Compare two teas
Side by side across seven dimensions. There is no verdict and no winner — the purpose is to understand the difference, not to be told which to buy.
TeaHQ has written about this pair
Japanese tea manufacture is split between a grower who makes crude tea and a refiner who separates it. The separation does not produce one tea plus waste — it produces five products, all sold, all named, and priced in an order that has almost nothing to do with which is nicest.
- What it is
- Aracha: The crude tea as it leaves the grower's factory: long leaf, stem, dust and fines still mixed.Sencha: The leaf fraction, cut to a uniform length.
- Where it comes from in the process
- Aracha: Before refining. Almost all Japanese tea passes through this state.Sencha: The main output the whole line is aimed at.
- What it tastes like
- Aracha: Rough-edged and sappy with real sweetness underneath.Sencha: The reference: grassy, marine, briskly sweet.
- Why it tastes that way
- Aracha: Everything is still in it, including the stem sweetness and the fine bitter material.Sencha: A deliberately uniform particle size extracting at one rate.
- What it costs
- Aracha: Rarely sold at all; the small amount that reaches drinkers is a curiosity.Sencha: The benchmark price.
- How to brew it
- Aracha: As sencha, expecting unevenness.Sencha: Standard sencha parameters.
- Where you meet it
- Aracha: Direct from a grower, or at a factory.Sencha: Everywhere.
In summary: The price order here is set by particle size and by what a refiner can sell in volume, not by quality. Mecha and karigane are the two clearest cases in the Japanese range where a by-product is better value than the product it was sorted out of.
Point by point
| Dimension | Aracha | Sencha |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Green tea · unoxidised | Green tea · unoxidised |
| Production | In order: Steaming (Japanese fixation) → Rolling and shaping → Drying. spring harvest. | In order: Steaming (Japanese fixation) → Rolling and shaping → Drying. bud and two leaves and spring harvest. |
| Origin | Japan — Shizuoka | Japan |
| Flavour | grassy, vegetal and sweet. medium and astringent in the mouth. Aroma: fresh grass, sweet stem, steamed greens. Moderate in character. Moderate in intensity. | grassy, vegetal, umami and citrus. medium, drying and astringent in the mouth. Aroma: cut grass, steamed greens, sea air, citrus zest. Moderate in character. Moderate in intensity. |
| Brewing | Western brewing (teapot or mug): 1.5–2.5 g/100 ml at 70–80 °C, first steep 60s. Kyusu brewing (Japanese style): 3–5 g/100 ml at 65–75 °C, first steep 60s of 3 authored. Gongfu brewing (gaiwan): 3–4 g/100 ml at 75–85 °C, first steep 20s of 4 authored. | Western brewing (teapot or mug): 1–1.5 g/100 ml at 70–80 °C, first steep 60s. Gongfu brewing (gaiwan): 3–4 g/100 ml at 65–75 °C, first steep 20s of 4 authored. Kyusu brewing (Japanese style): 3–5 g/100 ml at 65–75 °C, first steep 60s of 3 authored. Flash-chilled iced tea: 2–3 g/100 ml at 90–95 °C, first steep 90s. Ice steeping (kōridashi): 4–8 g/100 ml at 0–5 °C, first steep 2700s. Tea bag brewing: 1–1.5 g/100 ml at 75–85 °C, first steep 90s. Cold brew tea: 1.5–2.5 g/100 ml at 3–8 °C, first steep 28800s. |
| Cultural context | Used in Japanese tea farming practice. | Used in Senchadō (the way of steeped tea), Japanese tea farming practice, Edo-period sencha, Everyday Japanese tea, Sweets with tea, and matcha as a flavour and Chatsumi — the Japanese tea-picking season. |
| Who may prefer it | Someone who wants presence without being dominated and is willing to drink something several times before it makes sense. It rewards attention to leaf weight and timing. | Someone who wants presence without being dominated and wants to enjoy it on the first cup. It tolerates an imprecise brew and is traditionally drunk plain. |
Nothing above is a recommendation. The last row describes the drinker each tea suits, using each tea’s own authored fields and the same sentence structure for both, so neither can be framed as the safe choice.