Japan Green Tea
All Japanese teas are green. Gyokuro is the very best of Japan teas. To produce high-quality Gyokuro tea the bushes must be kept under 90 percent shade from the beginning og May for about 20 days. As soon as the new buds begin to form, the entire plantation given over to the production of Gyokuro, is covered with mats of bamboo, reed, or canvas. The reduced light means that the tiny leaves develop a higher chlorophyll content (making the leaves a darker green than normal) and a lower tannin content (giving the tea a sweeter, milder flavor). The leaves are then steamed to stop fermentation.
Sencha is Japan's most popular everyday drink. Various qualities with only the best being saved for special occasions. Only the finest Sencha is plucked by hand. As with all Japanese green teas, Sencha is steamed immediately after picking to stop fermentation.
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| Gyokuro or jade dew is actually selected from a precursor grade known as ten-cha 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. Read more about Gyokuro. |
Sencha, literally meaning, ‘roasted tea’, 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. Read more about Sencha. |
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| Matcha is a famous powder green tea made from ground Gyokuro green tea. It is whisked with hot water in a bowl to make a frothy, healthful beverage. Matcha is traditionally drunk in "Japanese Tea Ceremony" and used in many green tea recipes. When you drink matcha you consume the leaves, unlike other green teas. For this reason matcha contains, by volume, higher concentrations of catechins and vitamins. |
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More Information
What we call a "tea ceremony" is a Japanese ritual defined by the word chanoyu, which literally means "hot tea water." A truly spiritual expression of the "way of tea," traditional chanoyu takes place in an "empty house" or "tea room" that one reaches via a path of flat, irregular stones (roji). The tea master, kneeling on a tatami about nine square yards, wipes the tea bowl (chawan) with a silken fabric (fukusa) attached to the belt of his kimono. Read more about The Art of Chanoyu - Japanese Tea Ceremony.
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 year’s 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. Read more on Japanese Green Teas. |