Japanese Tea

Tea is a popular hot drink that’s consumed around the world. It has become even more popular recently because of its health benefits. 

Tea also has an interesting history and cultural significance in many countries, including Japan where tea has been a part of the culture for centuries.

This article provides information on some of the different types of Japanese tea you could try, as well as what they taste like and some helpful tips when brewing them correctly.

What is Japanese tea?

Japanese tea has many meanings. It’s a common notion that the word “tea” refers to drinking tea, but it actually refers to any kind of dried leaves (usually black in color) or the infusion made from them.

There are a number of different kinds of Japanese teas which are distinguished according to their origin and type, such as gyokuro (green tea), sencha (green tea), genmaicha (brown rice tea) and matcha (powdered green tea). 

However, this article is about the most popular types of tea you could study when learning about Japanese culture: Sencha, Genmaicha and Matcha.

The Japanese drink tea in several different ways, which depends on the type of tea. Most Japanese people prefer to drink their tea warm. They often have a plate of food, such as dried fish, rice crackers and pickles and some beans as accompaniment.

Origin of Japanese Tea

Tea has been an important drink in Japan since the 9th century. In fact, the first Japanese tea ceremony was held in 964 AD. Tea is believed to have arrived in Japan during the Tang dynasty, originating in China and Korea. 

It was initially a drink of the upper class and religious people, but eventually, it was introduced to merchants and merchants began to produce tea leaves commercially. Tea became very popular during the Meiji period (1868-1912).

Japanese tea production

The production of Japanese tea is mainly done in the regions of Uji and Shizuoka. The harvested tea leaves are rolled into small pellets, which are allowed to oxidize naturally (turning dark in color). These pellets are then dried and packaged.

The leaves that aren’t processed this way (including sencha, gyokuro, etc.) go through a roasting process to turn them dark in color. Although they’re only roasted several times they still retain their aroma and flavor very well.

Japanese tea flavors

There are many different flavors of Japanese tea depending on the way it’s processed and the region where it’s grown (similar to wine). In general, most sencha is a light green color, with a fresh and grassy flavor. Gyokuro tastes sweeter and has a deeper flavor than sencha, while hojicha is packed with a roasty aroma.

Although these are the more common types of Japanese tea, there are different types of Japanese tea that have been gaining popularity recently. These include matcha tea, bancha tea and genmaicha tea.

Matcha is used in the traditional Japanese tea ceremony and thus it’s commonly used in lattes and other drinks because of its fine powder quality. It’s also added to sweets like cookies and ice cream to make them taste more like matcha-flavored desserts. It can be very bitter so it’s best to add some sugar.

Bancha is more of a medium roasted type of tea that has an earthy taste. It’s most often used for a light morning cup, or for light to medium-colored green tea. It goes well by itself with no other ingredients, but can also be used as a base for flavored teas like matcha and gyokuro.

Genmaicha is made from green tea leaves that have been steamed and rolled into small cakes. Since it’s dried like the others, it can be easily brewed. This method cuts down on the roasting process of green tea and gives you elements of roasted flavors with its rich aroma.

Japanese tea preparation

In Japan, green tea is usually prepared by infusing the leaf for about a few minutes, even if it’s already pre-bagged (instant green tea). By doing this, you can remove any bitterness from the tea. Japanese green teas are very rich and flavorful but still very light in color.

Sencha is often enjoyed with a meal because of its fresh grassy flavor. It’s also common to drink it after meals as an aid to digestion. Gyokuro is often enjoyed at a higher temperature (around 160F) with a stronger aroma and flavor. Japanese tea enthusiasts often say that gyokuro is best enjoyed when hot.

There are many different ways you can prepare Japanese tea. You can brew it in a paper filter or in a pot. The paper filter method means that you have to pour hot water over the leaves and wait for them to steep (just like with Chinese teas).

The pot method involves boiling water, then adding the teabags and letting them steep for about 2-3 minutes. This is a convenient way of making your tea since you don’t need to prepare anything beforehand (although using a paper filter helps because teabags are usually made from pulp).

Paper filters are used for gyokuro, bancha and matcha teas since they have extra fine particles. However, if you’re using a pot method, you can also use a cloth filter to strain out the tea leaves.

Tea brewing

There are three steps to making Japanese tea. 

First is steeping the tea in hot water (usually around boiling temperature). This allows the flavor of the tea to bloom and develop while giving you an aromatic experience. 

After this step, you can add sugar or honey if desired (or anything else). Make sure you follow our guidelines so that your tea doesn’t taste bitter! 

The last part is drinking it very slowly in a very small amount at a time. This last step is important because it allows you to enjoy the tea and its flavor for longer.

There are some Japanese teas that you can use for all three steps. You can use the tea bags or loose leaf, which is what we recommend. The main reason is flavor, but it also helps because you don’t have to strain the tea (unless it’s in a teabag).

Disposing of used tea

Most people tend to dispose of used tea leaves in an environmentally friendly way. They do this by placing the leaves on top of the soil so that they are slowly decomposed by microorganisms in the soil. It’s also practical because you don’t need to separate any waste.

Different types of Japanese Tea

Sencha

The tea most commonly consumed in Japan is Sencha, which makes up about 80 percent of the teas sold in Japan. Sencha leaves are picked from early April to mid May when the weather is starting to warm up, and the color of tea produced during this season is green. However, due to environmental conditions such as temperature and rainfall, some areas are able to produce teas with slightly yellowish or even dark brown color too. These particular teas are called “Kabuse-Style Sencha”, otherwise known as Gyokuro.

Sencha is known for its refreshing taste, bright color, and distinctive aroma. It’s steamed before being dried which leaves the tea leaves with a bright green color and an unmistakable grassy smell. In hot water, sencha gives off an astringent taste with a bit of bitterness which combines with the sweet aftertaste to give it a refreshing flavor. In cold water, the astringency is less noticeable but you could still feel a bit of it on your tongue. The sweet aftertaste is more prominent in cold sencha than hot sencha but both still have the same distinct grassy aroma.

Sencha is made from the sencha plant leaf, which is high in catechin, an antioxidant, which inhibits tumor growth and heart disease.

Matcha

Matcha is a powdered green tea that’s made from steamed green tea leaves. It’s sometimes referred to as “Japanese Tea” by westerners but matcha is actually a kind of Japanese tea. Matcha powder is made by grinding the entire leaf and the nutrient balance between the stems, veins and leaves are preserved. 

The high content of L-Theanine amino acid in matcha causes it to have a rich taste and helps reduce stress, improve concentration and focus, as well as promote relaxation. You can add a small amount of matcha to your regular cup of coffee, but you will want to add cream or milk instead of using hot coffee.

Hojicha

Hojicha is a roasted green tea that’s been infused for about an hour. It’s made from whole leaves, which may make the tea more bitter than matcha. Hojicha is similar to matcha but it has a stronger flavor and a nutty aroma. Sometimes hojicha will be brewed as an ocha (hot water) to make a stronger type of tea called “o-cha”. Hojicha can also be used in baking or cooking as it has a strong flavor and aroma, making it perfect for use in many recipes.

Gyokuro

Gyokuro is the most expensive kind of Japanese tea and the only one that’s almost entirely green leaves. Gyokuro is made from a unique combination of leaves that are shaded by the tea master in the field. Each tree (gyokuro means “one shade”) has a different harvest period which determines the shade of green in their leaves. The shading process is so meticulous, it takes almost three years to grow each type of gyokuro.

Gyokuro is also called “Jade Dew”, which comes from an ancient Chinese legend. According to this legend, Gyokuro was a common drink for high officials during the Middle ages when China was under Mongol rule. They would drink Gyokuro as part of their daily regimen and in order to maintain their health and beauty.

Mugicha

Mugicha is a roasted green tea that’s been used as a traditional medicine in Japan for centuries. It’s made from whole leaves and has a strong earthy aroma with a hint of barley. It has an unusual, strong flavor that can be bitter, sweet, or nutty depending on how it’s prepared.

Mugicha is commonly consumed during the winter since it’s said to warm the body (especially the stomach) and help alleviate symptoms of colds such as sore throats and coughs. Mugicha is also sometimes used to help thin out secretions and relieve congestion in your chest by clearing your sinuses while also calming you down so you can sleep better at night.

Kombucha

Kombucha is a variety of sweetened black tea that’s been fermented and can be served cold or hot. It’s usually made from ordinary black tea leaves that are fermented using yeast and bacteria (kombu means seaweed). Kombucha has a unique taste since it contains very little caffeine as well as an array of vitamins and minerals.

Kombucha can be consumed as a tea, but is also commonly used to make pickles, salads, juices, and even cocktails!

Genmaicha

Genmaicha is a variety of Japanese tea that’s made from roasted and ground green tea leaves with a small amount of roasted brown rice.

Roasted brown rice has a nutty, sweet taste and it’s sometimes referred to as “Japanese Rice”. It’s an unusual ingredient for Japanese tea because it provides the same strength and intensity of flavor as black tea without any bitterness. (If you’re not sure what to do with your leftover brown rice, check out this article on how to use up your brown rice just once before it goes bad).

Matcha lattes

Matcha lattes are especially popular among those who enjoy matcha because it tastes great and has an intense flavor. A good matcha latte should be a dark green color with a sweet, earthy aroma. The texture should be thick, creamy and smooth. A good matcha latte is sweet but not cloying and the flavor is strong but not bitter or astringent.

In order to make a good cup of matcha lattes, you’ll need to use pure green tea powder mixed with hot water in a 1:5 ratio. An easy way to do this is by using a Japanese tea whisk (chasen) and an enamel bowl that allows heat to pass through easily.

Gobocha

It is a variety of Japanese tea that’s made from roasted brown rice and then ground into a powder. It has a nutty, sweet taste and is made by combining brown rice, matcha powder and roasted grains.

The grains used to roast the brown rice are usually barley, wheat, or soybeans. Gobocha can be used as an ingredient in cooking or even to make sweets such as gohan (rice cake) or ningyo yaki (rice dumplings). It’s also sometimes added to green tea or used to make a drink called “Godaicha ” which means “go(o)d aroma tea”.

Sobacha

Sobacha (also called Soba and Chawan) is green tea, most often brewed in a bowl-shaped pot. It has a brown, twig-shaped stem at the bottom of the bowl. “Chawan” means chopsticks and is used to describe how this type of teapot is used: you dip the chopsticks into the cup and pick up tea leaves beforehand. There are many different types of soba, including Mao-soba, made with buckwheat (koasha) seeds, and Shin-soba, made with spinach (koiwai). It originates from Kyoto in Japan.

Wakoucha

Wakoucha is a type of green tea that is often used as a ceremonial tea in Japan. It’s made with the process of picking only one tea leaf at a time and with full awareness. Because of this, it’s considered good for meditation and spiritual connection to the earth.

Benefits of drinking Japanese Tea

1. Tea is a great source of antioxidants, which help fight free radicals in your body. Free radicals are elements in your body that damage healthy cells and cause aging.
2. Tea contains catechins, which are polyphenolic compounds that have potent anti-inflammatory effects. It’s also a rich source of flavonoids that have several health benefits including reducing the risk of cancer, blood clots, cholesterol oxidation, cell damage and heart attacks.
3. Tea also contains fluoride which aids with oral health by reducing tooth decay and cavities. It can also help with Psoriasis and arthritis because it increases the activity of joint surfaces (like cartilage).
4. Tea can help you lose weight. Most tea contains caffeine which is an effective appetite suppressant, but the amount of caffeine in tea varies. Studies have shown that black tea has the most benefits on weight loss, while green tea has fewer calories but still contributes to weight loss.
5. Tea can also help lower blood pressure and reduce cholesterol levels by increasing the activity of HDL cholesterol (which is used to build up “good” cholesterol).
6. Tea is also suggested to help prevent cancer and boost the immune system. If possible, it’s best to drink organic Japanese tea because there are harmful chemicals that could build up if you drink it every day.
7. Japanese tea also has antibacterial properties which can prevent urinary tract infections.
8. Japanese tea can improve your brain’s ability to focus and allow you to have a more peaceful state of mind. Some studies have shown that drinking Japanese tea can help cure Alzheimer’s disease, but this is still an ongoing topic of debate.
9. Tea is good for digestion since it contains fiber that can reduce constipation and protect your colon, while also killing harmful bacteria in the gut that are linked to digestive disorders, obesity and other health risks.
10. Tea can also help you reduce stress and increase your mood. Studies have shown that drinking tea can reduce hypertension, anxiety and depression.
11. Tea contains caffeine which is a powerful stimulant that’s great for energy and helps you stay focused. Caffeine is also known to have many other benefits, such as boosting cognitive function, improving nervous system function, increasing fat loss and reducing anxiety. If you’re sensitive to caffeine, it’s best to drink decaffeinated tea because it has fewer side effects than regular black tea.
12. Tea helps you avoid the flu and other infections by boosting the immune system.

On a Final Note

Japanese tea is an interesting drink that contains many benefits for health, brain and body performance, weight loss and more. The most important thing is to drink it in moderation (as a tea lover would). You can start off by brewing a cup of green tea or matcha (powdered green tea) every other day so you can discover how your body reacts to it.

Tea is a great way to naturally aid with some of the problems we are facing nowadays. It also improves brain function, boosts the immune system and helps prevent heart disease, cancer and more. Like any other food or beverage, it’s not recommended to drink Japanese tea as much as possible because there are many benefits that come with drinking a small amount daily.