Discover Japanese tea
Japanese tea is dominated by two decisions: steaming instead of pan-firing, and shading the plant before harvest. Follow those two and the whole category organises itself.
Who this is for
Someone who has had sencha or matcha and wants the rest of the picture.
What you should come away with
You will understand shading as the single variable behind gyokuro, kabusecha and matcha alike.
Leg 1 · Unshaded to shaded
The same steaming, with progressively less sunlight before harvest.
Starting point. Everything after this is measured against it.
Toasted and comforting, with the rice doing most of the aromatic work. The story that it was a wartime economy measure is widely repeated and poorly evidenced; what is clear is that the rice reduces the cost per cup.
Why this step follows
The roasted rice masks the vegetal notes that put most newcomers off Japanese green tea.
Vegetal and savoury at once. Brewed cool it leans sweet and broth-like; brewed hot it turns sharply astringent, which is the single most common way people decide they dislike green tea.
Why this step follows
Identical processing, opposite cultivation. Expect a much cooler brew, several times the leaf, and a thick savoury cup with no astringency.
Thick and almost broth-like, with very little astringency and a sweetness that arrives before anything else. The clearest teaching case in tea for what umami actually means in a cup.
Leg 2 · Shaded, then ground
A change of format rather than of cultivation. Matcha is shaded leaf taken further — de-veined, milled and drunk whole rather than steeped, which is why grade shows so brutally.
Starting point. Everything after this is measured against it.
The practical middle of Japanese green tea: most of gyokuro’s savoury depth at a fraction of the price, and far less punishing to brew than gyokuro’s near-cold water and enormous leaf quantity.
Why this step follows
Both shaded. Matcha takes the same material further — de-veined, milled, and consumed whole rather than steeped, which is why grade shows so brutally.
Intensely savoury and thick-textured, with a bitterness that is part of the design rather than a fault. Lower grades tip from savoury into flatly bitter, which is the main reason people conclude they dislike it.
Read alongside
- Exploring Japanese tea styles
Almost entirely green tea, almost entirely steamed, and organised around three variables: how long the leaf was steamed, whether the bushes were shaded, and which part of the plant you are drinking.
- What is green tea?
Tea whose oxidation is stopped before it starts, by heat applied within hours of picking. The method of heating — steam or pan — splits the category into two families that taste almost nothing alike.