“ How do they serve tea in America, asked Mr. Taniguchi? Not with beautiful handcrafted bowls like this one (see photo), I said. Americans use TETSUBINs! Everyone in the room gasped. Tetsubins are hotwater kettles?! They said, incredulously. I told them Americans misunderstood the use of those cast iron pots intended to be put over charcoal fire pits to heat the hot water. The tea masters shook their heads, and took out proper clay pots to serve us. For the Shin Cha, the water temperature was brought to about 60 degrees C. I asked Shimooka san whether it’s appropriate to pour boiling water to sencha. Sure, he said, graciously, you can pour boiling water to quickly suss out the good and bad senchas, the bad ones will turn bitterly sour instantly. However, for the proper enjoyment of what the sencha (called sincha this time of the year) was intended, to get the right balance of astringency and rich flavour, the proper temperature should be between 60 to 70 degrees C. You heard it here from someone considered the best tea producer in Japan! His tea was sublime.
— Tea and Personalities 