HomeWhile there are many different types of Japanese green teas, there are 8 that have become the most well known. In this blog, we’re going to break down the 8 basic types of Japanese green tea. We’ll talk about what they are, how they’re made, and what they taste like. Before we get started, it would really mean a lot to us if you could stay to our Website’s blog and stay tuned for future tea blogs. We have hundreds of videos on all sorts of different topics, but for this video, we’re going to focus on a broad overview of the eight different types of Japanese green teas. Without further ado, let’s get started. First, we have sencha. Sencha is the most common type of Japanese green tea. It’s made from tea leaves that have been steamed, rolled, and dried. In addition to being the most common type of Japanese green tea, it’s also the most diverse category. Sencha can be separated into three different categories just based on how long it’s steamed for. Most sencha teas are steamed for between 60 and 90 seconds, and these are known as Chu mushi or normal steamed teas. If the tea is steamed for a shorter period of time, it will be called asamushi or short steamed tea. Asamushi teas tend to take on a slightly drier taste profile. They play more on these fresh and citrusy flavor profiles with less of this sweetness. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as many tea drinkers prefer these flavors. Finally, we have fukamushi, or deep steam sencha. This tea is steamed for somewhere in between 90 to 120 seconds. During this extra steaming time, the cell membranes of the leaves are broken down, which alters the flavor of the tea. More flavor is able to flow out of the leaves and into the infusion, creating this strong cloudy green color. The deep steaming process really brings out these steamed vegetable characteristics of the tea, but it also removes a lot of the bitterness. Next we have matcha tea. Matcha tea has become one of the most famous types of Japanese green teas because of its use in the Japanese tea ceremony. This is essentially A powdered green tea, but it has to be made from special tea leaves First, the tea plant has to be shaded for three weeks leading up to the harvest. When the tea plant is exposed to sunlight, it begins to convert the theanine into catekins as a protection against the UV light. These catekins are actually responsible for the bitter flavors in Japanese green tea. If a farmer wants to reduce the bitterness in a tea, he will cover the tea plant and maximize the the theanine content in the leaves. After the three weeks are up, the tea plants used to make matcha are harvested.
For matcha tea, only the top three sprouts are used. The tea plant spends all winter long building up nutrients from the soil and then releases them into the fresh crop sprouts in the early springtime. These sprouts are the highest in nutrients, and they are also the smoothest and sweetest in flavor. Once the top leaves have been collected, they are ready for the next phase in the production process. One step that is unique to matcha is the removal of the stems. The stems detract from the flavor of a matcha, so they must be removed before the leaves are ground. If this step is skipped and the matcha tea is ground with the stems, it will make the color a less appealing yellowish green. This is one of the many reasons why high quality matcha tends to have a greener color. Finally, the leaves are ready to be ground into matcha powder. To make high quality matcha, the tea leaves need to be ground in a large granite mill. This stone mill has a complex system of grooves that pushes the leaves out from the center as they are ground into a finer and finer powder. If a smaller matcha mill is used, there will be less grooves to grind the matcha powder, so it will end up being much coarser. It takes these large mills one hour just to produce 50 grams of this precious green powder, but the process is worth it. Next we have Kyoko.
Along with matcha, gyokoro is one of the most sought after teas in Japan. It was originally the tea of choice for the emperor himself, and it still retains the title of the Emperor’s tea to this day. To be considered a gyokoro, the tea plant has to be shaded for 21 days or more before the harvest. During this time, it’s difficult to keep the tea plant alive without sunlight. While most farmers turn to pesticides and chemical fertilizers, organic farmers like Mr. Sakamoto have a more natural approach. Mr. Sakamoto and his brother have been working on this farm since they were little kids, and when it was their turn to take over the family business, they wanted to grow tea without the use of pesticides or chemicals. They develop their own organic fertilizer made with a combination of sedimentary rock and organic compost. This delivers nutrients to the tea plant and allows it to stay strong and healthy even during long periods of shading. The result is a delicious, healthy gyokoro produced without the use of chemicals or pesticides. Gyokoro is also known for its powerful sweet and savory flavor, which is perfected during the careful production process. Some tea masters will push the flavors of this tea even further by preparing it with a lot of leaves and very little water.
The result is a powerful cup of Kyokoro tea with a thick consistency. When you drink Kyokoro from a small glass like this, you are savoring not only the flavor of the tea but also the consistency as it glides over the top of your tongue drop by drop. Next we have Hojicha. Hojicha is another well known type of Japanese green tea. This is made from roasted green tea leaves. The color of the tea leaves is anywhere from a light to dark brown and the infusion becomes a dark red brown color. Even though it looks like a type of black tea, it is actually a green tea. Whether it is a black tea or green tea has nothing to do with the color, but rather the oxidation of the tea. After the tea leaves are picked, they will begin to oxidize and the catechins will be converted into theoflavins. If a tea is allowed to oxidize fully, it will become a black tea and take on a much warmer taste profile with notes of caramel, cinnamon, and cooked fruit. To produce a green tea, a farmer will heat the leaves directly after harvest. This deactivates the enzymes that cause oxidation and prevents the tea from turning into a black tea. Hojita goes through a normal process of a regular Japanese green tea, but then it goes through the additional step of roasting.
During the roasting process, the tea leaves change from green to brown, and the tea trades these fresher, more vegetable taste characteristics for warmer notes of coffee, caramel, and chocolate. Hojicha tends to be made from the older leaves and stems of the tea plant, while the younger tea sprouts are reserved for teas like sencha, matcha and gilkoro. Hojicha was originally invented as a way to make use of the leftover leaves from the tea production. A tea merchant in Kyoto found that when he roasted these leaves and stems, they produced a wonderful flavor and aroma. This soon gave rise to the delicious hojicha we know today. Genmicha While all teas come from the tea plant Camellia sinensis, certain teas can be blended with other ingredients. These are known as blended teas, and the most popular type in Japan is Genmeicha. Genmeicha is made by combining tea leaves with roasted rice. This originated as a way to make tea last longer during difficult times, but now it’s a tea enjoyed by many all around the world. The addition of the toasted rice adds a nice warm cereal note to the tea and pairs quite well with the flavor of the tea leaves. The toasted rice also brings down the caffeine content, making genmeicha A suitable tea to drink in the afternoon or evening.
Kukicha Kukicha is a stem tea made from both the leaves of the tea plant as well as the stems. While these stems are usually discarded from the tea production, they are celebrated in kukicha. The stems give the tea a mild straw flavor and more minerality. The stems also bring down the caffeine content. The stems of the tea plant contain around 1/3 the caffeine of the leaves, so depending on the ratio of stems to leaves, kukicha can be very low in caffeine. Katigane is another type of stem tea, but it’s made from tea plants that have been shaded like those used to produce matcha and gilcoral. This tea will have a darker green color, a smoother and sweeter flavor, and will also have slightly more caffeine. The addition of the stems makes katagane much milder compared to Gilkoro, so katagane is a good way to experience some of these sweet and savory flavors without being overwhelmed. Kaminiticha While Hojicha is a fully roasted tea and sencha is an unroasted tea, Kaminiticha is partially roasted. This partial roasting process has carried out in a hot pan, making the production of this Japanese green tea more similar to that of a Chinese green tea. Roasting the tea leaves in a hot pan impart some warmer flavors into the tea.
Kaminiticha takes on more of these roasted almond and Tasha notes, which a lot of tea drinkers really enjoy. Kaminiticha is very rare in Japan as a whole, but in some areas it is produced as a special tea. In the area of Miyazaki in southern Japan, small farmers like Mr. Isin are able to craft incredible pan fired green teas like the Kaminiticha Isin. Mr. Isin also produces A hojicha which it will roast in a pan for a longer time at a higher temperature to produce the fully roasted tea. Bancha After Sencha Bancha is the most common type of green tea in Japan. This is a far less expensive tea made from the older, more mature leaves of the tea plant. This tea is higher in minerals and lower in caffeine. The tea plant produces caffeine as a defense mechanism to protect itself against insects. It produces more caffeine around the younger, more tender tea leaves as these are more vulnerable. The thicker and tougher leaves lower down in the tea plant produce less caffeine, and as a result, the teas made from these leaves will be lower in caffeine. Some people like to drink bancha tea after a meal. Apparently the tea can help with digestion, and because it’s high in minerals and low in caffeine, it makes sense to drink it later on in the day.
The flavor of bancha has more of these earthy, wooden, or cereal nose, making it very different from most sencha teas. If you’re interested in trying any of the teas mentioned in this video, you can find them all on our website, neoteas.com. These teas are a collection of the best teas we found during our travels around Japan. We’ve met with dozens of farmers and sampled hundreds of teas grown without the use of pesticides and chemicals, and these are a few of our favorites. If you want to try them all at once, you can also try out one of our samplers. Which of these teas is your favorite? Be sure to let us know in the comments below. If you have any questions about Japanese green tea or tea in general, please feel free to reach out to us and we’ll be more than happy to answer you. Again, it would really mean a lot to us if you could subscribe to our YouTube and also support us on our website, neotis.com. Until then, we’ll see you next blog.
