Sencha, Green Tea

Alright! I finally have some time to write something! So I think we'll go with Sencha Green Tea. I've been trying to educate myself on green teas lately, and I started with the most common varieties from Japan and China. Sometimes the common stuff is the best, because there's so many people producing it, and they've been doing it for so long that they've just got it right, especially if you get a premium grade.

The Sencha that I've been drinking is simply "Sencha, Premium Grade, Japanese Green" from McNulty's Tea and Coffee in New York. It's fairly inexpensive, and it tastes great. It's very smooth, and it brews into a beautiful grassy yellow. Sencha is usually said to be vegetal, or to have a grassy flavor, and I agree. The flavor is also compared to Seaweed, which gives it an oceanic quality, and lends itself to pairings with seafood. It's a great everyday green tea that works anytime of the day.

I've read that "Sencha" can be translated as "roasted" or "common", and I've read about a few slightly different methods for processing. It is always described as air dried, and then usually pan fried. The finished tea leaves are rolled into long needles, and it keeps it's dark green color.

Here's some info that I snagged off the internet;

Sencha is the most widely enjoyed green tea in Japan. You'll find it everywhere you turn, in varying grades. It can be recognized by its shiny, needle-like shaped tea leaves with strong fragrance.

Along with the springtime blossoming of cherry trees, the first harvest of sencha is highly anticipated and celebrated. It's thought to be the first taste of the coming year in tea, and very lucky to give as a gift. This first harvest is referred to as "shincha".

Processing: The tea plants used to make sencha are grown in full sun. Processing is a series of six steps that begins with steaming (halts oxidization, preserves the color, aroma and taste). The leaves are then partially dried and machine twisted, making them soft and pliant. This step is repeated, with a second round of drying and twisting, resulting in increased fragrance and needle-shaped leaves. A third round of drying finishes the process. The tea then is hand-sorted to remove any stray stems. Sencha can be enjoyed right after being made (needs no maturing), and generally has a 6 months shelf life.

Brewing: The key with sencha is to use soft water at a low temperature with a short steeping time. It's a delicate tea, and does well made in a small vessel like a gaiwan or kyusu.

Cooking: It's common in Japan to re-use the leaves of high-grade sencha in cooking. Try adding them to salads and dishes that do well with fresh greens and herbs.

I haven't gone out of my way to brew it at a lower temperature, but I do stick to the shorter steeping times. I always drop all my teas into the hot water, and then use a seive to strain them into the pot. This pretty much reduces brewing times with all but the darkest teas anyway, and I think you end up with better flavor as a result.

So next time maybe I'll talk about Lung Ching, Dragonwell from China. Or about steeping methods.