than tea shops imply. Start with whichever you will actually use.

Questions

What is the second brew rule?

Pour the pot completely empty every time, down to the last drop. Any water left sitting on the leaf keeps extracting, and by the second brew it has turned bitter and astringent. In Japan this is taught as a fixed habit, and it is the single biggest reason a second cup tastes wrong abroad.

How long do I steep sencha?

About 60 seconds for the first brew at 80C. The second brew takes almost no time at all — pour the water in and pour it straight back out, because the leaf is already open. Steeping the second brew as long as the first is the other common mistake.

Why is my green tea bitter?

The water was too hot. Sencha wants 70 to 80C, and boiling water pulls out catechins and caffeine that the lower temperature leaves behind. Either use a yuzamashi, or pour the boiling water into the cups first and then into the pot — that loses roughly the right amount of heat.

How many times can I brew the same leaf?

Two properly, three at a push. The second brew is often considered the best one here. After the third, the leaf is finished — and in Japan the spent leaf is sometimes eaten with a little soy sauce rather than thrown out.

Does Japanese tea have caffeine?

Sencha does, roughly half a cup of coffee. Gyokuro has considerably more. Hojicha has very little because roasting breaks down the caffeine, which is exactly why it is the evening tea here.