Why do green tea brewing instructions disagree?

Two packets can both say sencha and still ask for quite different quantities of leaf. Before deciding that one recipe is wrong, check how much finished tea it intends to make and how concentrated that tea should be. I would start with the instructions for the packet in front of me, then adjust from a recorded baseline.

Compare complete recipes

A temperature alone is not a recipe. Write down leaf weight, water volume, temperature, steep time and the point at which timing begins. Also note whether the instructions concern the first infusion or a later one. Mixing the leaf quantity from one method with the steep time from another creates a third recipe that neither seller recommended.

Ippodo's basic sencha recipe specifies 10 g of leaf and 210 ml of water at 80°C, served 60 seconds after pouring begins. Use those quantities together if you want to try that preparation. Ippodo's original recipe provides the complete sequence.

Convert the volume before comparing strength

Here is a deliberately invented comparison. Packet A says 3 g for 200 ml; packet B says 5 g for 250 ml. The first uses 1.5 g per 100 ml and the second 2 g per 100 ml. Comparing only the numbers 3 and 5 makes their difference look larger than it is.

Do not assume that a higher leaf concentration is wasteful. It may be designed for small servings and several infusions. Equally, do not assume that an expensive tea needs to be brewed at maximum concentration. Your preferred serving size and taste matter.

Decide what you want to change

If the first cup is pleasant but too intense, try adding a measured splash of warm water to the finished tea. This is a quick way to test whether concentration is the main problem. It does not recreate a different extraction, so treat the result as a clue rather than proof.

If the cup is drying or harsh, use a fresh portion for the next experiment and shorten the steep while keeping the other measurements fixed. If that is still unsatisfactory, return to the original time and try a lower temperature. Changing both immediately makes it harder to learn which adjustment helped.

If the cup is weak, first check that the water actually contacted all the leaves and that your mug was not much larger than the recipe assumes. A kettle filled to 500 ml does not mean that 500 ml went into the teapot.

Keep a recipe that belongs to this packet

A useful note can be very short: packet name, 3 g, 200 ml, measured temperature, 60 seconds, preferred or not preferred. Include the date opened so that you do not mistake an old packet for a failed brewing method.

Do not force different teas to use identical settings simply to make a neat chart. Use the packet recipe as the starting point for each, and compare the results at a comfortable drinking temperature.

When the packet gives too little information

Ask the seller for a leaf weight and water volume together. A direction such as “one spoon per cup” leaves both units uncertain. Until you get a reply, choose a measured trial and label it as your own experiment. Keep the packet and batch information, because another sencha from the same shop may need a different starting point.