Tea in Japan is adored and Japan tea ceremonies are filled with zest and vigor as the thrill of tea comes to full view. Japan is also globally revered for its most common Japanese traditional teas as well as their famous Japanese tea brands.
Most Popular Japanese Teas
Sencha
Talking about Japanese tea, you can get arrested and sentenced if you forget to mention sencha. That tells you the amount of sanctity allocated to Sencha in Japanese tea culture. Basically, Sencha is a kind of Japanese green tea (locally known as ryokucha).
Sencha preparation comes from the encompassing infusion of the tea leaves in hot water. This kind of differentiates from the preparation process of powdered matcha where we have the very leaf inclusive in the matcha beverage.
On the ground of popularity in Japan, it is fair to say that Sencha is first on the list right? In fact, over 70% of tea in Japan is sencha statistically. Sencha comes in different varieties pertaining to the flavor. The variety of flavor of sencha actually depends on the temperature at which sencha is steeped.
Therefore if the temperature used for the steeping is relatively moderate, then the flavor of the sencha will be a bit mellower. However in the circumstance where the sencha is steeped with notably hot water, then the astringency of the sencha’s flavor would increase surely. Looking at the coloration of sencha, we see that the ideal color is somewhat of a greenish color with a golden tan to it.
Genmaicha
Genmaicha is another of the topmost Japanese teas that can’t be excluded from this list as well. Genmaicha is also indigenously referred to as brown rice rea. More commonly Genmaicha passes as popcorn tea. The latter name arises because in the course of roasting your Genmaicha, a bit of the rice grains pop making it look like popcorn.
Well from an economic basis, Genmaicha is one of the most affordable Japanese teas out there hence it is infamously referred to as the people’s tea. Genmaicha also takes on a religious tone when it is used by Japanese fasting for a long stretch of time hence readily sustain themselves with Genmaicha.
The flavor of the Genmaicha is warmer. This warmness can be attributed to the presence of sugar and starch (emanating from the rice). This makes the flavor of this Japanese tea mirror that of nuts. But then Genmaicha is very easy to drink and it improves your digestive process. Looking at the coloration here, Genmaicha tea has a bit of a yellow hue (notably light). There is the mildness to the flavor as well giving it a refreshingly grassy feel.
Gyokuro
Gyokuro is one Japanese tea worth its place on our radar. Gyokuro is also referred to as jade dew. This is more of a shaded Japanese green tea. Therefore we see the clear disparity between Sencha and Gyokuro in that while Gyokuro is shaded in the process of cultivation, sencha is significantly unshaded.
Therefore we see that Gyokuro is protected from the direct glare of the sun in its cultivation as this Japanese tea is grown under the umbrella of a shade. When compared to the kabuse tea, the shading interval for Gyokuro is lengthier. In fact, kabuse-cha is barely shaded for more than a week.
In some sections of Japan, Gyokuro is referred to as jewel dew. This name comes from the coloration of the infusion which is pale green. Looking deeper into the deviation of Gyokuro from sencha, we find that while sencha is produced from the Yabukitacultivar of Camellia sinensis, gyokuro, on the other hand, is commonly produced from a more distinct variant like Yamakai and Okumidori.
Gyokuro also differs from other green teas pertaining to its preparation process. As said, the steeping of Gyokuro takes longer, especially for the first infusion which exceeds the one minutes that goes for sencha.
Hōjicha
Hōjicha is another famous Japanese tea. When it comes to Hōjicha, things get even more different. This is because in Hōjicha, it is roasted over charcoal preferably in a porcelain pot. Therefore is quite distinct from the generality of Japanese teas which majorly undergo steaming. Hōjicha undergoes firing at an elevated temperature.
This temperature significantly distorts the color of Hōjicha at the end of the day. Here the green is largely overturned by the roasting process into something reddish brown. Well, the roasting procedure of Hōjicha was first observed far back in the early 1920s. Where else in Japan than Kyoto, the homeland of Japanese tea? Since then, the roasting culture of Hōjicha has come to stay till this very moment.
In most situations, the Hōjicha tea you commonly see is made from bancha. There are also other varieties of Hōjicha cutting across the Hōjicha made kukicha as well as Hōjicha made from sencha. Another thing about Hōjicha tea is that the roasting process reduces its astringency.
More than this, roasting Hōjicha will also slash down its catechins content which also in a way contributes to the reduced astringency. Hōjicha tea has sort of a caramel flavor as the roasting takes off the vegetative undertone as seen with other kinds of Japanese green tea.
Bancha
This is a Japanese green tea famously harvested from the second flush of sencha. This is usually carried in the period separating summer from autumn. Ideally, the first flush in this regards is shincha.
Looking deeper into the background of Bancha, this Japanese tea is harvested from the same tree as that which produces sencha only that bancha is plucked later than sencha. Also, bancha is cultivated from the lower shoots of the tree.
From the economic aspect, this plucking interval drops its market grade. Therefore bancha sits at the bottom of the list when rating the various grades of Japanese green tea. However, the flavor of bancha is uncommon and comes with this concentrated organic straw smell.
Moving over to the bancha leaves themselves, they come at a larger size. Aside from this increased size, they have more coarseness. Therefore bancha tends to be cheaper than other Japanese tea. In fact, while bancha is quite close in resemblance to sencha, you can readily tell sencha from bancha simply on the basis of price.
If it is costlier, it is more likely sencha. Nonetheless, in the scenario where the price is ridiculously cheap (when compared to the normal average), chances are high that you have bancha on your hand.
Most Popular Japanese Tea Brands
Fukujuen
Fukujuen is one of the biggest Japanese tea brands in the industry. It would baffle you to learn that Fukujuen has been around since 1790 in Kyoto. But this illustrious tea brand didn’t start off by selling Japanese tea at the start. This Japanese tea brand amusingly commenced operations shipping wood. Fukujuen is renowned bottled green tea which it produces in close collaboration with Suntory.
One distinct characteristic in their operation is that they take time to bring out the highest quality of matcha via their famous stone mills. The Uji tea is a product of Fukujuen is well known all over Japan and the world at large. Fukujuen has their tea products spread across all categories from the very affordable tea products to the relatively pricey ones.
Giontsujiri
Giontsujiri is a grand patron in the Japanese tea industry. It is therefore not surprising to find it mentioned here among the leading Japanese tea brands. Giontsujiri has a major focus on Uji Cha which has famously become synonymous with the brand. While a lot of Japanese tea brands across the years have been diversifying, Giontsujiri has steadfastly built its brand around Uji.
Giontsujiri’s Uji Cha is majorly sourced from southern Kyoto Giontsujiri produces a wide stretch of tea leaves numbering up to 12. Very popular among these is Uji Gyokuro which gets lovers of tea raving about its amazing quality and stunning flavor.
Ochaski
Ochaski is another popular contender among the biggest Japanese tea brands. Ochaski is famed for the uncompromised grade of premium tea it dazzles Japanese tea lovers in Japan and across the world with. Ochaski keeps a strict tradition of sourcing their tea from family-operated tea growers.
Does this sound weird and lovely all in themselves?
When it comes to quality, Ochaski goes the full length leaving no stone unturned as far going to personally investigate the farms the tea are cultivated from. More than the engrossing flavor of Ochaski tea products, this is one Japanese tea brand that also focuses on the health dimension hence Ochaski tea products are notably medicinally valuable.
Aikokuseicha
We can’t be talking about the biggest Japanese tea brands if we forget to mention Aikokuseicha. This is by right one of the most reputable Japanese green tea brands in the tea industry. Aikokuseicha has a larger bulk of its operational base situated in Shinjuku.
Aikokuseicha came into existence since 1933 founded by the renowned Jyotaro Baba. Jyotaro Baba is famed for his contribution to the magnanimous success of the Keio University especially from his capacity as a Confucius expert to establishing Keio University.
In 1941, Jyotaro Baba ramped up the manufacturing scale of Aikokuseicha launching the tea brand into the wholesale tea business. It would interest you to know that Aikokuseicha’s first line of customers was the imperial Japanese army especially the Manchurian officers having easily won over the Royal family into its loyal customer base.
To this day, Aikokuseicha stands out for its awesome organic tea as well as its beloved Shizuoka-produced tea leaves. The latter has landed the Imperial Award.
IPPODO
We will be rounding the list of top Japanese tea brands by mentioning the Ippodo tea brand. One of oldest to say, Ippodo started off since far back 1846 on Teramachi Street in the famous Japanese tea town of Kyoto. The very name itself Ippodo was given to the brand by Prince Yamashina.
Having consolidated its place at the summit of Japanese tea brand across three centuries, you will understand that the Ippodo tea brand has gigantic fame spreading through Japan and the United States. Ippodo’s Uji green tea is rightly a household name across Japan.
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