Julia Vern 22 645 2

Sencha green tea is becoming increasingly popular in our country. This drink has won the hearts of true connoisseurs with its unique aroma and interesting taste. In addition, Japanese Sencha tea has a lot of positive properties and can have a beneficial effect on the condition of the human body.

Sencha is a type of green tea, which is mainly produced in Japan, up to 80% is imported from the Land of the Rising Sun. It is widespread throughout the world, and every connoisseur of fine drinks has certainly heard its name.

The main difference between this variety and others is the method of processing raw materials. Almost all varieties of green tea are roasted after picking, while Sencha is steamed. This process takes no more than one minute - this is enough to interrupt the oxidation processes. After this procedure is completed, the whole tea leaves are rolled into thin tubes called “spider legs.”

The most valuable is considered to be April Sencha - green tea from the very first harvest. It is distinguished by a pronounced aroma, mild taste and an abundance of vitamins and microelements in its composition.

It is Sencha Senpai that is the tea that is most beneficial for health. The leaves of later harvests have significant astringency and a rough aftertaste.

Also worth noting is the variety grown in the city of Uji. This variety is very highly valued, as it has a rich history dating back more than one century.

No less famous is the tea grown on the island of Kyushu. Connoisseurs of the drink claim that it is much sweeter than those grown in other prefectures of Japan.

Nuances of brewing Sencha tea

Everyone knows that for each variety there are certain rules that were invented for a reason. To fully discover all the beneficial properties, it is important to understand how to brew Sencha tea correctly. It is important to comply with several requirements:

• water temperature;
• proportions;
• infusion time.

This tea was so firmly established in the life of the Japanese that there was even a Senchado cult dedicated to Sencha tea, its brewing and related traditions. He was most popular among the intelligentsia. Until now, the drink is an integral part of everyday life. It can be found in homes, restaurants, and at classic tea ceremonies. Sencha can be drunk both hot and cool, because it quenches thirst and warms equally well.

Traditionally, it should be brewed in a porcelain container, exclusively white. In this case, you cannot use boiling water; the water temperature can be a maximum of 85 degrees, ideally 80. The optimal amount is considered to be a teaspoon of dry tea leaves per 200 ml, but some tea drinkers deliberately make it stronger and richer.

It is also necessary to monitor the brewing time, no more than one minute.

Overexposed Sencha loses its taste and acquires an unpleasant bitterness. The same portion of tea leaves can be used up to three times, but the first infusion is the most fragrant. When everything is done correctly, the formation of thick foam is observed. If this does not happen, several factors may be the reason:

• temperature is too high;
• increased water hardness;
• The tea itself is of low quality.

Gourmets note that it is preferable to drink this drink from white or transparent bowls. This allows you not only to fully appreciate the taste properties of the tea, but also to enjoy the beautiful soft green color of the infusion.

The many-sided benefits of the drink

Sencha tea, especially the first harvest, has many positive qualities, the description of which is based on the beneficial substances included in its composition.

Due to the fact that the drink contains a considerable amount of antioxidants, regular consumption of it helps to seriously strengthen the body's immune system. Green tea copes with this task no worse than taking vitamin C. Antioxidants help in the fight against numerous bacteria and viruses and neutralize the negative effects of free radicals. In addition, they improve metabolism, which significantly helps in losing excess weight.

To achieve a visible effect, you need to drink green tea without adding sugar. It is very useful to use it in the morning, on an empty stomach, and also during training, because it perfectly quenches thirst.

Due to the caffeine content in Sencha tea, it invigorates no worse than strong coffee. A good alternative for those who find it difficult to get up in the morning. At the same time, it has the ability to improve concentration and relieve nervous tension, which is very important in stressful situations and under heavy mental and emotional stress. Moreover, to do this, you don’t have to drink the drink internally. It is enough to attach a bag with leaves to a shower head so that streams of water fall on it, and when taking a bath, the refreshing aroma will have a positive effect on the nervous system.

The healing properties of Sencha tea do not end there. Fluoride, which is part of it, has a beneficial effect on the oral cavity, neutralizing the effect of pathogenic bacteria. This helps to avoid the development of stomatitis and other infectious diseases, and significantly reduces the risk of developing caries. In addition, it gently whitens tooth enamel and perfectly freshens breath, so Sencha tea can be used as a mouthwash.

It is also worth noting some of its quite important properties:

• Drinking green tea helps lower blood sugar levels and significantly reduces the risk of developing diabetes.
• Sencha not only stimulates brain activity, but does it very gently.
• It has been proven that the drink helps remove cholesterol from the body and normalize blood pressure.
• Green tea has a powerful anti-aging effect by stimulating cell regeneration.
• With regular use, it normalizes the water-lipid balance in the body.

Possible side effects and contraindications

Like any product, the harm and benefits of Sencha tea exist side by side. As noted earlier, it includes caffeine, which can have a detrimental effect on health: provoke a significant increase in blood pressure, anxiety, nausea, and tachycardia. In most cases, even a considerable amount of tea drunk does not provoke serious consequences, but with individual intolerance, the listed symptoms can be caused. It all depends on metabolism, weight, and body characteristics. You need to start using it extremely carefully if you have not previously drunk drinks containing caffeine.

During pregnancy and lactation, women are advised to reduce the amount of green tea to two cups per day. But it is best to consult a doctor to determine the permitted dosage of caffeine in a given situation, so as not to harm yourself and your child.

Recently, Chinese and Japanese teas have gained wild popularity due to their taste and beneficial properties. When choosing the right variety, it is worth discovering Sencha for yourself, because it is not without reason that many connoisseurs of this ancient drink fell in love with it.

Do they come from the same plant - Camellia sinensis? But the taste of the drink obtained from the leaves of the bush is influenced by the terroir (the plantation region with its soil and microclimate), the time of harvest, the degree of maturity of the shoots and the method of subsequent processing of the raw materials.

In this article we will look at what sencha is in this regard. This tea is not like other types, and not only because of its Japanese origin. When this tea bush came to the Land of the Rising Sun, it gave rise to many local varieties. These include matcha, bancha, gemmaitha, gyokuro, konbutya and many others.

But only sencha - as sencha is called in Japan - became mega-popular. Three-quarters of all tea grown in the country comes from this variety. Why? We will talk about this in our article.

How is sencha (tea) different from other types?

Terroir does not play the most important role here. And yet, connoisseurs of the drink prefer to purchase sencha grown in the prefectures of Kagoshima, Shizuoka, Nara, Mie, Saga, Kyoto, Aichi, Fukuoka and Miyazaki.

The main difference between this variety and others is the method of processing the collected leaves. When making other types of tea, the raw materials are lightly roasted. Sencha is doused with dry steam. But previously the sheets were also subjected to heat treatment. The name itself testifies to this. "Sentya" means "roasted tea" in Japanese.

The fermentation of the leaves is weak. This allows us to classify sencha as a green tea. Dry steam treatment allows all the beneficial substances to remain inside. Later, sencha green tea is twisted into thin elastic threads. By the way, this is why its second name in Japan is “spider legs”. These long needles are also divided into varieties. And the main difference between them is the time of harvest.

The best sencha is sintya

In the tea regions of Japan, winter, although mild, still exists. The bushes stop growing during this season. And in April, when the tea bushes have produced their first shoots and soft green leaves have appeared, they begin to be collected to make the “sincha” variety.

For foreigners, this species has a different name - “first flush”, that is, “first harvest” (of the year). The bushes are harvested the rest of the time, right up to late autumn. But this is already an ordinary sencha, or “second flush”.

Sintya has a light golden-green color. And when brewed, this type of tea gives a refined delicate taste and delicate aroma. And there are more nutrients in the drink than in the leaves collected later.

If you want to buy the most delicious and healthy Japanese tea, “first harvest” sencha grown in the Uji area (located in Kyoto Prefecture) is what you need. The first plantations there were planted by the Buddhist monk Koken in the thirteenth century. In Japan, tea bushes are shaded by a row of trees. This is done because direct sunlight increases the concentration of tannins in the leaves.

Taste characteristics

Sencha green tea is considered an everyday drink in Japan. It is not as expensive as matcha. By the way, it is the latter variety that is used for tea ceremonies. Sencha is consumed both independently and as an addition to food.

This tea is also suitable for desserts. It is recommended to drink sencha from white cups. So, in addition to the soft and delicate taste, you can admire the play of greenish sparkles and the amazing color of this tea. Experts describe the aroma as refreshing. And ordinary users say that he is divine. In the taste you can detect honey sweetness, chocolate and sea notes. Some buyers say that sencha is bitter. It is not true. Or rather, tea acquires a bitter taste from improper brewing. So let's learn how to do it right.

How to prepare a delicious drink?

Sencha tea is very fragile. “Spider legs” easily break and crumble, and therefore the presence of dust is allowed even in the best “first harvest” varieties. The porcelain teapot needs to be warmed up. To do this, rinse it with boiling water.

Sencha is not used to make tea leaves. It is poured in as much as you need to drink at one time. We take dry tea at the rate of a teaspoon per glass. The temperature of the brewing water should not exceed 85 degrees. The steaming process, unlike other types of tea, is very short for sencha.

The main secret of preparing a tasty drink lies in the brewing time - it should not exceed a minute. After the specified time, a bitter taste begins to appear. It is best to pour dry raw materials with water at 80-85 degrees and mix. A foam should appear on the surface. If it is not there, there may be two reasons: too cold or hard water. When the tea is poured into cups, you can pour the leaves again, increasing the temperature of the liquid.

Sencha tea: medicinal properties

The drink made from steamed leaves contains vitamins E, A, C, B and D. Among the minerals, the presence of iodine should be noted. Like any green tea, sencha is rich in amino acids. Drinking this drink helps prevent cardiovascular diseases and cancer.

Sencha has low tannin and caffeine content. The drink is included in the diet. It is low-calorie, lowers cholesterol levels, removing it from the body. Sencha eliminates blockages in blood vessels and promotes the resorption of blood clots. Therefore, it is recommended to drink this tea for atherosclerosis and other diseases of the circulatory system.

The drink also normalizes blood pressure. Other properties of tea are also known. Sencha stabilizes blood sugar levels. But this drink is useful not only for diabetics and heart patients. If you use it regularly, you can get rid of fat deposits, because sencha speeds up metabolism.

They also drink tea for colds of the throat and upper respiratory tract. The drink improves tone and helps fight stress. Sencha does not deteriorate tooth enamel, and the skin retains its youth for a long time. There is only one contraindication to drinking this type of tea - low blood pressure.

Chinese sencha - what is it?

Under this name there is a variety of green tea grown in China. It is made in the traditional way, that is, one of the production stages is roasting. Then the tea leaf is rolled into a tight, thin roll. The Chinese call this form of ready-to-brew raw material “sencha.”

This tea has an oily herbal taste with floral notes. Chinese sencha should be brewed completely differently from Japanese sencha. Pour dry raw materials into a heated teapot. Pour boiling water, cooled to 85-90 degrees. After a minute we get rid of the first bitter tea leaves. Fill the still warm leaves with hotter water. This tea, unlike Japanese sencha, can withstand three or four steepings.

I drink fresh sencha
brewed with jasmine,
I listen to cicadas.
Let the envious moon
just inhale the aroma...

In fact, the correct name for this drink is not sencha tea, but sencha tea with the emphasis on the last syllable. This is exactly how the Japanese themselves pronounce this word, but we use a somewhat erroneous transliteration.

However, this does not detract from the merits of the drink, and it is the undisputed leader in popularity in the Land of the Rising Sun. Many sources claim that in terms of the amount of raw materials produced, sencha accounts for 75 to 80 percent of the total production of Japanese teas.

Sencha green tea is produced on the high mountain slopes from the leaves of trees bearing the same name. According to legend, the most famous tea plantations were founded in the thirteenth century.

Nowadays, Japanese green tea is consumed almost all over the world. First it penetrated into America and Europe, and subsequently connoisseurs of the drink appeared in our country. So it would be wrong to consider sencha only a drink from the Land of the Rising Sun, especially since it is becoming a competitor to popular Chinese green teas.

Tea production

Collection

The best varieties of tea are harvested in April, when the leaves are still soft and tender. The most expensive variety is called “Sinta”; it is removed from branches specially protected from the hot rays of the sun, or from the lower tiers of the plant. At this time, in some regions of the Japanese islands, Sencha Matsuri is celebrated, a celebration of the early harvest of the first tea harvest.

The bulk of the raw materials continue to be collected almost all summer as the volume of tea leaves increases. But varieties obtained from raw materials collected at a later date lose their charm compared to the April drink, and may also be a little bitter. Although many connoisseurs like the slight bitterness in the velvety taste of sencha.

Treatment

The collected tea leaves are brought to the tea-packing factory. Here the tender leaves are treated with hot steam for one minute. This technological technique allows the raw material not to oxidize longer.
After a steam bath, the leaves are rolled into tubes and dried in this state.

Packing

After final drying, careful packaging of the tea begins. The most expensive varieties are packaged in foil paper and then packaged in metal cans. Simpler varieties get simple, but elegant paper packaging.

Appearance

Having opened the tea package, you can find a certain similarity in appearance of sencha with our fireweed tea. And this is not surprising, because even according to the description, sencha tea is green leaves rolled into a tube.

Attention! Don't be surprised if you find a lot of fine dust in a bag of Japanese tea. Sencha crumbles very easily, and even its most elite varieties do not retain their shape well compared to the Indian or Ceylon-made loose leaf tea we are used to.

1. We take water heated to 80 degrees, or boiling water cooled to this temperature.
2. Pour a teaspoon of tea leaves into a glass of water.
3. Stir for 30-60 seconds. If the water is at the right temperature, foam should form on the surface of the drink.

   Important! If foam does not form, then the water may be of insufficient temperature or increased hardness.

4. After this, the tea is poured into cups. White porcelain dishes are recommended; they best highlight the color of the brewed drink.

The tea turns out to be a delicate green color with a pleasant tart taste and rich aroma. Connoisseurs of sencha note its velvety quality combined with the tenderness of the sea breeze and light sweetness.

Attention! If you see a yellow tint in the brewed tea, then most likely it is not sencha, but a fake, or just a variety of another tea, possibly good!

Drinking tea

You can drink this tea with sweets and baked goods, or simply sip the drink without any “bites.” It must be said that one portion of sencha can be brewed up to three times, however, with each subsequent brew the aroma becomes less pronounced.

Nowadays, sencha is an everyday drink, but in the Land of the Rising Sun they still remember the traditions of Senchado - the cult of sencha tea. Then it was the favorite drink of the most educated classes of Japan, the intelligentsia and the nobility.

You can drink Japanese tea either hot, immediately after brewing, or chilled. The Japanese say that sencha will warm you up in the cold and give you coolness on a hot day.

Beneficial features

Like many other teas, sencha has antioxidant properties, helping the body cope with the effects of adverse external factors. In addition, compared to other brands of green tea, Chinese or Indian, that have already become traditional in our country, the Japanese drink contains less caffeine and tannin, which makes its consumption possible for people with some restrictions on the use of teas.
But, despite a slight decrease in the proportion of these substances, sencha tea still has medicinal properties. This drink helps normalize weight by forcing the body to burn excess fat. This does not mean that it is a panacea for weight loss, but its use is useful for overweight people, unless, of course, you wash down kilogram pieces of cake with a cup of sencha.

Like other teas, sencha relieves fatigue and restores performance. With constant consumption of the Japanese drink, blood sugar in diabetics is normalized. Teenagers can boast of skin cleared of nasty acne.

Sencha is useful for hypertensive patients; it slightly lowers blood pressure; as a result, for people with low blood pressure, its use should be minimal.

At the end of our report, we advise our readers to see how to brew sencha tea. Look how reverently an elderly Japanese man treats this event, turning a seemingly simple task into a real sacred rite.

All materials on the website are presented for informational purposes only. Before using any product, consultation with a doctor is MANDATORY!

Sencha is the most popular variety of green tea in Japan today. It is grown and harvested in the Land of the Rising Sun, and then exported throughout the world. Sencha is a tea that is made from tea leaves processed in a special way. They are steamed and then rolled into thin strips - “spider legs” (sencha), from which the product gets its name.

general information

The long, thin tea leaves of sencha actually look like the legs of spiders. Despite this unappetizing fact, sencha green tea, prepared according to all the rules, has a pleasant tart taste with a slight bitterness and peculiar “sea”, herbal and nutty aftertaste notes.

The color of a properly brewed drink should be soft green, but not yellow. Sencha is a tea that perfectly invigorates and refreshes in the summer. But the most important thing is that of all the types of green tea known today, this one has the largest number of beneficial properties.

Story

Since ancient times, it has been generally accepted in Japan that the tea grows in the Uji region. According to legend, the first tea bushes on this small plantation, the size of which is only about six hundred meters, were planted by a certain monk Koken back in the thirteenth century. Since then, for many centuries, tea collected in the area of ​​Uji was presented as a gift to the emperors of the Land of the Rising Sun.

In 1738, merchant Soen Nagatani came up with a method for processing tea leaves, for which Japanese sencha is still famous. Tea, distinguished by its delicate, refined taste, which could also be brewed in a teapot, from that time on became available not only to the nobility, but also to the common population. The technology for producing a product such as sencha continued to be improved, but the aroma and taste of this drink remain intact to this day.

Sencha (tea): properties

The list of beneficial qualities that Japanese sencha has is truly enormous. Regular consumption of this tea helps maintain oral hygiene. Thanks to the high content of fluoride compounds, sencha prevents the formation of caries and fights plaque, strengthens tooth enamel, and also perfectly freshens breath.

Catechins - strong antioxidants that make up green tea - help strengthen the body's immune system and actively fight viruses and inflammation.

Sencha is a tea that can qualitatively lower blood pressure, as well as the level of “bad” cholesterol. It is believed that this drink is useful for diabetes, as it stabilizes sugar levels. In addition, sencha is an excellent skin cleanser. This tea is also used to treat and prevent a number of cancer diseases, in particular leukemia.

Drinking this tea is also useful for those who regularly experience stress: it has a calming effect, but at the same time promotes clarity of thoughts. A bath prepared using a bag or tea will help you effectively relax after a hard day at work.

Brewing method

Sencha is a tea that is quite unpretentious in the preparation process. And although in Japan there is a whole ritual of brewing this drink (senchado), to enjoy its pleasant taste, you just need to follow a few simple steps.

It is recommended to brew sencha in a porcelain container, preferably light or white in color. The water for the drink should be heated to 85 degrees, and the tea leaves should be kept in it for no more than one and a half minutes. The last point is very important - the taste of overstayed Japanese sencha begins to taste bitter, and the color of the drink sharply becomes cloudy.

It is permissible to repeat the tea brewing process, but no more than three times in a row. In summer, this drink is usually served chilled.

Domestic use

There are quite a lot of non-trivial opportunities to use the beneficial properties of sencha in everyday life. So, the brewed tea leaves can serve quite well. If you first dry the brewed tea leaves and then pour them inside the shoes for several days, this will help rid them of the unpleasant odor and destroy many specific microorganisms and bacteria that appear in the shoes during their wearing. Well, and, of course, one cannot ignore the cosmetic effect that sencha has. Medium strength tea applied to cotton swabs can be used as a moisturizing and smoothing facial mask.

Sencha from Japan and China

The historical homeland of this type of tea is Japan. However, these days, Chinese sencha tea is becoming increasingly famous. How is it different from the traditional Japanese drink?

We can say that sencha tea grown in China is somewhat simpler and poorer in taste than its Japanese counterpart. In a drink prepared on its basis, bitterness appears quite clearly, which is barely perceptible in classic Japanese sencha. Experts agree that the tasting bouquet of Chinese tea is less varied and vibrant. However, the price of this variety differs from the Japanese one in a more favorable direction. However, the quality of Chinese sencha, which is conquering modern markets, is improving every year.

An interesting fact is that in the Celestial Empire it is believed that it was their people who actually invented sencha, and the insidious Japanese only stole the recipe. However, whatever the historical truth, one thing is certain: both varieties of tea - both Japanese and Chinese - have the right to exist and find their fans and connoisseurs.

Sencha

Sencha is a very important attribute of everyday life for the Japanese, called “tea for every day.” It is drunk at work, at home, and served at various events and establishments. Sencha is ideal for both Japanese and European cuisine.

Sencha is a variety of green tea, one of the most popular in Japan, accounting for about 80% of all tea produced in the country. The main difference from other varieties of green tea is the processing method. The collected leaves are steamed rather than fried, unlike most other types. The tea is then rolled into thin strips, which the Japanese call “spider legs.” As a result of specific processing, tea acquires its characteristic flavor.

Currently, most of the Japanese Sencha grows on plantations in Shizuoka Prefecture, located in the central coastal zone of the island of Honshu. The best varieties are harvested in the Uji area - Kyoto Prefecture. The first tea trees were planted in Obuku in Uji in the second half of the 13th century by Buddhist monks.

Traditional technology for processing sencha also originated in Uji. In the 18th century, tea merchant Soen Nagatani invented a new method of tea production by slightly improving the steaming method used to make powdered green tea. He also came up with a more advanced way of rolling steamed tea leaves into the shape of fine needles. Uji technology is widely used throughout Japan to this day. Green tea in Japan is harvested up to five times a year, from early spring to autumn.

Useful properties of Sencha

Sencha is a very healthy tea that can be confidently classified as a dietary drink. It contains less caffeine and tannins than Chinese green teas. In addition, this drink is rich in iodine, microelements, vitamins A, B, E and C, amino acids and other beneficial substances. The maximum content of vitamins is observed in Sencha of the first harvest.
Like any other green tea, Sencha is an excellent antioxidant. Regular consumption of Sencha reduces the risk of developing cancer, increases the overall tone of the body and promotes weight loss. Despite the low caffeine content, Sencha is a good tonic, gives strength and helps relieve fatigue.

How to brew Sencha?

Japanese teas are quite unpretentious. They can easily survive hard or slightly boiled water, they can be drunk from different containers and brewed in different containers, the ratio of water to dry tea can be very different - depending on how strong your tea is. Japanese teas can be paired with a variety of snacks - from traditional Japanese tea sweets to completely familiar cookies and sandwiches. In short, you can experiment with these teas to your heart's content.

But there is one rule that must be followed very clearly: Japanese tea should be brewed for no more than one minute. Most often - about thirty seconds. This is a very important rule. Only freshly brewed Japanese tea reveals all its advantages - an unusual aroma, mild taste, wonderful color and incredible foam. And if Japanese tea is over-brewed, it will become cloudy, become bitter, and the foam will disappear - in a word, you will ruin all your pleasure. Remember this.

It is best to brew Sencha (as well as other Japanese teas) in a porcelain teapot, and use porcelain or glass transparent cups for drinking. The white color (at least on the inside) or the transparency of the cups are very important - no other tea gives such a vibrant green color as Japanese teas give when brewed - and it is extremely unreasonable to deny yourself the pleasure of admiring this color.

The brewing technology itself is very simple. Dry tea is poured into the kettle at the rate of 1 teaspoon per 200-250 ml of water, filled with hot water, approximately 90 degrees, and mixed with a spoon. If at this stage of brewing the tea produces thick foam, you are doing everything right. If there is no foam, then most likely you have some kind of problem with the water - it is either not hot enough or very hard.
As already mentioned, the optimal brewing time for sencha is from 30 to 60 seconds. After brewing, pour all the tea from the teapot into cups at once, without allowing the tea leaves to sit in the water. Tea poured into cups is usually not diluted with boiling water. If it is brewed at the rate of 1 teaspoon of tea leaves per 200-250 ml of water, this will not be needed. If the proportions are different and the tea is brewed stronger, then diluting it, of course, will not spoil it. It will just add some fuss to tea drinking.
Sencha can be brewed a second and third time by pouring water into the teapot, letting the tea sit for a little while (20-30 seconds) and pouring the drink completely into the cups again. But the most delicious Sencha is still obtained from the first brew.

Contemplating sencha poured into a white or transparent cup, especially in bright sunlight, is a rare and incomparable pleasure. A soft, velvety pale green color with golden hues, slight turbidity and a circle usually formed from small, small tea leaves at the bottom of the cup - all these unexpected “visual effects” surprise and a little frighten when tasting Sencha for the first time. And they are very happy with subsequent ones.
The aroma and taste of Sencha is quite difficult to describe. They can immediately be defined as fresh, sweet (of course, conditionally sweet - this sweetness is very light, barely noticeable, but you shouldn’t interrupt it with anything - that’s why it’s better to drink Sencha without sugar) and velvety, with one “but” - softness, sweetness and the velvety quality of Sencha appear not separately, but simultaneously, creating a strange sensation of sweet taste, fresh aroma and velvety sensation on the tongue...

Brewing temperature - 85-90 °C
Brewing time - 30-60 seconds