Exploring the Snack Bar

Japanese green tea is a traditional, popular and healthy beverage enjoyed around the world. It is consumed hot or cold and its leaves can be used whole or powdered to compliment various dishes. It is the prime beverage in Japan and every year, there are new crops and infused variations like kukicha, gyokuro, sencha, and matcha to choose from and savor. Gyokuro, also called jade dew, is known as a rare, high grade, and usually expensive Japanese green tea. It is generally served only for important events because it is regarded as such a luxury item. The tea growth is carefully monitored with particular sun and shade requirements. Only a few of the first grown leaves are selected and harvested. This careful attention to detail helps produce an exquisite, delicate and sweet tea.

Sencha green tea is the most popular of the Japanese green teas. Many varieties of sencha are produced in nearly all tea gardens in Japan and sold throughout the country. The tea is steamed and then hot air dried before being pan-fried. Early harvests of the tea can produce the most uniform color and pleasing taste. The rare yet fairly inexpensive stick tea, also known as kukicha Japanese green tea, is produced by the collection of the stalk fractions of sencha and gyokuro. It further goes through processing to an emerald leaf and pale green stalk blend, creating high-grade varieties of gyokuro and sencha teas. Kukicha tea is highlighted by its thin, fresh, flavor and luscious aroma.

Matcha is known for being a heavy, bitter and instant powdered Japanese green tea consumed in Japanese tea ceremonies and other special events. Another popular, well known tea variety is mecha, or bud tea, with its strong, bitter flavor. Grade-wise, matcha is between sencha and gyokuro, serves as a good palate cleanser, and it is processed from leaf buds and tips of early season crops.

Other green tea varieties include kamairi-cha, a pan-fired tea processed as a flat leaf and the rare hukamushi, a deep-steamed tea. Bancha is a more common green tea. It compliments food well and is close to the sencha grade but without the same sencha flavor. Houjicha is a low-caffeine, oven-roasted or pan fried green tea commonly encountered in Japanese teashops. It is made with both kukicha and bancha. Genmaicha is a sweet roasted rice tea blend of bancha and genmai (roasted rice).

About the Author:

Many people are not aware there is a healthier Japanese herbal tea than Green teas, called Tenchicha. The tea contains 12 herbs with no caffeine. Mr. Kumagai is the president of Eco Vita, which provides information on health benefits of herbal products including tenchicha. For more detail, please visit Tenchicha.com.

Article Marketing

11 people like this article