First of All the Water

If you are using tap water:
+ Take water during the day time from a well- used tap and leave it out overnight.
+ Once the water as come to the boil, take off the lid of the pot, turn fire down to low and continue to heat for 5 minutes; This gets rid of any unpleasant smells the water may have.
+ Using an activated charcoal water filter will give the best result.

If you are using "mineral water":
+ Beware of high mineral content waters, which will affect the taste.
+ Even natural spring waters should be boiled and simmered as above.

Use Good Quality, Fresh Tea

Things To Do When Using a Kyusu (Japanese Tea Pot)
When pouring the tea into the tea cups, each cup will be a slightly different strength, so be sure to distribute the tea evenly in each cup. This means going from cup one to five then back from five to one. Be sure to get every drop possible out of the tea pot, especially since the last drops are the best. If you do not get all the tea out, the second pouring will be extra bitter since the tea have been leaching out the biterness while left in the tea pot.
Also, do not add extra leaves for a second pouring.

DIFFERENT TEAS AND HOW TO MAKE THEM

Gyokuro "Jade Dew"
Although as intensely cultivated as matcha by being raised under the same kind tenting, the leaves of gyokuro are rolled after being steamed. They are dried into fine needle-like tea leaves. They are also only picked once a year, in May. Gyokuro and sencha are brewed in a teapot.
Gyokuro should be drunk from tiny tea cups, about the size of a large sake cup (about 30cc when filled 80%) and white on the inside.
For three guests' worth
AMOUNT OF TEA: 1.5 Tbls. or c. 8 grams
AMOUNT OF WATER: c. 100cc
TEMPERATURE: 40-60 C
WAITING TIME: 3-11/2 min.
Special Points:
1. Put the hot water into the empty kyusu (tea pot) and allow the kyusu to warm throughly. then pour the water into the cups to warm them as well. Then pour all the hot water into a special "yuzamashi" coolingcup until it achieves the proper temperature. This allows all the utensils to be warmed while cooling the water to the proper temperature.
2. Gyokuro is enjoyed for the thick potency of its first pouring and the difference between that and the second pouring, which is slightly warmer, slightly quicker, and slightly more rounded flavor.

Sencha
Sencha, unlike matcha and gyukuro, is grown in the full sun. The picked leaves are rolled, just like gyokuro while being dried. Sencha makes up the largest portion of Japan's green tea crop.
Sencha should be drunk from small tea cups (about 70cc when filled 80%) and white on the inside.
For three guests' worth of sencha or kabuse cha:
AMOUNT OF TEA: 1.5 Tbls. or c. 8 grams
AMOUNT OF WATER: c. 200cc
TEMPERATURE: 80-90 C
WAITING TIME: 1min.-30 sec.
Special Points:
1. Pour the boiling water into each of the tea cups (filled 80%), then from each of the cups into the kyusu. If done immediately the kyusu water will be about 90 C, if you heat the tea cups, temperature will fall to 80 C.
2. The lower temperature will give a rounder flavor, while the higher temperature will yield a slightly more astringent, fragrant and brisk tea.
3. It is easier to divide the water in half and do the pouring twice in rapid succession.

Karigane
The stems of the new leaves are used to make this type of tea.
Shin
Made from the tips of the new leaves, the tea is almost like powder.
Senryu
Senryu is exactly the same as sencha in cultivation and processing, but the leaves have been allowed to mature fully.

Kawayanagi

Hojicha
Hojicha is made from sencha or senryu that has been roasted to give it a distinctive flavor and aroma.
Genmaicha
Genmaicha is made with sencha or senryu with popped rice mixed in. It has a flavor that blends the fresh natural flavor of green tea with the rich rounded flavor reminescent of popcorn.
Use full tea cups for these teas.

For three guests' worth:
AMOUNT OF TEA: 3-4Tbls. or c. 10 grams
AMOUNT OF WATER: c. 300cc
TEMPERATURE: Boiling
WAITING TIME: 15 sec.- as desired
Special Points:
1. Dividing the hot water into two pours is a better way to get the best from the tea.
2. If you use a pottery utensil to boil the tea for a short time, the amount needed is less.

Iced tea

This is what I like. Having grown up on iced tea - i continue to grow up on green iced tea. The amount depends on the tea. I like 2-3 heaping tablespoons per liter/quart of water. Put it in the refigerator overnight and it is done. Make it once then you can adjust for the streingth you like!

There are two ways of making matcha, powdered green tea, as koicha or thick tea and as usucha, thin tea. Because so much tea powder is needed to make thick tea and it is so concentrated, the tea itself must be very sweet and mild. It can even be used for thin tea. Thin tea, on the other hand, tends to be bitterer as it is thinner and needs to contrast more. Thin tea powder does NOT make koicha that is drinkable.

Thick tea is the central element in the full tea gathering, the chaji, where one bowl is shared by the 4-5 guests invited to take part. In preparation for drinking this one bowl of tea, the Hosts puts many hours of thought and hard work, bringing together hundreds of elements to make the full experience a meaningful one.
Making delicious thick tea is a skill developed by years of concentrated practice, and needs to be developed under the eyes of a trained teacher.

Thin tea, on the other hand is much simpler to make and has less significance riding on it. Following a few simple rules, a delicious bowl of usucha is well within the reach of everyone. Within the chaji however, precisely because of this simplicity, usucha is held to be much more formal in feeling, while koicha even though it is the most significant single aspect of the tea gathering, in line with its wabi nature, should be free, natural (as in perfected) and relaxed.

The basic preparations of the teabowl for both usucha and koicha are the same.
1, warm the bowl with hot water
1, rinse the chasen, tea whisk at the same time to prevent tea powder from sticking to it.
1, dry thoroughly with a clean cloth.
1, add the required amount of sifted tea powder.

For koicha 3.75 grams per person is considered best, but kneading that small an amount well is difficult for the beginner. Koicha is really meant to be made for several guests at once anyway.

For usucha, which is supposed to be made individually, put 1.5 -1.75 grams into the warmed, dried bowl. Some people think that a weak bowl of tea is better for first timers but this is an insult to the tea and the taster.

The amount of hot water added will vary with your taste, but for usucha never more than 3/4 ladleful- more like half a ladle (approx. 70cc) is best. Again, experimentation will reveal the best proportions for your taste.

The water should NOT be boiling furiously- this kills the taste. Depending on the room temperature and the heat absorption of the bowl, a temperature of 75-95 C
( F) is best. Water that has boiled too long, or has been boiled and allowed to cool once has lost part of its oxygen content and has gone flat.

Further the water should NOT be boiling furiously because this burns your tongue and your hands through the bowl.

Once the tea and water are in the bowl, apply the chasen-whisk.
Koicha preparation is really something best done under the eyes of a teacher but generally speaking, a minimal amount of hot water (85% of what is "required") is added, the resulting paste kneaded until smooth and all the lumps dissolved. The remaining 15% is added at this point to thin the tea to a drinkable state. Continue to knead the hot water into the other tea until a smooth consistency is achieved. No need to take too long on this as the tea should already be smooth and creamy. Too much further kneading just cools the tea.

For usucha, after a few preliminary swishes to be sure the tea hasn't lumped, a stronger but controlled back and forth motion should be applied with the whisk, at a fairly rapid rate, until a layer of froth has formed. Some people just can't achieve this rapid motion but still, a delicious bowl of tea can be achieved. At the end, a twist of the whisk leaves a mound of foam in the center, and it's done.