This is a neat little Tea brewing vessel that is designed for "superior" brewing of Sencha Tea.
Very often we are posed the question: are there any new – more modern – ways of brewing tea in Japan? Today we would like to talk about one of those: drip tea brewing. And, more specifically, of a new device for it: the Tokine (刻音).
Tokine is a modern recent teaware that consist of 4 different parts: a glass pitcher and 3 semi porcelain pieces that serve as container for the tea leaves. The tea leaves are placed in the container and when water is poured, the extraction is slow. Moreover, the leaves don’t move around, instead they tend to fall on the bottom and stay there: apparently this also helps for a good extraction of the flavours into the brew. The creators call this the “precipitation extraction method”.
There are two necessary conditions for extracting good tea. “To make the space for tea leaves spreading” and “Not to shake tea leaves during extracting.”
For the Tokine, the developers recommend pouring a tiny amount of water first to wet the tea leaves and wait for 30 seconds – after which, pouring the rest of the water and wait for another 30 seconds. The steeping method of the Tokine is essentially dripping but, in contrast with other dripping devices, does not have a so called filter. Instead, the leaves function as a sort of filter covering the small passage for the water. The brew is slow and the tea drips down into the glass pitcher. Once the 30 seconds have passed, it is suggested to slightly move the stick inside, so that opens the space for any last drops of tea to be poured out.