Okay, Sencha is...

[omegapd]

Hey All,

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but sencha is sort of an "everyday" tea in Japan, right? What do you call an everyday tea from China?

Still a green newbie,

EW

[chrl42]

Chinese teas have many grades. So one can witness Long Jing or Biluochun in every corner of street but to be sure their teas are drinkable should be questioned.
Chinese teas are produced in South of China. And for greens, Zhejiang province alone produces half of Chinese greens, and most of em are labelled as Long Jing but does not mean they are produced around West Lake.
So one can assume what can call everyday Chinese green or oolong is left-overs after doing many times of grading.

[devites]

Yeah Bi luo chun is what they drink everyday. My dad brought back some from China, and he said it was only 4 dollars for around 1/2 lb.

[bambooforest]

Sencha has many grades. So whether a particular sencha can be considered "every day" or not depends on the specific sencha you would be referring to.

Sencha varies in flavor depending on where in Japan it was harvested, and how the tea masters processed it. No different than how Chinese green teas taste different from one another.

Sencha is grown in full sunlight. Gyokuro is shade grown for a few weeks. These different methods of farming alter the flavor profile of the tea.

[omegapd]

Sencha has many grades. So whether a particular sencha can be considered "every day" or not depends on the specific sencha you would be referring to.

Thank you all for the replies.

Bamboo, I got the translation of Sencha from the Adagio website. They say it means "common". That's where I got the idea it was an everyday type tea.

Again, Thanks.

EW

[Beidao]

I've learnt that earlier on, Bancha was everyday tea, but now Sencha is everyday tea. Don't now if it's true.

[joelbct]

Okay, Sencha is...

...awesome.

There are ~5 major strains of tea plant grown in Japan (Yutaka Midori, Kanaya Midori, Sanaya Kaori, Oku Midori, and Yabukita (accounts for most of the tea, is very hardy but not necessarily the best strain). A note, "midori" is Japanese for "green."

There is a large taste difference btwn fresh, high-quality sencha and stale, low-quality, improperly-stored sencha. I am not an expert, but I would recommend you try Ito En or O-cha for sencha.

Good luck!

[olivierco]

[Mary R]

The graph that speaks a thousand words...

[chamekke]

I'm struck by the relatively high proportion of Tamaryokucha (a.k.a. guricha).

Does anyone here drink that?

[scruffmcgruff]

I'm struck by the relatively high proportion of Tamaryokucha (a.k.a. guricha).

Does anyone here drink that?

Some of us do, thanks to a mini-craze started by Wesli. I'm not a huge fan, but it's alright.

[Pentox]

I'm struck by the relatively high proportion of Tamaryokucha (a.k.a. guricha).

Does anyone here drink that?

I'm not a fan of it either. I found it a good home here though.

[chamekke]

So what does Tamaryokucha (a.k.a. guricha) actually taste like?

I did a TeaChat search, but almost all the guricha mentions are buried somewhere in daily TeaChat polls. All the other discussions are about where to buy it, but none of them includes a review (beyond the "I like it" or "I don't care for it" sort of statement).

[Beidao]

http://thegreenteareview.blogspot.com/2 ... kucha.html

http://thegreenteareview.blogspot.com/2 ... kucha.html

[bambooforest]

I'm struck by the relatively high proportion of Tamaryokucha (a.k.a. guricha).

Does anyone here drink that?

I haven't had it for a while. I'll buy some soon. Here are two good sources for it:

www.mellowmonk.com (Be sure to inquire what the harvest date is first)

www.denstea.com