Green tea
Green Tea
Japan produces some of the world's most distinguished green teas, and the range of styles available is considerably broader than most people outside Japan realise. The category encompasses everything from the fresh, grassy sencha that is drunk daily in millions of Japanese homes to the shade-grown gyokuro with its remarkable umami intensity, the roasted hojicha with its warming caramel notes, the powdered matcha central to the tea ceremony and the blended genmaicha with its distinctive popcorn aroma from the roasted rice. Each style has its own optimal brewing temperature, steep time and vessel, and learning to brew each one well is a process that rewards attention and patience.
Sencha is the most widely consumed Japanese green tea and the best starting point for those new to the category. Produced by steaming freshly picked leaves to stop oxidation and then rolling and drying them, sencha has a bright, grassy flavour with varying degrees of astringency depending on the grade and origin. High-quality sencha from Shizuoka, Uji or Kagoshima Prefecture is brewed at around 70 to 80 degrees Celsius — below boiling — which extracts the sweetness without releasing excessive bitterness.
Gyokuro is shade-grown for three weeks before harvest, which causes the plant to produce more chlorophyll and amino acids — particularly L-theanine — at the expense of catechins. The result is a tea of extraordinary richness and low astringency, with a deep, savoury umami quality that is unique in the world of tea. It is brewed at a very low temperature — around 50 degrees — and in small quantities, more like an infusion than a standard cup of tea.
Matcha, hojicha, genmaicha and other styles are also represented in this collection, along with quality Japanese producers selected for consistent excellence.
Discover more in our subcategories:
Enjoy your green tea in our tea cups and explore ochazuke for a traditional green tea dish.
Japanese green tea: a guide to sencha, gyokuro, matcha and hojicha — what makes each style unique and how to brew it properly.
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