Sencha is Japan’s most popular tea, drunk in most Japanese homes and restau- rants, and accounting for more than 80% of its total annual tea production. Sencha is the first spring tea to be harvested, following the shincha preharvest pluck, and heralds the beginning of the main spring flush season. |
Called first-flush sencha, this first sencha of the season has all the sugars and compounds stored up over winter, and contains all the rich, satisfying sweet goodness you’d expect from a first flush green tea.And, it also comes with a much higher price tag as well, about 30% higher than later harvests. As the season wears |
produced, including handpicked artisan made senchas, made in smaller quantities and usually costing more as well.Starting in mid May is the first plucking of sencha called ichiban- cha, the second plucking, beginning around the end of June is nibancha, the third, starting in mid August, sanbancha, and the fourth beginning in late September, yobancha. One style of sencha that’s particularly prized in Japan is To improve the quality of mass produced This method steams the tea for an addition- Ichiban means “the first,” meaning the tea The Kakegawa area is totally character for tea.Kakegawa’s tea production is some of the most sophisticated in the Tea factories are located every few miles throughout the region, Another style is Kagoshima Sencha, a good quality blend that has Kyushu Island, the second largest This area is mainly a flat plateau, so many of Japan’s largest tea The mechanical harvesting means Kagoshima sencha can be produced more economically, and One of these senchas is called a “natural gyokuro.” It is an entirely Enjoy. |