Japanese Green Tea

Nine Japanese Green Teas to Try ...

Matcha ... is the quintessential experience of Japanese green tea. It is made from skillfully cultivated, shade-grown tea leaves that have been meticulously stone-ground into a fine powder.

To prepare Matcha, take a teaspoon of matcha and stir it vigorously with hot water using a bamboo whisk. Because it is made from the entire tea leaf, matcha has a bold, rich herbaceous flavor in the mouth. It is traditionally served with delicately flavored sweets to balance this intense flavor.

Sencha ... refers to a broad category of loose leaf green tea meant to be infused. Senchas can range from simple, unassertive teas that may be enjoyed daily to bolder teas. In general, the top few tea leaves from the shoot are used since they are rich in flavor. The finished tea may consist of small, almost powdery particles, or long, delicate, slender strands.

For the best balance of flavor and color, many senchas are a mix of leaves of different sizes and shapes. The final brew will be yellow-green to a deeper green in color. The taste will range from mellow with a hint of maize or wildflower to lively and herbaceous with a palate-cleansing astringency. Sometimes the leaves are deeply steamed to create a bolder sencha known as fukamushi-cha.

Gyokuro ... translates as Jade Dew, referring to the deep green color of its leaves. An elaborate form of Sencha, Gyokuro leaves are meticulously shade-grown in the same manner as leaves for matcha. The shading creates a tea that is intensely rich in flavor and low in astringency.

The intense labor required to produce Gyokuro, make it one of Japan’s most expensive teas.

Kabusecha ... is similar to gyokuro in that it is also shade-grown, but for a shorter length of time. Its flavor lies between sencha and gyokuro, offering a mild sweetness and great depth of character.

Bancha ... is made from more mature leaves than sencha, picked during the later harvest season. Not as complex a flavor as sencha, but it is mellow and easy to drink. It is also low in caffeine and high in antioxidants, making it an ideal tea to drink daily.

Genmaicha ... is one of the most popular Japanese green teas. It consists of a mix of roasted rice and either sencha or bancha tea. The roasted rice imparts a warm, toasty flavor to the green tea, creating a rich, smoothl taste.

Genmaicha’s popularity grew out of the lean war years when fresh tea was scarce and the small amounts available were mixed with rice to make it go further.

Hojicha ... takes its name from the Japanese words hoji, "roasted" and cha "tea". The Hojicha story relates how a Kyoto tea merchant had a large stock of green tea that he was an unable to sell and instead of disposing of the tea, he roasted the tea leaves and offered free tastings to the public, who took an instant liking to it.

To create hojicha, the finished tea leaves or stems are roasted for a few minutes, which turns them a dark brown color. The resulting tea has a smooth flavor with no astringency, making it ideal with to have with meals.

Kukicha ... is a tea made mainly from stems, or kuki. Its flavor is vibrant with a mild astringency. Kukicha is often referred to in macrobiotic circles, but this is actually Hojicha made from stems.

Konacha ... is made from from fine, powdery tea leaves. It brews to a vibrant green and yields a clean, brisk taste. It cleans the palate and is often the recommended tea to have with sushi.