Japanese Tea: A Guide to Sencha, Gyokuro, Matcha and More

Japanese tea is almost entirely green tea, and most of it is steamed right after picking rather than pan-fired as in China. That gives it a vivid green colour and grassy, marine, savoury (umami) flavours. The main types are sencha (the everyday leaf tea), gyokuro and kabusecha (shaded for sweetness and umami), matcha (shaded leaf ground to powder and whisked), hojicha (roasted, brown and toasty) and genmaicha (green tea with roasted rice). Japanese teas are usually brewed cooler than Chinese greens, often at 60–80 °C, in a side-handled kyusu teapot.

Eight teas, and most of them aren't matcha#

Matcha gets the attention abroad. But most Japanese tea drunk day to day is sencha.

Even the brown one is green tea. Hojicha is roasted, not oxidized like red tea, whatever its colour suggests.

Why it tastes greener than Chinese tea#

Chinese green tea is mostly pan-fired, which gives nutty, toasty, bean-like notes. Japanese green tea is mostly steamed, so the leaf stays bright green and tastes greener, more marine and more savoury.

How long it's steamed matters too. Light steaming (asamushi) keeps the needles whole and the cup clear. Deep steaming (fukamushi) breaks the leaf and gives a thick, cloudy, sweeter cup. The full comparison is in Chinese vs Japanese tea.

Why the shaded teas taste sweet#

For gyokuro, kabusecha and the tencha that becomes matcha, the bushes are covered for a period before harvest. With less sunlight, the leaves keep more L-theanine, which tastes sweet and savoury, and make fewer of the bitter, astringent catechins. They also turn a deeper green.

The longer the shade, the richer and sweeter the tea.

Where it grows#

How monks brought tea to Japan#

Tea came to Japan from China with Buddhist monks. In 805 the monk Saichō planted tea near Enryaku-ji, and in 1214 Eisai wrote Japan's first book on tea.

Powdered tea, whisked in the Song Chinese style, became the basis of the Japanese tea ceremony. Loose-leaf sencha came later, in the 17th century, with monks of the Ōbaku school.

Cooler water, smaller pots#

There's no single green-tea temperature. The 80 °C that suits many greens is too hot for the shaded teas, which are much better cooler.

A side-handled kyusu with a fine built-in filter is the classic pot. Pour every last drop out between infusions.

If you love Chinese green tea, think of Japanese tea as a different language of the same plant. Sencha is for every day, gyokuro for a special moment, hojicha for evenings. Brew the greens cooler than a Longjing, and start with sencha.