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Tea gets more interesting with roasting.

Choosing one bag, blending it with another, and brewing

Chapter 12 · 3 of 4 sections readable now

Illustration of hands examining a tea packet’s back label with a magnifying glass, alongside scales representing its contents

From reading a label to choosing one bag, blending a second with it, and brewing the result.

01

Reading roast and blend from the bag

The word domestic and the weight on a packet's back answer different questions about the same tea. This piece reads the origin of the leaf, the packet's total contents and the amount used each time, one by one.

Turn a packet over and, in small type, there is "green tea (domestic)" and a weight. They describe the same tea but answer different questions. The first is about the ingredient, the second about how much the whole packet holds. Read on to the brewing instructions and the amount used each time appears too.

What follows separates the origin of the leaf, the packet's total contents and the amount used each time, using real product labels as examples.

What domestic tells you

The ingredients panel says only "green tea (domestic)". It shows the green tea was grown in Japan, but not where in Japan.

A long-established tea house's hojicha is labelled in exactly this form. The wording alone does not reveal the balance of leaf and stem either. Knowing a shop's name or address does not let it stand in for where the tea was grown.

The label shows what its words show, and no more. Separate where the shop is from where the leaf grew, and it becomes clear where to look for the origin. Next, the weight.

The packet's weight, the sachet's weight

The same stem tea comes as loose leaf in a bag and as tea bags in a pack. The weight is written differently for each.

On the loose-leaf bag, the figure is the amount of tea in one bag. The tea-bag label gives both the amount in each bag and the number of bags. Multiplied together, they give the total tea in the pack.

Converting to how many grams of tea come in what units reveals more than the outer pack or the bag count. Total weight alone, though, does not decide convenience or taste. After quantity, the brewing instructions.

The brewing panel shows how a packet is used

Move to the brewing instructions and the amount used each time is there. Read that far and the way a packet will be used comes into view.

In the shop's hot-brewing method, the loose leaf is measured by weight and the tea bags are used two at a time. Divide through and the loose-leaf bag makes more batches than the pack of tea bags. These count preparations made by each method.

Turning those batches straight into cups would change their meaning. Until the amount each batch makes is checked, the figures count preparations and nothing more. Keeping apart the total contents, the amount used each time and the tea each batch makes helps when thinking about cup size or how many will share. The figures and where they come from are gathered at the end.

The numbers in detail

Origin label
"Green tea (domestic)" is the ingredient label on Ippodo Tea's Gokujo Hojicha.
Weight example
The example is Maruhachi Seichajo's Kenjō Kaga Bōcha.
Loose leaf
The loose-leaf label reads "60 g bag".
Tea bags
The tea-bag label reads "3 g × 12", 36 g of tea in all.
Per brew
The official hot-brewing method uses 6 g of loose leaf, or 2 tea bags, each time.
Batches
60 g in 6 g portions gives 10 batches; 12 bags in pairs gives 6.

Sources

Updated 17 October 2026This section on its own page

03

Choosing a first bag, then blending a second with it

A first packet of hojicha is easiest to choose by where, and with what, it will be brewed. This piece follows the cup and the teapot, how tea bags are counted, and the note left after the last sip.

Illustration of a person holding a tea packet and comparing a teapot with tea-bag equipment

There is a teapot on the kitchen shelf and a mug on the desk at work. Even for one person, the convenient form changes with the place the tea is made. A first packet is easier to choose by where and how it will be brewed than by brand.

What follows looks in turn at the equipment used, how much is made at once, and what to try next.

A cup to begin with

Pour hot water into a cup on the desk and the steam rises straight up. Without a teapot, a cup is enough to begin.

One stem tea's tea bags come with instructions to put them in a cup and pour on boiling water. For loose leaf measured into a teapot, the amounts to look at are the tea and the water. Whether the maker's method can be followed with the equipment at hand is the first thing to check.

The sources cover one product's instructions, no more. Checked in advance, there is less chance of discovering after buying that something is missing. Next, how tea bags are counted.

One bag is not always one serving

Tea bags come wrapped one by one. That does not make each bag one serving.

The hot-brewing method for that stem tea uses two bags in boiling water for a short steep. Take the single wrapping to mean one serving and the tea is used differently from the maker's instructions. For cold brewing, the same number of bags goes into a generous amount of cold water and is left for a long time.

With the same number of bags, the method and the water change what is made. The sources speak for this one product. How much to make depends on the method as well as the bag count. Last, what comes after the cup is empty.

A few words after the last sip

At the bottom of an empty cup, a pale brown remains. A first packet is a starting point for choosing the next.

Worth keeping are the product name, the method used and a word about how it fitted the day. Phrases like "this format I could keep up" or "I'd like to make a little less" are enough. No specialist aroma vocabulary is needed for a note that helps the next choice.

This is one example of a useful note, and no more than that. The figures and where they come from are gathered at the end.

The numbers in detail

The product
The example is Maruhachi Seichajo's Kenjō Kaga Bōcha tea bags.
Cup method
Putting the bags in a cup and pouring on boiling water is one of the methods given.
Hot brewing
2 bags with 260 mL of boiling water.
Steeping time
45 seconds for the hot method.
Cold brewing
The same 2 bags with 600 mL of cold water.
Cold-brew time
3 hours.

Sources

Updated 17 October 2026This section on its own page

04

Where to keep it, and how fast to finish it

Where, and how, should dry tea be put away? Following a long-established tea house's guidance, this piece looks at what the storage spot needs, how an opened packet is handled, and how far the advice reaches.

An illustration of hands closing a packet of tea, beside a storage tin and an unopened spare bag.

In the kitchen, the water poured, an opened packet sits with its mouth still open. A tea worth liking is worth brewing just as well tomorrow. Before any special equipment, what deserves a second look is the packet opened every day and where it lives.

What follows turns a long-established tea house's short guidance into movements in the kitchen.

Sunlight, steam and strong smells

In the afternoon, sun reaches the shelf by the window. Dry tea can be kept at room temperature, but not just anywhere.

The tea house's guidance says to keep tea away from sunlight, heat, humidity and strong odours. Hearing room temperature, it is easy to remember only that it need not be chilled. The guidance, though, also lists what to keep it away from.

The things to look at are when sun falls on the spot, how close cooking heat and steam come, and what strongly scented things sit beside it. Taken one at a time, they keep the choice from resting on a vague sense that somewhere seems cool. The guidance says that much. Next, the mouth of the packet.

Closing the packet is part of the cup

Once the leaf is scooped out, the packet's mouth gives a dry rustle. Close an opened packet before putting it away, the guidance says.

With the tea taken out, the packet is closed before moving on to brewing. With a fixed place to keep it, putting it away becomes part of the same routine.

The guidance goes as far as closing the packet. Which tea it is talking about comes next.

This is about tea before it is brewed

A little brewed tea is still left in the pot. The room-temperature advice is about dry tea in a packet or tin.

How to keep tea already brewed in a pot or bottle is a separate question. Where a product gives its own storage directions, those come first.

The advice reaches as far as dry leaf. The figures and where they come from are gathered at the end.

The numbers in detail

Source
The guidance on where to keep tea and closing the packet comes from Ippodo Tea's official FAQ.
What to avoid
Sunlight, heat, humidity and strong odours, four in all.
Temperature
Kept away from those, dry tea can be stored at room temperature.
Once opened
The FAQ advises closing the packet after opening.
Scope
The guidance concerns dry tea in a packet or tin.
Product directions
Where a product gives its own storage directions, those apply.

Sources

Updated 17 October 2026This section on its own page

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