Guricha
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Overview
Guricha, also known as Tamaryokucha, is unique and different from Sencha both in appearance and taste. This tea's processing differs from that of most senchas in that the final kneading process is omitted. The omission of this final kneading process results in a tea with leaves characterized by a comma shape. Both "guricha," and "tamaryokucha" translate to "curly leaf tea." Guricha has attained fame and lore throughout Japanese tea history, and still brings diversity of leaf to the sencha drinkers of today.
Brewing
Guricha differs from ordinary sencha in its processing. This difference also results in the need to brew guricha differently than your everyday sencha. While guricha is quite forgiving, only a simple set of guidelines is needed.
Guricha should be brewed with the normal temperature of water used for sencha of around 176°F/80°C. The leaf amount, as always, varies between tea-drinkers. To start, you might want to use 1 teaspoon of leaf for every 100mL of water. Steeping time is less than usual. The leaf only needs around 1 minute to fully deliver its lip-smacking flavor. For those who are looking to re-infuse, which is entirely recommended, the second steep needs to only be 20-30 seconds with the same temperature of water as the first to deliver its flavor. The third steep calls for slightly hotter water, of around 185°F/85°C or more, for a time of around 1.5 minutes. Up to five steeps are possible, with increasing temperature and brew time for each, but not many choose to push leaf to the full five steeps.
