Sencha

Green tea in its most common form, sencha is grown under full sun until harvest. While there are many grades of sencha green tea available to the consumer, first harvest green tea is considered to be the best.

Important to note is that high quality first harvest green tea (harvested in late April to early May) can be purchased throughout the year - provided that it is properly stored under deep refrigerated conditions and then pulled and packaged shortly before purchase.

A special category of first harvest sencha, known as "shincha" ("new leaf"), is packaged and sold immediately without ever going into cold storage and is only available within a few months from harvest. Nearly all of our green teas come from the first harvest and should not be confused with lower grades of late harvest green teas such as bancha or kukicha that are often encountered. We do carry a few second harvest green teas which are still quite delicious, however.

All O-Cha.com sencha green tea is freshly packaged within a short time (one day to 2 weeks) from when you purchase them, important when purchasing any green tea.