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What Is Green Tea?

Green tea is the name of a vast category of ways to cultivate and process the same plant that offers all the teas that exist today around the world: Camelia sinensis. Black or green, steamed or roasted, the leaves are the same, although the variety (cultivar) may vary, like with wines and their grapes. In Japan, most of the tea production is green tea, 90% of it being of the sencha type. 

First used by monks, and then by the samurai and noble classes, before being adopted by the general population, green tea is now a deep part of Japanese culture and traditions. It is clearly associated with the idea of meditation, peace, quiet, self-reflection and simply the idea of taking a break to prepare and savor the richness of a cup of well-brewed tea.

Types of Japanese Green Tea?

Sencha: Sencha is the most well-known variety of green tea as well as the most popular kind in Japan. In order to make sencha, tea leaves are steamed within a few hours after harvest, thus stopping the oxidation process, then rolled into needles, thus making sure that the leaves’ natural green color is preserved. This process also helps the leaves retain their fragrance and components.

Genmaicha: Genmaicha is a Japanese brown rice green tea consisted of green tea mixed with roasted popped brown rice. The sugar and starch from the brown rice result in a warm, full, and nutty flavor. It is considered easy to drink and is often consumed to make the stomach feel better.
Tea steeped from genmaicha has a light yellow hue. Its flavor is mild and combines the fresh grassy flavor of green tea with the aroma of the roasted rice.

Kamairicha: Kamairicha is a very rare green tea: it accounts for only 2% of all Japanese tea production and is a specialty of Kyushu.

Following a centuries-old tradition, this delicacy is made by pan-frying tea leaves in an iron vessel at 300-450°C. The result is a yellow-green, refreshing, smooth tea with a mildly roasted and rich flavor, with no astringency. Kama-iri cha is also known as the “Chinese green tea” in Japan, as the process used to make it was first developed in China.

Gyokuro: Gyokuro is the king of Japanese green teas and is a delicate and exclusive beverage that requires enormous amounts of skill and work. Gyokuro is sweet, with a unique mildly astringent aroma and mellow umami taste, with high levels of theanine and caffeine. Gyokuro lovers will tell you of the wonders of the first sip that leaves a long-lasting impression in your mouth.

The tea leaves are cultivated using a special method where the young leaves are shaded from direct sunlight for around twenty days. Shading is usually done through the dark plastic sheet, but in Yame, traditional farmers will use natural rice straw to make ‘Dento Hon Gyokuro’, the highest label of quality.
Compared to sencha, gyokuro tends to be smoother, more full-bodied, and less astringent. Gyokuro is also much richer than sencha in umami, due to its high levels of theanine. Thanks to the shading process, the rate of photosynthesis is significantly reduced, and less theanine gets converted into other compounds.

Shiraore: Shiraore belongs to the category of “twig tea” (kukicha), that is, green tea made with parts of the tea plant that is not used for making regular green tea such as sencha or gyokuro. For making shiraore, tea producers blend together stems, stalks and twigs, coming from the production of gyokuro.

As a result, it is the best kind of kukicha in terms of quality. Shiraore is appreciated for its unique nutty and sweet flavor and aroma. Its sweetness comes from its high contents in theanine, which is produced in the roots of the tea tree and then distributed to the leaves.

Because gyokuro is shaded to avoid loss of theanine due to sunlight, the theanine contents are even higher in shiraore. As it is naturally very low in caffeine, this tea is not bitter but also well suited for children (straight or mixed with juice) or before going to sleep. Shiraore is another specialty of Kyushu island.
In other regions of Japan, this type of tea is also named “Kukicha”(茎茶, twig tea) or “Karigane” (雁が音, wild goose) in Kyoto.

Bancha: Bancha (番茶) is a Japanese green tea. It is harvested from the second flush of sencha between summer and autumn. (The first flush is harvested for Sencha.)

Houjicha: Houjicha is a Japanese green tea handpicked from the Uji district in Kyoto, Japan. Houjicha is distinctive from other Japanese green teas because it is roasted in a porcelain pot over charcoal, whereas most Japanese teas are steamed.

The tea is fired at a high temperature, altering the leaf color tints from green to reddish-brown. The roasting process also lowers the amount of caffeine in the tea. The roasting flavors are extracted and result in a toasty, slightly caramel-like flavor.

Matcha: Matcha is a traditional Japanese green tea powder produced by stone-milling a shade-grown green tea known as Tencha into a fine powder. The quality of matcha depends significantly on the tea bush cultivar, shading technique and picking procedures used to produce Tencha.
Matcha symbolizes rich cultural tradition as the tea prepared and revered during chanoyu–the mindful, artistic, Zen-inspired Japanese Tea Ceremony. Unique among teas in that when we drink matcha, we consume the fresh green tea leaf itself, ground and whisked up into an energizing, refreshing cup.