Telling good sencha by appearance of dry leaves

Can you tell good sencha by the appearance of dry leaves?

The color should brilliant deep green for sencha. Somber dark green, yellowish or reddish green are not good. Good leaves have a little luster, and low quality tea looks dry on the surface. The shape should be very thin spindle shape, like needles. Tightly rolled leaves are good. Loose rolled leaves, uneven leaves, too many twig or broken leaves are not good.



So, can you tell good tea and bad tea from the five sencha?
The color of following individual pictures is not even among the five. Sorry. To compare the color, please look at the group photo above.


The answer is ….

“エ” > “ア” > “ウ” > “オ” > “イ” The order from the best one
(I typed a Japanese character. I hope it doesn’t show garbage character on your PC)

　　　　

How was your prediction? Can you tell the best one?

The best quality sencha out of the five is “エ”. (Japanese character)
The leaves look tightly rolled and thin. The leaves are very fine and beautiful.




The worst one is “イ”. (Japanese character)
The leaves are rough and uneven. You can't tell from this picture, but it was actually a little yellowish. It has some swigs.



I wish I could show you the correct color of sencha. But I’m glad if you find some hits for telling good sencha from today’s post. I hope this will help you to find good sencha at tea shops (^-^)