Japanese Green Teas

Green tea is the predominant tea beverage consumed throughout Japan today.
There are many kinds available. Early season sencha, the new season tea or
shin cha, are generally regarded as the best of each years crop, and different
regions compete on quality and seasonal availability. There are also those
special occasion teas such as gyokuro, (a rarity and extravagantly priced);
houjicha - a roasted tea and very much an evening drink; and the famous
ceremony beverage, a powdered tea called maccha.

Gyokuro
Gyokuro or jade dew is actually selected from a precursor grade known as tencha and is regarded as the highest grade of tea made in Japan. Seen very much
as a luxury, and rare commodity, the gyokuro teas are made only with the limited
first flush leaf in order to achieve a rich and round flavour with a delicate, pale
lemon-green colour. Gyokuro is grown in the shade for approximately twenty
days before harvesting is commenced. Removing direct sunlight in this way has
the effect of reducing leaf photosynthesis, which alters the proportions of sugars,
amino acids, flavanols and other substances responsible for tea aroma and taste.
Gyokuro tea is generally sweet and delicate in flavour, as well as having a soft
palate texture. It makes an excellent light evening tea.

Sencha
Sencha, literally meaning, roasted tea, pertains to the past processing methods
used to make this most popular of all Japanese green tea. Today, sencha is
initially steam treated before further processing with hot-air drying and finally
pan-frying. Over three quarters of all tea now produced in the Japanese tea
gardens is in fact graded as sencha, a tea selected for its pleasant sharpness
and fresh qualities complementing a leaf of high uniformity and rich emerald
colour. However, the flavour, colour and general quality of sencha is highly
variable, and depends not only on origin but also season and the leaf processing
practises locally employed. It is well known that later harvests of sencha have
more bitter qualities, a more robust flavour and generally less aroma.
Furthermore, the leaf of late season teas is generally less uniform. Much is said
of the shin cha, the earliest becoming available in April in the south of Japan, and
sold because of its high vitamin content, sweetness and superior flavour. Most
regions make a number of kinds of sencha, which are named according to the
kind of processing used. Sencha is the tea most likely to be offered in a
Japanese household or restaurant. Certainly sencha is starting to appear outside
of Japan in food stores, specialist food shops and even supermarkets. The
higher grades of sencha are available from some tea merchants, but the best
teas remain largely unobtainable.

Kamairi-cha
Kamairi-cha also known as pan-fired tea. This is sometimes referred to as
Chinese green tea by the Japanese owing to the pan-frying processing
which predominates in the making of this richly flavoured tea. Kamairi teas
do not undergo the usual steam treatments. After a short withering, these
teas are fired in hot iron pans of up to 300C with repeated agitation to
prevent charring. This Kamairi process develops sweet, mildly roasted
flavours, which are very similar to the pan-fried teas produced in China
today. The different rolling techniques used can give rise to teas of different
leaf form, and Kamairicha can be processed as a pelleted leaf or flat leaf.
Several southern regions are known for making fine Kamairicha; Sechibaru
and Ureshino are two of the most respected for their pan-fried manufacture.
Kamairicha is generally not available in the West, however one or two
specialist tea merchants are making this tea more well known.

Matcha
Matcha is powdered or ground tea. This is the well-known powdery green tea of
the Japanese Tea Ceremony (Chano-yu). Maccha is regarded as a heavy green
tea by the Japanese, but in fact it can be prepared as a strong (koicha) or weak
tea (usucha) depending on the way it is made. Quite often the best maccha is
used for Chano-yu, and the bitter end to the tea ceremony shocks the uninitiated
who attend such gatherings. Usucha is very easy to make, simply add hot water
and stir, to give a kind of instant tea. No prior knowledge of Chano-yu is needed.
Maccha has similar origins to gyokuro, i.e. an early season, high grade, shadegrown tea. After steaming the maccha leaf is comprehensively stone ground to a
light and fine green powder. The tea is rich in amino acids, vitamins, and
minerals and high in caffeine and catechin antioxidants (the latter being a
consequence of the very small particle size of the processed leaf). The highest
grades of maccha have more sweetness and deeper flavour than the coarser
teas of later harvests. The most famous maccha-producing region is Nishio in
Aichi (on the main island of Honshu). This tea is specifically referred to as
Nishiocha. Good ceremony teas are very hard to find outside Japan.

Mecha
Mecha or bud tea. The name of this tea derives from the early leaf buds needed
to make this special green tea. Meccha is renowned for its depth of flavour,
considerable astringency and bitter green aftertaste. Mecha is harvested in
spring and made as rolled leaf teas that are graded somewhere between gyokuro
and sencha in quality. In fact Mecha are made from a collection of leaf buds and
tips of the early crops. The distinctive, sharp flavour and aroma of Mecha is well

understood by tea connoisseurs, and is often regarded as being as good as the

best sencha. The best Mecha produces an aromatic tea with a clear, soft yellow
appearance. The Sushi restaurants more usually referred to as Agari, use top
quality Mecha served with the meal. Owing to the bitter qualities of Mecha, this is
a good tea to drink after meals to cleanse the palate.

Hukamushi
Hukamushi (also Fu-) or deep-steamed tea. Hukamushi-cha is a heavily steamed
green tea, and often given the name misty green tea because of the slightly
cloudy effect of the teas infusion. The steaming period for the Hukamushi teas is
much longer than for any sencha. This prolonged steaming has the effect of
reducing bitterness and makes for a more mild tea, with less green aroma. The
leaf of Hukamushi green tea is characteristically non-uniform, a broken grade, in
factory terminology where the time needed for infusion and temperature of water
are much less critical than for other Japanese green teas. To date Hukamushi
teas are virtually unheard of outside Japan.

Kukicha
Kukicha or stalk tea. Also called stick tea owing the long thin shape of this leafstalk blend. The tea is made by collecting the stalk fractions of gyokuro and
sencha and processed to an emerald leaf and pale green stalk blend. Kukicha is
strictly made from stalks produced by harvesting of one bud and three leaves.
The leaves go on to make gyokuro and high graded sencha. The main
characteristics of Kukicha are its light flavours, and fresh, green aroma with a
very light yellow-green colour. In fact for Kukicha, the thinner and less green the
infusion; the higher is the quality of the tea. For the best stalk tea, the flavour is
considered to be as good as highest quality sencha. Inexpensive and an
enthusiasts tea, rarely seen outside Japan.

Bancha
Bancha meaning common tea and possibly a reference to the coarser grades
and heavier, late season crop from which this full-flavoured tea is made. Bancha
is made from larger leaves than are usually available for sencha grades.
However, it should be made clear that bancha are generally seen as other kinds
of sencha which are harvested as a second flush tea between summer and
autumn. It should be said that bancha usually lacks the delicate sweetness of
quality sencha. Nevertheless, bancha is respected because of the teas welldefined character, vivid yellow colours and refreshing and deep flavours. The
strength of flavour held by many bancha means that they go well with food.
Becoming more widely available in the West owing to the lower price of these
green teas.

Houjicha
Houjicha a pan-fried or oven roasted green tea commonly encountered in
teashops throughout Japan. Houjicha holds very little bitterness, they also tend to
be aromatic teas as well as being light on the palate and quite refreshing. Both
bancha and Kukicha are used to make houjicha grades. The tea is fried at high
temperature, the leaf colours then alter from green tints to red, and the roasted
flavours are extracted and predominate. The main types of houjicha are light and
deep-fried. As expected, the deeper fried leaf produce teas with a deeper roast
aroma and taste. Houjicha infusions have a distinctively clear red appearance (as
distinct from hongcha) and are reputedly low in caffeine as well as catechin
antioxidants. The clean, roasted flavours of houjicha go with any kind of food,
particularly oily foods, and is often appreciated as an after-dinner tea.
Inexpensive, but rarely encountered in the West.

Genmaicha
Genmaicha or roasted rice tea is a blend of bancha green tea and Genmai
(roasted rice grain). The flavours of Genmaicha, are a melange of the green tea
and the roasted rice. The roasted aroma of Genmai teas has the effect of
lightening the bitterness of the lower grade sencha. The proportioning of tea to
rice is important, the more aromatic Genmai teas have a higher amount of rice.
Other blends are known including maccha and Genmaicha. Moreover, the tea
can be infused with high temperature water and for longer infusion periods than
most Japanese teas. The Genmai teas are seen as a modest source of vitamin
B1 and like bancha and houjicha contain less caffeine. Genmaicha can be drunk
late into the evening without fear that it will disturb sleep. A very common
beverage in Japan, manufactured by most tea producing regions. Many travellers
who have spent some time in Japan also know the tea.