All About Sencha, the Quintessential Green Tea of Japan
Its leaves are lean, the brew tastes marine and its color is a vivid green. With unique needle-shaped leaves and an umami flavor developed by steaming during production, sencha is the quintessential green tea of Japan. Let's explore this iconic tea with the history of sencha, a look into how it's made and the best ways to brew Japanese green teas.
A brief history of sencha
Tea culture in Japan dates back to the 8th century, when Buddhist monks and priests traveling in China brought the leaf back home. Cultivation was slow at first, but by the late 12th century, a Zen monk named Eisai popularized tea drinking as part of his Rinzai school of Buddhism. Tea and spiritual practice have always shared a link in Japan, and as Eisai distributed tea seeds to monks across the country, that connection deepened.
Japanese tea at this time looked quite different than it does today. Following production methods established during China's contemporaneous Tang and Song Dynasties, Japanese tea makers steamed leaves to compress them into cakes. Drinkers would then flake off a portion of the cake, grind it into a powder, and whisk it with hot water into a froth. If this reminds you of matcha, you're on the right track (check out our complete guide to matcha to learn more about its lengthy lineage).
Between the 14th and 17th centuries, Japan's trend of compressed and powdered tea gave way to the looseleaf teas we drink today, attributed mainly the Zen teacher Ingen Ryūki in the late 1600s, and the tea-peddling former monk Baisaō in the first half of the 1700s. Drinkers called the preparation sencha, meaning infused or boiled tea. Originally this looseleaf tea was pan-fired in woks much like Chinese green teas. That fragrant, nutty style, now called kamairicha, has fallen out of favor, but is still made in corners of Japan.
In 1737, an Uji tea farmer named Nagatani Sōen modernized the technique for making sencha: Instead of pan-firing fresh green leaves, Sōen steamed them to halt oxidation, then rolled the leaves into needle-thin strips before baking. This processing required more upfront equipment—a whole steaming rig instead of a wok over a fire—but made it easier to process tea quickly, consistently and efficiently. Steaming yielded a bright vegetal aroma and a beautiful balance of sweetness and umami, and the new style grew popular quickly and spread throughout the country.
Sōen's sencha production methods also allowed for automation. As Japan industrialized in the 19th and 20th centuries, tea farmers found ways mechanize the steaming, rolling, drying and sorting stages of processing. These days, even high end sencha can be made with a small team using state-of-the-art equipment. Our friend Jiro, who produces our Sencha Kabuse, runs his primary processing operation with just himself and his father. The scale afforded by automated production is one of the reasons sencha is so widespread in Japan. Sōen's methods would eventually be extended to other looseleaf styles like gyokuro and bancha.
Sencha: All about the steam
It's an oversimplification to say that steaming is what distinguishes sencha from other regions' green tea, but not by much. Once it's plucked, a fresh leaf destined for green tea must be heated to halt enzymatic activity, or it'll oxidize and brown like a sliced apple left on the counter. While most green teas around the world are heat-treated with pan roasting or an electric oven—most notably those from China—sencha leaves are steamed.
Steaming alters the physical and chemical nature of the leaf, breaking down cell walls and developing specific aromatic compounds. While pan-roasting lends a nutty flavor to green tea, steaming emphasizes savory notes with hints of seaweed, artichoke and leafy greens. Sencha makers strive for a harmony of bright aroma, smooth flavor and structured astringency.
Varieties of sencha are distinguished in part by how long the leaves are steamed.
Asamushi sencha
Lightly steamed sencha (steamed for 20 to 40 seconds) is called asamushi, and is the most traditional style. Asamushi sencha has a high aroma and lighter, more brisk flavor with slightly greater astringency. Less processing highlights crisp vegetal notes and leads to a yellowish hue in the cup.
Chumushi sencha
When steamed for longer, around 60 seconds, sencha is referred to as chumushi. It has a balanced flavor and finish with less astringency and a little more sweetness.
Fukamushi sencha
Originally developed to make the most of less-than-ideal leaves, fukamushi sencha is steamed around 80 seconds or longer. (The exact numbers for all these categories vary by teamaker.) A longer steaming period breaks down the leaf into finer particles and captures more sweetness in the cup. Fukamushi sencha is known for a deep green color, silty texture and full sweetness, usually at the expense of a muted aroma and less crispness.
Other varieties of sencha
While steaming has the biggest impact on flavor, it's not the only factor in determining the type of sencha.
Shincha
The very first sencha harvest of the year is called shincha, and it's usually sold right away to customers eager for a new taste of spring. Shincha is packed with nutrients that the tea plants have stored through their winter dormancy, and often has an especially punchy green quality.
Kabuse sencha
In the weeks leading up to harvest, a teamaker may place a shade cloth over the tea plants, forcing them to produce extra chlorophyll to maintain photosynthesis. Shading and an aggressive fertilization regime yield an especially arboreal green tea. Matcha and gyokuro, the crown jewels of Japanese tea, are shaded for three to four weeks. If the plants are only shaded for closer to two weeks, the result is kabuse sencha. While less potent than gyokuro, kabuse sencha has a deep buttery flavor, like the luxurious texture of a good stock.
How to brew sencha
Sencha leaves are rolled into tight needles with lots of surface area, so these teas steep quickly and can turn bitter with heavy brewing. A side-handled clay kyusu is the traditional pot for steeping: the built-in filter can strain fine leaf particles and the wide opening makes the pot easy to clean. You can also use a fine mesh basket filter in your favorite mug or teapot.
Use water well below boiling to keep your sencha's bittersweet balance palatable. We recommend a range of 160° to 185°F depending on the tea. If you like a stronger and more aromatic brew, or a deep-steamed style like fukamushi, use higher temperature water. For a softer and sweeter cup, try lower temperatures or even ambient brewing. Use a variable temperature tea kettle to set the exact temperature you prefer. But don't worry if you don't have one—neither do most sencha drinkers in Japan. A traditional technique is to pour boiling water into a small pitcher or decanter, or even into the serving cups, then pour from that into your pot. This transfer will reduce the water's temperature into the appropriate sencha range while also heating your teaware.
As a general guideline, infuse sencha for about one to three minutes. The more leaf you use, the shorter the steep should be. In that eight-ounce kyusu, four to five grams of tea takes just a minute. In a larger pot, the same amount will take two or three minutes. Don't be shy about pouring a small sample to sip as you go to dial in the best steeping time for you.
After your sencha has finished steeping, pour slowly at a gentle angle into your cup. This will keep you from agitating the leaves and coaxing out bitter flavors. When you reach the end of the pour, lift the pot with the spout pointing directly down towards the cup to draw out the final drops of tea. These have the most concentrated flavor.
A good sencha can be steeped at least two times, with each brew yielding different flavors and textures. Subsequent steepings will take even less time to infuse. Don't be afraid to play around with your tea amounts, steeping times and water temperatures. Sencha makes wonderful iced tea, too. Part of the beauty of this unique tea is its versatility—just a few seconds or degrees can result in a dramatically different cup. And with all the senchas and brewing methods out there, you're sure to find one that's delicious to you.