What Is Japanese Tea (Japanese Green Tea)?

Tea made in Japan is called Japanese tea, and the main type of Japanese tea produced today is green tea.

Tea leaves become different teas according to how long they are fermented after plucking. Here, however, fermentation does not mean microbial fermentation; it refers to a reaction driven by the leaf's own enzymes.

Full fermentation produces black tea, while partial fermentation produces oolong tea. Green tea is basically made without fermentation.

Compared with tea from other countries, Japanese tea contains particularly large amounts of umami components. These components are not formed by the tea-making method; the amount of umami is attributable to cultivation methods.

However, Japan is the only country where tea quality is evaluated by the amount of umami components. Around the world, black tea, oolong tea, white tea, Pu-erh tea, and other teas are evaluated mainly by the depth of their lingering finish, body (the spread and fullness of taste and flavor), and the quality of their flavor, rather than umami.

How Japanese Tea Is Made

Green-Tea Production Is Broadly Divided into Steaming and Pan-Frying

Heating tea leaves to stop enzyme activity is called sha qing. According to how the leaves are heated, green tea can be broadly divided into two types.

Green tea in which fermentation is stopped by steaming is called steamed green tea, while green tea in which it is stopped by firing in a pan is called pan-fired green tea. Most green tea made in Japan is steamed green tea.

Rolling the Leaves into a Needle-Like Shape

In general, Japanese tea is processed in the following sequence.

Steaming
Primary rolling
Rolling
Secondary rolling
Final rolling
Drying

Of the steps above, primary rolling, rolling, secondary rolling, and final rolling all roll and twist the tea. A visit to a Japanese tea factory is surprising for its rows of large machines, but in fact much of the equipment is for rolling. These four rolling stages gradually roll tea that has only been steamed, with the aim of finally forming it into a needle-like shape. The leaves immediately after steaming are wet from the steam and contain much moisture, so they are also loosened and dried while being rolled.

Leaving shape aside, Japanese tea is rolled especially strongly among the thousands of tea types in the world. The stronger the rolling, the more the tea's cells are ground, so the tea infuses quickly. For this reason, Japanese tea reaches its extraction peak around the first or second infusion.

By taking samples from each process and checking changes in flavor, we found that the flavor of freshly cooked rice perceived when drinking Sencha is closely related to the length of steaming and the heat during rolling.

Withering Green Tea for Enjoying Flavor

Ordinary Japanese green tea is steamed immediately after the leaves are plucked. Green tea made for enjoying flavor, by contrast, undergoes withering, a process that wilts the leaves, before steaming.

To make withered Sencha, harvested leaves are spread thinly and left exposed to wind in the forest for a day to slowly evaporate moisture. As moisture decreases, the leaves begin slight fermentation. If they ferment too much, however, they become oolong tea or white tea, so they are steamed and processed into Sencha when a moderate degree of internal fermentation has occurred.

For more on how Japanese tea is rolled, see “Development of lightly rolled Japanese green tea”.

Types of Green Tea

Sencha, with a Clear Color and Clean Character

Sencha is also called ordinary Sencha. Steaming time varies by producer, but the leaves are steamed for about 20 to 60 seconds. It is green tea that makes use of the leaves' refreshing flavor.

Deep-Steamed Sencha, Which Draws Out Sweetness

Deep-steamed Sencha is steamed for one to two minutes, longer than Sencha. Its longer steaming time destroys more leaf cells than ordinary Sencha, making its components easier to extract.

As a result, theanine, which gives an impression of umami, and minerals that are the source of sweetness are more readily extracted. This is why deep-steamed Sencha has an intense umami and sweetness. Its deep, opaque color is also characteristic.

Gyokuro and Kabusecha, Characterized by Shading

Gyokuro is one of Japan's representative teas. It is sometimes mistaken for a higher grade of Sencha, but is actually classified as a type of tea distinct from Sencha.

Gyokuro and Kabusecha are grown under shade, and contain much theanine and other umami components, giving them a mellow, rich taste.

Gyokuro is cultivated by covering tea gardens with straw or plastic shade cloth to restrict sunlight reaching the leaves. Restricting sunlight affects biosynthesis in the leaves, producing Gyokuro's distinctive flavor and taste. The leaves also synthesize large amounts of chlorophyll to absorb sunlight efficiently. This is why Gyokuro leaves are much darker green than Sencha leaves.

Gyokuro called hon-Gyokuro, on the other hand, is made by covering tea gardens with straw. Hon-Gyokuro is now very scarce, regardless of origin. When it rains, water soaks into the straw and minerals from the straw drip onto the ground. The tea trees absorb these minerals, giving hon-Gyokuro a fuller aftertaste and a longer lingering finish than Gyokuro from gardens covered with shade cloth.

Matcha, Essential to the Tea Ceremony

Matcha is made by steaming leaves grown under shade like Gyokuro, drying them without rolling, removing their stems and veins, and grinding them into powder with a stone mill.

Stalk Tea, Powdered Tea, and Bud Tea, Known as By-Products

In the aracha stage, tea contains stems and powdery parts. These are generally removed before the tea is sold as a product. The collected stems are called stem tea, the collected powder is called powdered tea, and the collected buds are called bud tea.

Hojicha, Appealing for Its Roasted Character

Hojicha looks brown, so at first glance it does not appear to be green tea. However, because it is made by roasting green tea, it is classified as green tea.

One important factor determining the quality of Hojicha is its lingering finish, or richness. A lingering finish adds depth to its flavor and makes Hojicha feel very rich and flavorful.

Pan-Fired Tea, Characterized by a Distinctive Flavor and Curved Leaves

Most green tea is steamed, but pan-fired tea is pan-fried. It therefore has a faintly roasted flavor unlike ordinary Sencha.

Green-Tea Cultivars and Native (Seed-Grown) Tea

Teas bearing cultivar names, such as Yabukita, Okumidori, and Benifuuki, are planted from cuttings. Sowing seeds produces hybrids through cross-pollination, so cuttings or grafting are essential to produce a specific cultivar.

Since tea is a plant originally introduced from China, the term native cultivar is not strictly appropriate. Nevertheless, the Japanese tea industry calls seed-grown tea native cultivar, so HOJO also uses the simpler term native tea.

Tea trees grown from seed send a single root straight down like burdock, while tea grown from cuttings develops several thin roots spreading sideways regardless of the tree's age. Seed-grown tea can therefore absorb minerals more readily from deep soil, whereas tea made from cuttings more readily absorbs fertilizer because its roots are near the surface.

For more on seed-grown tea, see “New Release of Tsuge Zairai Sencha from Sustainable Tea Garden”.

Origins and Tea-Garden Environments

Tea gardens near the Pacific and at relatively low elevations, and gardens in southern areas including Kyushu, experience spring early and reach harvest time in April. In contrast, gardens at high elevation or latitude, gardens grown without nitrogen fertilizer, and gardens with old tea trees grow slowly and cannot be harvested at the Eighty-Eighth Night because it is too early. In such areas, the first flush may even be harvested in June. For this reason, it is not necessarily true that earlier harvesting or tea harvested on the Eighty-Eighth Night is better.

In Japan, tea-garden elevation is surprisingly little considered, but tea harvested at high elevation has a distinctive floral flavor and transparency. The principle is the same as for highland vegetables and fruit grown at high elevation, which taste good.

Tea-producing areas for Uji tea, including Tsukigase, were at the bottom of Lake Biwa several million years ago. The lakebed accumulated clay soil rich in iron, and these soils nourish high-quality crops, not only tea. However, when one actually walks around Tsukigase and neighboring areas, these high-quality clay soils are found only near mountain summits.

For more on harvest timing and origin, see “The earlier the plucking does not mean the better the quality is”.

How HOJO Selects and Thinks About Japanese Tea

Japanese Tea Standards Changed Dramatically After the 1970s

From the 1970s onward, as tea production became modernized agriculture, selected cultivars centered on Yabukita came to be grown with more than ten times the amount of nitrogen fertilizer used previously. When much nitrogen fertilizer is applied, tea consequently contains more theanine, a nitrogen compound.

Tea contains an umami component called theanine. Because the character meaning “delicious” is used in the word umami, tea with more umami is often thought to be tasty, but umami components do not automatically mean delicious tea. Umami refers to the taste of amino acids represented by monosodium glutamate.

Tea Grown Without Fertilizer

Tea cultivated with fertilizer grows quickly, and as its cells enlarge, their density becomes low. As a result, yield increases, but the aftertaste becomes thin and the taste becomes flat and lacks depth.

Unfertilized tea has low nitrogen concentration and contains more polyphenols and terpenes. These bioactive substances contribute substantially to taste and flavor, forming a rich taste and flavors like fruit and flowers. It is terpenes, not polyphenols themselves, that produce flavor. Slowly grown tea contains more terpene glycosides, the precursors of terpenes, and therefore has a richer flavor.

Naturally cultivated tea uses as little nitrogen fertilizer as possible, so compared with ordinary tea made by modern agricultural methods, it contains fewer amino acids and more polyphenols such as catechins. Naturally cultivated tea also contains many minerals and is tea for enjoying a long lingering finish.

It is not necessarily true that tea is delicious because it is organically grown or healthy because it is pesticide-free. The quality of green tea is determined by the environment in which the tea trees grow, the time they take to grow, and the finishing that brings out its quality.

Stems Are Related to Body

At HOJO, we do not intentionally remove stems. Stems are rich in calcium and are indispensable for creating fullness, or body. Oolong tea, black tea, Pu-erh tea, Chinese green tea, and all other teas contain stems.

Light Rolling to Preserve Floral Flavor

Naturally cultivated tea is characterized by a transparent, deeply lingering taste and a floral flavor. To make a tea that takes advantage of these qualities and can be infused repeatedly, lighter rolling is rather ideal. Lighter rolling requires less heat energy during processing and grinds fewer cells, keeping the leaf surface area smaller and allowing a fresher floral flavor to be emphasized.

How to Brew Japanese Tea

Japanese tea is brewed at a lower temperature for two reasons: 1. At a lower temperature, theanine, the tea's umami component, is easier to perceive. 2. Caffeine, a bitter component, is difficult to extract below 80°C.

When brewing Japanese tea with boiling water, keep the steeping time very short, about 10–15 seconds. Because the temperature is high, even a short time brings out sufficient taste and flavor. Even with a short brewing time, aromatic components and catechins, the main components of taste, are efficiently extracted at high temperature, so taste and flavor are clearly perceived.

Naturally cultivated tea contains very little theanine, an umami component, and instead is rich in polyphenols such as catechins and in minerals. For this reason, brewing naturally cultivated Japanese tea at a low temperature is meaningless and cannot bring out its character. When drinking naturally cultivated tea grown without nitrogen fertilizer, it is very important to brew it with boiling water.

How to Brew Japanese Tea at a High Temperature

Warm the teapot with boiling water for 10 seconds.
Put the leaves in the teapot and steep them in boiling water for 10–15 seconds. Be sure to pour out all of the tea. After brewing, remove the lid and lower the temperature of the spent leaves.
For the second and subsequent infusions, a few seconds is enough.