Konacha
The fine particles sifted out during sencha refining, sold cheaply and brewed strong. It is the tea served in Japanese sushi restaurants, where a fast, strong, palate-clearing cup matters more than nuance, and it is one of the best-value teas in existence for that job.
Character
Strong, brisk and deliberately blunt, extracting almost instantly because the particles are so small. Judged as sencha it is coarse; judged as what it is, it is very good value.
- Flavour
- Grassy, Vegetal
- Aroma
- Marine
- Mouthfeel
- Astringent, Drying, Medium
- Complexity
- Straightforward
- Notes
- fresh grass, seaweed, green stem
- Aftertaste
- Sharp, brisk and quickly clearing.
Bold intensity: full-bodied, astringent or bitter enough to lead the cup.
Provenance and production
- Origin
- Japan
- Oxidation
- Unoxidised
- Harvest
- Spring
- Processing
- Steaming (Japanese fixation) → Rolling and shaping → Drying
Brewing
Western brewing (teapot or mug)
1.5–2.5 g/100 ml · 75–85 °C · 1 authored infusion
Gongfu brewing (gaiwan)
3–4 g/100 ml · 75–85 °C · 4 authored infusions
No caffeine estimate is authored for this tea. TeaHQ does not infer one from its category, because category predicts caffeine poorly — matcha and gyokuro carry more than many black teas.
Common mistakes
- Steeping it as long as leaf sencha, which makes it harsh
If you like this
Grouped by why they were suggested, strongest reason first. Nothing here is a blended score — a suggestion appears under the best reason that exists for it, and never under a weaker one as well.
Editorially linked
Someone wrote down why these two belong together. The note below is theirs.
- Mecha
Two by-product grades sorted out of sencha production. Konacha is the dust and fannings, mecha the buds and tips, and both are far better than by-product suggests.
Similar sensory profile
Shares controlled flavour, aroma and mouthfeel descriptors. A looser match — two teas can share descriptors and still taste nothing alike.
- Sencha
Shares 6 descriptors with Konacha: grassy, vegetal, medium, drying, astringent and marine.
- Aracha
Shares 5 descriptors with Konacha: grassy, vegetal, medium, astringent and marine.
- Vietnamese green tea
Shares 5 descriptors with Konacha: grassy, vegetal, astringent, drying and medium.
- Chumushi sencha
Shares 4 descriptors with Konacha: grassy, vegetal, medium and marine.
- Gunpowder green tea
Shares 4 descriptors with Konacha: grassy, medium, astringent and drying.
- Kagoshima sencha
Shares 4 descriptors with Konacha: vegetal, grassy, medium and marine.
- Mao Xie
Shares 4 descriptors with Konacha: grassy, vegetal, astringent and drying.
Written comparisons
Where TeaHQ has set this tea against another in full, rather than deriving the comparison.
- Green tea powder vs matcha — Both are green and both are powder, and only one of them is matcha. The difference is three production decisions that happen before any grinding, and it is visible in the colour.
- Japanese matcha vs Chinese powdered tea — Powdered tea was Chinese first and the practice died out there. What is sold as Chinese matcha today is a different product with a shared ancestor.