Fukamushi

FUKAMUSHI 深蒸し (deep steaming)

Fukamushi sencha first appeared in Japan in the mid-20th century and has gained great popularity since its introduction in Makinohara. Fukamushi means "deep steaming". It is the higher steaming time of the tea leaves that makes the taste different from asamushi and chumushi.

The steaming time for fukamushi is approximately 60-120 seconds. As a result of the longer steaming time, the tea leaves and stems start to break and you will see broken leaves and tea dust in the final product.  In short, long steaming results in a more broken tea, but one that peels quickly, has a beautiful color, and easily releases flavor and large amounts of micronutrients into the infusion.

It is thanks to the growing popularity of fukamushi that teapots with fine stainless steel strainers, which are the ideal utensils for sipping fukamushi, have begun to make their way into the Japanese market. Ceramic strainers, the classic kyusu, are easily clogged with tea dust, and with shibori-dashi you can't filter out the leaf fragments.