🇯🇵 Teas from Japan
Renowned for steamed green teas with umami depth, from ceremonial matcha to shade-grown gyokuro.
Types grown: Green Tea (21), Black Tea (1), Dark Tea (2).
Regions of Japan
All Japan teas
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Sencha
Japan's most popular everyday green tea, steamed to preserve its vibrant color and fresh vegetal flavor.
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Matcha
Stone-ground shade-grown tea powder used in Japanese tea ceremony. Rich in L-theanine and antioxidants.
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Gyokuro
Japan's most prized green tea, shade-grown for 20+ days to intensify amino acids and reduce bitterness.
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Bancha
A humble everyday Japanese tea made from later harvests, lower in caffeine with a gentle, approachable flavor.
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Hojicha
Roasted Japanese green tea with a warm, toasty character. Low in caffeine, perfect for evenings.
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Genmaicha
Green tea blended with roasted brown rice, creating a comforting, popcorn-like aroma.
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Kabusecha
A semi-shaded Japanese green tea bridging the gap between sencha and gyokuro, with enhanced sweetness.
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Kukicha
Japanese twig tea made from stems and stalks, offering a uniquely nutty, creamy flavor with very low caffeine.
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Shincha
The prized first-harvest Japanese green tea of spring, celebrated for its exceptional freshness and vivid flavor.
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Tamaryokucha
Japan's rare pan-fired (kamairi) green tea - the only Japanese green tea not steamed, showing Chinese processing influence.
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Fukamushi Sencha
Deep-steamed sencha - steamed 2–3x longer than regular sencha for a richer, more intense, vibrant green cup.
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Gyokuro Karigane
Premium twig tea from gyokuro offcuts - shade-grown umami intensity in a lighter, sweeter format.
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Tencha
Matcha's parent leaf brewed whole - shade-grown and de-stemmed but unground, revealing a unique delicate umami.
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Konacha
Fine tea particles from sencha and gyokuro production - the bold, fast-brewing tea served at sushi restaurants.
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Aracha
Unfinished 'crude tea' - the raw, unsorted product before refining. A farmer's tea prized by purists for its bold character.
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Kamairicha
Japan's rarest green tea style - pan-fired like Chinese greens instead of steamed, producing a uniquely clean, nutty character found almost exclusively in northern Kyushu.
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Yame Gyokuro
The crown jewel of Japanese tea - Yame in Fukuoka produces Japan's most awarded gyokuro, with unrivaled umami depth from traditional shelf-shading (tana).
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Sayama Kaori
A fragrant cultivar from Saitama's Sayama region - one of Japan's northernmost tea areas, known for its distinctive fire-finishing technique (Sayama-bi).
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Asatsuyu
The 'natural gyokuro' - Asatsuyu cultivar produces extraordinary umami without shade-growing. Thick, sweet, and intensely savory from Kagoshima's volcanic soils.
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Benifuuki
A Japanese cultivar originally bred for black tea, now prized as green tea for its high methylated catechin content - studied for anti-allergy benefits.
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Wakocha
Japanese-style black tea - delicate, aromatic, and sweet compared to robust Indian/Chinese blacks. A growing artisan movement using Japanese cultivars.
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Goishicha
One of only two truly fermented teas in Japan - a rare Shikoku heirloom that undergoes both mold and lactic acid fermentation, producing a uniquely sour, probiotic-rich tea.
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Awa Bancha
Tokushima's lactic-fermented tea - made from mature summer leaves that undergo anaerobic fermentation. Light, slightly sour, and deeply traditional.
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Sunrouge
A vivid purple-red Japanese tea cultivar bred for its extraordinary anthocyanin content - brews a striking pink-red liquor with berry-like tartness.