Green Tea Forum

Hushfield · Brown Belt Joined: 30 May 2008 Posts: 49

Hi all,
I only recently got into green tea and before I discovered O-Cha.com I went out and bought some sencha in a local store. They had a few kinds of sencha and a lot of other green tea varieties, so I bought the cheapest and hoped for the best.

Tea Facts:
name: Sencha Green - Japan
price: 2,40€ / 100g
package instructions: brew for 5min at 85°C

So first of all, this is a really cheap tea, I knew that when I compared it to some other sencha they had for around 7,60€ / 100g and with gyokuro costing as much as 13,95€ / 100g. I really do not brew this tea for 5 minutes, mostly it is around 1'40". The colour of this tea is very yellowish.

I read Kevan's comment in another thread that second or third harvest teas can still be very good, depending on quality and how fresh they are, but I take it is safe to assume that the later the harvest, the lower the quality of the tea?
I read on wikipedia that

Chip · Posted: Jun 13, 2008 7:29 am Post subject:

That wikipedia ummm...sux! There is so much wrong with what it states, that I am not going to dispute it point by point. Just throw out the info you read there and on the label. Broiled tea...what does that mean. It is like someone used an automatic translator and copied and pasted.

It is best to read info here or on a site such as O-Cha. Kevin has a lot of info on his site as well as a glossery.

Sencha can mean many things. Even guricha is called sencha in some circles. If memory serves me, it means green tea??? Is that right. But it is so much more than that. And it is further broken down by grades, processing, etc.

Bancha can be later flushes as well as the less desirable heal of the leaf.

Bottom line, bancha is lower quality. What you have is clearly low quality.

Not knowing what you have, it could even be Chinese sencha...bleh. Regardless, 5 minutes as a recommendation only goes to show, get your sencha from a reliable vendor like O-Cha.

Hushfield · Brown Belt Joined: 30 May 2008 Posts: 49

I kind of feared the distinction made between sencha and bancha on wikipedia might be somewhat simplistic, and therefore came to check it here.

Oni · 2nd Degree Black Belt Joined: 15 Mar 2008 Posts: 194

Still a long way to go my young padawan apprentice, remember anger leads to the dark side, patience and all will be clear just stay tuned.

Hushfield · Brown Belt Joined: 30 May 2008 Posts: 49

A long way to go indeed, that's the fun part of it. Very Happy

I hope I in no way gave the impression of being angry.
As written in the Lün-Yu:

Oni · 2nd Degree Black Belt Joined: 15 Mar 2008 Posts: 194

I personally think that a life time is not enough to thoroughly explore teas from china, taiwean, japan, and india.

greenisgood · Black Belt Joined: 20 Jan 2008 Posts: 112

The more you learn, the more you realize you don't know.

britt · 2nd Degree Black Belt Joined: 22 Oct 2007 Posts: 175

I think tea is a technical science as well as an art. This gives infinite possibilities, both good and bad. Hopefully as we progress through the learning process we'll see more of the good and less of the bad. As with the martial arts, there are rigid forms as well as those that are flexible. Neither of these is necessarily the best way for everyone.