Autumn Sencha

You know we like unusual tea… Well, unusually for a premium Sencha, this is an Autumn leaf!

Autumn tea is known for its richer flavour, but often this is at the expense of the freshness of a Spring tea. We picked this tea from Shizuoka Prefecture because, despite the time of year the leaf is picked, it keeps the freshness.

‘Sen cha’, literally ‘green tea’ is created by steaming the freshly picked leaf. This process is markedly different to the pan-fry method used to make Chinese green tea. The difference produces a vegetal and marine flavour, much unlike green tea from China. Sencha is rich in the 5th taste – umami.

The finest Sencha is shaded. The newest leaves are shaded for 2-3 weeks in early May (we were there to see this on our recent visit to Japan). Depriving the leaf of natural sunshine increased the chlorophyll and this in turn enriches the leaf. The shading process requires great skill and plenty of time. But the effort is worth it … shading the leaf produces a richer flavour and more antioxidants.

Shaded Sencha accounts for only 0.3 per cent of tea in Japan.

Cost Per Cup ~ 40p
____________________________________________________