Types of Japanese tea

How many types of Japanese tea can you name? Today, I want to talk about the types of Japanese tea. Here are the 13 major types.

Sencha - The most common green tea -
Fukamushi-sencha - Deep-steamed sencha -
Bancha - Coarse tea -
Kabusecha - Covered tea -
Roasted tamaryokucha - Roasted curled tea -
Steamed tamaryokucha (Guricha) - Steamed curled tea -
Matcha - Powdered tea, which used in the tea ceremony -
Gyokuro - Premium green tea -
Hojicha - Roasted green tea -
Genmaicha - Brown rice tea -
Konacha - Flake tea -
Mecha - Bud tea -
Kukicha - Twig tea -



These Japanese teas are all made from the same tea plant, but they are produced slightly different. How many of them have you ever tried? I guess you have tried sencha, the most common green tea. That’s my favorite.


Can you think of what is in common among of the following three teas?
Kabusecha - Covered tea -
Matcha - Powdered tea, which used in the tea ceremony -
Gyokuro - Premium green tea -

Yes, the tea plans for these teas are covered with a screen to shut out the direct sunlight about 10-20 days before the tea leaves are picked. Those teas have richer umami and more expensive than other teas.

Kabusecha and gyokuro are made with the same process of sencha, but the difference is the degree of the covering of the plantation. Tea plant for sencha is not covered and gyokuro is covered about 20 days before picking. Kabusecha is somewhere in between.


How about the following two teas? What do you think in common for them?
Hojicha - Roasted green tea -
Genmaicha - Brown rice tea -

They are secondly processed tea. Hojicha is made by roasting sencha, bancha or kukicha. Genmaicha is sencha or bancha blended with roasted brown rice. They are popular and a casual tea. They are often served at restaurants in Japan, as well. They have nice roasted aroma smell.

If you are a beginner of Japanese tea, you may wonder which one is good or where you should start from. Tomorrow, I’ll recommend the four types for you. See ya!