Things to Know About Japanese Green Tea
Where it Comes From
Although Japanese green tea is produced in many localities in Japan, the great majority (43.9%) is produced in Shizuoka prefecture, located about an hour south of Tokyo by the bullet train. You can see some images of the actual fields where most of O-Cha.com's Shizuoka green tea is produced. If you are interested in how green tea is harvested and processed, we highly recommend you watch this Discovery Channel Green Tea Documentary featuring O-Cha.com staff in Shizuoka.
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Another area famous in Japan for exceptionally high quality Japanese green tea is Uji (2.9%), not far from Kyoto. O-Cha.com carries quite a few Uji green tea products from several suppliers, including a number of items from Japan's oldest teas shop, Tsuen, located on the banks of the Uji River.
Kagoshima is another area which produces about 25% of the green teas that come from Japan. Kagoshima green tea is also known for its superior qualities.
Types of Green Tea
There are quite a few varieties of Japanese green tea. A little knowledge here will help you choose quality product when it becomes time to make a purchase. Likewise, each type is usually brewed a little differently. If you are new to green tea, we recommend that you spend some time learning about each type.
- Green teas grown under the full sun (sencha - 77%) versus those grown under the shade (gyokuro - 0.3%)
- Harvest - There are usually three or four per year, with the first considered to be the best quality. You will want to know which harvest your product comes from!
- Powdered green tea - There are powdered versions of both sencha (powdered sencha) and gyokuro, they taste quite different. Matcha is superior to powdered sencha, but even here there are many quality levels. Be sure to read more about matcha before making a purchase.
- Bancha (9.8%), a late harvest green tea. Since the quality of late harvest green teas are lower than the first harvest, it is often this is used to make some other unusual types of green tea such as genmaicha (which has puffed rice mixed in with it), and another type known as houjicha, which is baked and produces a reddish color liquor with little to no caffeine.
Quality Levels
Like most things in life, higher quality green tea usually costs quite a bit more than lower quality products. Teas from the first harvest will cost more than later harvests. The amount of labor put into producing a given tea will also affect it's price. For example, in the case of gyokuro the tea plants need to be put under 90%+ shade for three weeks prior to harvesting. This involves building structures over the plants - more labor. Thus, gyokuro is usually quite a bit more expensive than sencha. Take those same shade grown leaves and turn them into matcha and the price will go up further. A really superb, high quality Japanese green tea will never really be cheap. Here are a few important things for a consumer to keep in mind when purchasing green tea:
- Which harvest the tea came from. The first harvest is always the best.
- Freshness. Green tea doesn't stay fresh as long as other types of teas and has a *great* impact on quality levels.
- Packaging. This relates to the above. Higher quality green teas are packaged so that hey do not oxidize.
- Taste. Some green teas, even when in comparable categories, simply taste better than others due to how they were grown.
How Green Tea is Produced
Green tea is produced in a number of ways, depending on which harvest the tea came from and what the final product is desired. One thing that all the varieties share is that they are harvested, steamed to prevent oxidization, and dried. Here, we provide an overview of green tea processing, or you can see it in action on the green tea video page.
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