TeaHQ

Sencha

The default Japanese green tea and the reference case for steamed processing: grassy, marine and briskly sweet, with a savoury edge that separates it immediately from pan-fired Chinese greens.

Green teaModerate intensityAccessible to appreciateForgiving to brew煎茶
Brew at 70–80 °CUse 1–1.5 g per 100 mlFirst steep 60sWestern brewing (teapot or mug)Full schedule and equipment →

Character

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.

Flavour
Grassy, Vegetal, Umami, Citrus
Aroma
Marine, Fresh
Mouthfeel
Medium, Drying, Astringent
Complexity
Moderate
Notes
cut grass, steamed greens, sea air, citrus zest
Aftertaste
Clean and briefly sweet, with a drying finish.

Moderate intensity: noticeable weight or grip, but neither dominates the cup.

Provenance and production

Origin
Japan
Region
Asamiya, Honyama, Ise (Mie), Kagoshima, Kakegawa, Kawane, Kirishima, Makinohara, Murakami, Sashima, Shizuoka, Ujitawara
Cultivar
Yabukita, Saemidori, Kanayamidori, Tsuyuhikari, Meiryoku, Yamakai, Koshun, Sofu, Seimei, Fushun, Shizu 7132, Okuhikari, Okumusashi, Sayamamidori, Yamanoibuki
Oxidation
Unoxidised
Harvest
Spring
Processing
Steaming (Japanese fixation) → Rolling and shaping → Drying

Where it grows

The districts recorded against this tea, all of them in Japan. Elevation is given as the band the district is recorded at, not a measurement of the garden this leaf came from.

  • Asamiya — 300–600 metres

    How firm this is: Inferred from general knowledge of the district rather than measured or taken from a source that states it.

  • Honyama — 150–800 metres

    How firm this is: Inferred from general knowledge of the district rather than measured or taken from a source that states it.

  • Ise (Mie) — 20–500 metres

    How firm this is: Inferred from general knowledge of the district rather than measured or taken from a source that states it.

  • Kagoshima — 50–500 metres

    How firm this is: Inferred from general knowledge of the district rather than measured or taken from a source that states it.

  • Kakegawa — 30–300 metres

    How firm this is: Inferred from general knowledge of the district rather than measured or taken from a source that states it.

  • Kawane — 200–900 metres

    How firm this is: Inferred from general knowledge of the district rather than measured or taken from a source that states it.

  • Kirishima — 300–800 metres

    How firm this is: Inferred from general knowledge of the district rather than measured or taken from a source that states it.

  • Makinohara — 40–200 metres

    How firm this is: Inferred from general knowledge of the district rather than measured or taken from a source that states it. A low plateau. Its significance is the flat, unshaded exposure rather than height.

  • Murakami — 10–250 metres

    How firm this is: Inferred from general knowledge of the district rather than measured or taken from a source that states it.

  • Sashima — 10–80 metres

    How firm this is: Inferred from general knowledge of the district rather than measured or taken from a source that states it. Flat plain. Nothing about this district turns on elevation.

  • Shizuoka — 20–800 metres

    How firm this is: Inferred from general knowledge of the district rather than measured or taken from a source that states it.

  • Ujitawara — 100–500 metres

    How firm this is: Inferred from general knowledge of the district rather than measured or taken from a source that states it.

The plants it is made from

Cultivar is the level below the variety group: a named selection of the tea plant, propagated as clones from one parent. Most consumer writing stops at the country and the category, which leaves out the layer that decides how the leaf behaves before anyone picks it.

  • Yabukita — Camellia sinensis var. sinensis

    Balanced rather than distinctive: a dependable base for sencha, which is precisely why it was planted so widely.

  • Saemidori — Camellia sinensis var. sinensis

    The vivid colour is cultivar rather than steaming depth, which is a common misattribution when comparing Kagoshima and Uji sencha.

  • Kanayamidori — Camellia sinensis var. sinensis

    The creaminess is genuinely aromatic and is the closest Japanese equivalent to what Jin Xuan does in Taiwan — and equally often assumed to be added.

  • Tsuyuhikari — Camellia sinensis var. sinensis

    Vivid green infusion, low bitterness, moderate yield. Its colour retention is the practical reason it appears in blends rather than only as a single cultivar.

  • Meiryoku — Camellia sinensis var. sinensis

    Thick leaf and strong colour extraction, suited to fukamushi. Less aromatic than the fragrance-bred cultivars and used accordingly.

  • Yamakai — Camellia sinensis var. sinensis

    Sweet, creamy aroma against poor frost tolerance and modest yield. Planted for character rather than economics.

  • Koshun — Camellia sinensis var. sinensis

    Strongly aromatic, moderate yield, and responsive to lighter steaming — deep steaming tends to bury the very character it was bred for.

  • Sofu — Camellia sinensis var. sinensis

    Intensely floral, and used for Japanese oolong-style and lightly oxidised production as well as green tea. Modest yield.

  • Seimei — Camellia sinensis var. sinensis

    Grown in small quantity by producers looking for a single-cultivar tea with a recognisable signature. As with all the aroma-bred Japanese cultivars, heavy steaming works against the character it was selected for.

  • Fushun — Camellia sinensis var. sinensis

    Aromatic rather than high-yielding, and planted in small blocks. Producers who grow it generally sell it under its own name, since its point is lost in a blend.

  • Shizu 7132 — Camellia sinensis var. sinensis

    Low yield, small planted area, and an aroma that survives light steaming and is buried by heavy steaming. Its number is its name, which is a useful reminder that a great deal of planted material never gets one.

  • Okuhikari — Camellia sinensis var. sinensis

    Late bud break, good cold hardiness, and a clean, brisk cup with more astringent structure than the early cultivars.

  • Okumusashi — Camellia sinensis var. sinensis

    Late and cold-tolerant, and generally finished with the strong final firing that Sayama practice is known for, which does as much to the cup as the plant does.

  • Sayamamidori — Camellia sinensis var. sinensis

    Hardy and thick-leaved, giving a robust cup that takes the heavy final firing used in the district without collapsing.

  • Yamanoibuki — Camellia sinensis var. sinensis

    Strong colour extraction and a thick liquor, with enough response to shading to be used for covered as well as open-field production.

How it is made, in order

Read top to bottom: the list is the production sequence, and the sequence is what makes this tea its category rather than a neighbouring one. The same leaf from the same bush becomes a green tea or a black tea depending on where the heat falls relative to the bruising, so reordering these steps would not vary the tea — it would produce a different one.

  1. 1. Steaming (Japanese fixation) — Denatures polyphenol oxidase using saturated steam, arresting oxidation without applying dry contact heat to the leaf surface.
  2. 2. Rolling and shaping — Ruptures cell walls to expose leaf juices, and forms the leaf into the shape it will hold through drying and storage.
  3. 3. Drying — Reduces residual moisture to a level at which enzymatic, microbial and oxidative change effectively stops, stabilising the leaf for storage.

The route it is made by

The steps above are what happens; this is the named production route they belong to, with the other teas made the same way.

  • Japanese steamed green tea — Fixation by steam within hours of plucking, then a rolling sequence that dries and shapes at once — and then a second factory that turns one intake into four named teas.

    Where it is practised: Almost all Japanese green tea. Also the route for Chinese steamed greens such as Enshi Yu Lu, which use the same fixation and none of the refining tail.

What its chemistry turns on

Every true tea contains caffeine, catechins and amino acids, so listing them would say nothing about this one. What differs is what the processing above does to them — and that is the same list of steps, read for its chemistry instead of its craft.

The compounds that substantially decide what this tea is: Catechins, cis-3-Hexenol, EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate), Flavonol glycosides, Green-leaf volatiles, Leaf lipids, Pheophytin.

These are statements about the leaf and the cup. What any of these compounds does in a body is a different kind of question and is not answered here or on the pages linked from it.

History

Invented by Nagatani Soen in 1738, who worked out that steaming and then rolling the leaf produced a green tea far better than the boiled and pan-fired styles then common in Japan. Sencha now accounts for the large majority of Japanese tea production, from one man’s process change.

TeaHQ synthesis — TeaHQ's own reading of well-attested general knowledge, with no single source behind it.

Brewing

Vessels this tea suits

Recorded against the tea rather than against a brewing style, because the vessel does not always follow from the method — a whisk needs lateral room whatever the schedule says, and compressed leaf needs a pick before any method applies at all.

  • Foil laminate pouch — A metal layer blocks light completely and is a far better barrier to oxygen and water vapour than paper, plastic or a loose-lidded tin — which is what a fresh green tea needs.

Common mistakes

  • Using boiling water, which extracts bitterness immediately
  • Leaving the leaf sitting in the pot between cups
  • Using an infuser basket too small for the leaf to expand

When the cup goes wrong

Written against green tea as a category rather than against this tea in particular, and worked back from the symptom to the likely causes in order. 37 apply to the category; the first 6 are shown.

Every diagnosed brewing problem

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.

  • Gyokuro

    Authored on a real basis, not tag overlap: both are steamed Japanese greens sharing a marine and umami-forward axis. Gyokuro is the more concentrated expression of the same character.

  • Matcha

    Powdered green tea is not simply ground sencha. Matcha comes from shaded, de-stemmed tencha and is whisked rather than steeped; sencha ground to a powder is a different product.

  • Enshi Yu Lu

    Both are steamed rather than pan-fired, which puts them closer to each other than either is to a Chinese pan-fired green.

  • Genmaicha

    The roasted rice masks the vegetal notes that put most newcomers off Japanese green tea.

  • Hojicha

    Roasting removes the vegetal and marine notes that put most newcomers off Japanese green tea. Sencha is where those notes are the point.

  • Mizudashi sencha

    The same leaf cold-steeped and hot-steeped, producing genuinely different drinks. Cold water barely extracts catechins, so the sweetness is chemistry rather than a better grade.

Similar sensory profile

Shares controlled flavour, aroma and mouthfeel descriptors. A looser match — two teas can share descriptors and still taste nothing alike.

  • Aracha

    Shares 6 descriptors with Sencha: grassy, vegetal, medium, astringent, fresh and marine.

  • Chumushi sencha

    Shares 6 descriptors with Sencha: grassy, vegetal, umami, medium, marine and fresh.

Compare this tea with another

Written comparisons

Where TeaHQ has set this tea against another in full, rather than deriving the comparison. Each one is a written page with the points of difference argued out. 20 name this tea; the first 12 are listed alphabetically.

Every written comparison

Botanicals this connects to

  • Stevia — The Guaraní sweetened mate with it long before the extract industry existed, and the whole leaf sweetens any infusion the same way.

Where this tea is drunk

Documented practices that name this tea. Each page describes what is done and by whom, and separates what is recorded from what is repeated.

  • Chatsumi — the Japanese tea-picking season — The eighty-eighth night, the first flush, the song every Japanese schoolchild knows, and the modern reality of a harvest performed almost entirely by machine and celebrated with a hand-picking that is mostly for the cameras.
  • Edo-period sencha — The eighteenth-century Uji process that produced the needle-shaped steamed green tea Japan now drinks — invented by a named grower, marketed by a named merchant, and adopted by a counter-cultural movement that wanted nothing to do with the tea ceremony.
  • Everyday Japanese tea — What tea actually is in Japan for almost everybody — free with a meal, bought cold in a bottle, made by the litre in a jug at home — and how far that is from the practice foreign readers have been taught to think of as Japanese tea.
  • Japanese tea farming practice — A highly mechanised, tightly specified growing and processing culture organised around cultivar selection, shading and steaming — and a smallholder structure that is under real demographic pressure.
  • Senchadō (the way of steeped tea) — A Japanese formalised practice built around steeped leaf tea rather than whisked matcha, with its own schools, utensils and aesthetic — and far less known outside Japan than chanoyu.
  • Sweets with tea, and matcha as a flavour — Why a bitter bowl of tea is served with something intensely sweet, how the sweet is chosen for the season, and how matcha travelled out of the tea room to become a flavour on everything from ice cream to a chocolate bar.

Journeys featuring this tea

Guides covering this tea