Ya-Ya’s Tea-Board

While our Organic Sencha has never been a tea that a lot of our customers ordered without my recommendation, it is one of those teas that deeply impresses people when they try it. I’m very fond of this tea myself (after searching a considerable amount of time for a source of reliably high quality organic green tea from Japan) and find myself recommending it to a fair amount of people. Almost everyone who tries this Sencha falls in love with it’s fresh, full flavour. But why is it that people need my recommendation to give it a try? The answer is, I believe, a lack of knowledge about Japanese green teas. I’ll try to shed some light on the subject with today’s post.

The other day a friend asked me: “Is there something special about Sencha? I can usually drink tea all day and night, but after drinking a cup of Sencha in the late afternoon, I was wide awake, incredibly alert and couldn’t sleep all night!” This is a phenomenon I have experienced many times before myself, but not everyone reacts to Sencha that way. To me (and my friend), Sencha is the closest tea equivalent to a good espresso: tasty, satisfying and delivering an instant high!

The production of Sencha (which literally means “infused tea”) is far larger than that of any other tea in Japan. In the hierarchy of Japanese tea, Sencha occupies the middle ground between the low grade Bancha (which is harvested from the same bushes as Sencha, but in the fall when the leaves are bigger and coarser) and high grade teas like Matcha (powdered tea) and Gyokuro. Sencha is available in a vast variety of quality grades, ranging from rough, often largely broken leaves (available in most Asian stores) to very refined productions that almost match the high prices of premium Gyokuro.

Sencha should be fresh! Avoid tea leaves with a dull appearance and faded green colour. Fresh, high-quality Sencha should have a lustre, is deep-green in colour and has a strong, green, vegetal smell. The leaves should be intact, but it takes some getting used to the appearance (the tea leaves are rolled into something resembling a needle) to judge this. Most Japanese green teas, including Sencha, have a  strong vegetal character with a hint of seaweed flavour which makes them more savoury than sweet. These savoury flavours are created by steaming the fresh tea leaves, a process that is distinctly different from other countries’ processing methods for green tea which usually involve roasting or baking the fresh tea leaves. Sencha is characterized by its balance between sweetness and astringency and the top quality teas show this balance in perfection.

Usually, Sencha is brewed strong! Use about 1-2 tablespoons for 200ml of 80°C water and steep for 2 minutes. The resulting strength reminds me again of its similarity to the Italian espresso. You can actually drink it like shots!

Organic agriculture is still considerably rare in Japan and very few tea gardens actually produce organic tea. We’ve discovered and built a relationship with an organic grower in the Uji region around Kyoto which is generally regarded as the best tea region in Japan. His teas are outstanding and we’re very proud to be able to offer such high quality in New Zealand.

Our Japanese green tea ‘Organic Sencha Premium‘ $27.90 / 100g (If you’d like to buy some, please visit our ordering page)

Tags [ sencha | green tea | Japanese tea | tea ]