tea · japan
Sencha
煎茶
The everyday Japanese green — steamed within hours of plucking, rolled into thin needles, and the cup most Japanese kitchens reach for first.
The cup most Japanese kitchens reach for first.
Origin
Sencha is the everyday tea of Japan — the cup that fills 70% of the country’s tea drinking by volume. The form was perfected in 1738 by Nagatani Sōen, a Yamashiro tea farmer who developed ao-sei sei-cha — the green-fixing steam process that gives sencha its characteristic vivid colour and grassy, marine flavour. Before Nagatani’s method, Japanese green tea was either powdered (matcha, for ceremony) or roasted (hojicha, for everyday). Sencha was the first form to combine ceremonial-grade leaves with everyday brewing.
Yamashiro (now part of Uji, Kyoto Prefecture) and Shizuoka remain the two reference regions. Kagoshima in southern Kyushu produces a more recent, mechanized cultivar style.
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Sensory profile
Sencha leans on three molecules: L-theanine for back-palate sweetness, EGCG (catechin) for astringency, and methyl jasmonate for the marine “umi” note. The steam-fixing process locks in chlorophyll (hence the bright colour) and prevents the toasted notes that pan-firing would create.
Two depths divide modern sencha:
- Asamushi — light steam (30 seconds). Brighter, grassier, with more individual leaf character. The traditional form.
- Fukamushi — deep steam (60–90 seconds). Sweeter, fuller-bodied, slightly cloudy in the cup. Modern Shizuoka standard.
Asamushi rewards patience and water control; fukamushi forgives mistakes. Both are correct.
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In the cup
Brew temperature is everything. Premium sencha at 70°C gives sweet, vegetal, balanced. Same tea at 90°C gives bitter, astringent, harsh. Use a kyusu (side-handled Japanese teapot) with built-in mesh filter; cool boiling water in a yuzamashi (cooling vessel) before pouring. First infusion 60 seconds, second 30 seconds, third 30 seconds — three infusions standard.
Japan drinks sencha throughout the day — after meals, with sweets, between work. Less ritualized than matcha, more deliberate than bagged tea.
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How to handle
Buy from a Japanese tea specialist; mass-market sencha is significantly inferior. Look for vibrant emerald colour and uniform needle shape. Store in an opaque, airtight tin in the refrigerator before opening; once opened, in a tin away from heat and light, used within two months. Sencha oxidizes quickly — old sencha tastes flat and yellow.
References
- Hohenegger, Beatrice. Liquid Jade (St. Martin’s, 2006) — Japanese tea history.
- Saito, Yoichi. The Book of Japanese Tea (Kodansha, 2018) — sencha cultivars and processing.
- Heiss, Mary Lou and Robert. The Story of Tea (Ten Speed, 2007) — asamushi vs fukamushi technical detail.