About Ocha

“Ocha” consists of “O” and “Cha,” “O” being a polite prefix showing respect for tea and its recipient, and “Cha” primarily referring to “green tea.” Its meaning is not limited to drinking tea; it is an essential part of Japanese daily life, synonymous with tea ceremonies, taking a short break from work, and spending time with friends.

With high nutritional value, tea was originally consumed as medicine. Later, samurai warriors began to drink it at social gatherings. Through tea ceremony and Zen training, tea became a way to entertain as well as calm the mind.

Japan's beautiful climate, rich soil, abundant water, and sunshine nurture high-quality tea leaves. Farmers produce its taste through careful cultivation, using delicate techniques refined over centuries.

Adapting to the environment and processing methods produce different tastes and aromas. Even those who normally don’t like an astringent taste or powerful aroma can enjoy tea.

What is Japanese tea?

The more you know, the more interesting the world of Japanese tea becomes. We will introduce the basic knowledge of Japanese tea and its main types, touching on each type’s characteristics. We hope you will find this information useful in your selection of ocha.

The history of Japanese tea can be traced back to the Nara period (710-794), when China, known as the birthplace of tea, introduced the culture. The cultivation of tea trees began to flourish around the Kamakura period (1185-1333).

There are two main methods of processing (heating) tea leaves: steaming and frying. Japanese tea is generally used to refer to green tea made by steaming, distinguishing it from green tea made in other countries, which use the frying method (kama-ryori).

Japanese and Chinese teas are made from the same leaves of the tea tree, but the differences in taste, aroma, and color are mostly determined by the way the fermentation process is stopped. With Japanese green tea, also known as "non-fermented tea," fermentation is stopped by steaming or frying the tea leaves. Steaming gives Japanese tea and tea leaves their bright green color.

How Japanese Tea (Sencha) is Made

The process of making Japanese tea does not simply end with plucking and drying the tea leaves, which is called "rough tea.” Tea leaves are plucked, steamed, squeezed, and dried in multiple stages before they are ready to be sold as a product in stores. That tea is called "finished tea," and it is made by further processes such as combining, sorting, and heating the rough tea leaves. The following is a brief description of the process to produce Sencha, the most recognizable Japanese tea.

1. Plucking the Tea Leaves
There are two types of plucking: hand plucking and machine plucking. In Kagoshima, where the latitude is low, the season for picking tea is from March to April, and in Shizuoka, from late April to early May.

2. Steaming
Steaming is the process of stopping the action of oxidizing enzymes in the tea leaves to prevent them from fermenting. Steaming is done within 20 hours after plucking because the tea leaves need to be fresh.

3. Rubbing and Drying
The steamed tea leaves are rubbed to loosen the fibers and to squeeze out the water. They are then dried at a constant temperature to keep the healthy components intact. There are four stages in the rubbing process:

- Rubbed hard with hot air to dry

- Rubbed with force to even out the moisture content

- Squeezed again with hot air to twist the tea

- Rubbed again with hot air to twist

When the tea leaves are dried until they are one-fourth to one-fifth the moisture content of fresh tea leaves, they are called rough tea.

4. Sorting
Rough tea contains stems, powder, and other parts with different aromas, which must be removed by sorting. The size of the tea itself varies from small to large, so it is sifted, cut, and neatly shaped.

5. Firing
The process of drying the tea to bring out its unique flavor and aroma is called "hardening." Depending on the method of heating, the flavor of the same tea can vary greatly. This is where tea wholesalers show their skills.

6. Gogumi
Gougumi is an important process of blending rough teas to provide a stable quantity of products with uniform quality. In addition, carefully identifying and differentiating the characteristics of rough teas of different origins, varieties, steaming conditions, etc., produces a tea with a taste and aroma that cannot be reproduced by a single tea manufacturer. (I don’t understand this sentence.)

7. Packaging and Shipping
After the tea is weighed, it is packaged and shipped to retail stores.

How Matcha is Made

1. Cultivation in a Covered Garden
Tencha (碾茶), the raw material for matcha, is grown in an undergrowth garden where sufficient fertilizer is applied and the shoots, which sprout simultaneously in April, are covered to block sunlight. This allows the flavor components to be retained in the leaves, creating a unique aroma known as the "covered aroma.”

2. Plucking the Tea
The leaves are plucked before they grow too large, after being fully covered for three to four weeks. There are two methods: hand-picking, where only the new shoots are carefully picked, and machine-picking.

3. The Unique Process of Green Tea: Steaming
The plucked shoots are steamed while they are still as fresh as possible to stop oxidation. If the tea is not steamed and is allowed to oxidize, it becomes black tea or oolong tea.

4. In a Brick Tencha Furnace: Firing (drying)
The steamed leaves are dried without rubbing. (If the leaves are dried while being rubbed, they become gyokuro.) The tea produced after the drying process is called "tencha," or "rough tea," which is the raw material for powdered tea when ground in a millstone.

5. Sorting and Selecting
The leaves are sized, and the stems and veins are removed. The selected tencha is then dried again. A small number of old leaves (leaves that are not new shoots) are also removed.

6. Judging the Tea
Tencha is judged by experienced and perceptive experts in a judging room called the inspection room. The graded tea is then blended into a tea with a good balance of flavor and aroma.

7. Storing and Aging
Tencha can be stored in a refrigerator or other low-temperature, dehumidified environment to allow it to mature and develop a rich aroma and mellow flavor. Store it until it is ready to be ground into powdered tea in a stone mortar.

8. Grinding Tencha with a Stone Mortar
Despite all the mechanization, there is no better way to grind tencha than with a stone mortar. However, stone mortars are very delicate to adjust. This adjustment technique results in the smooth, melt-in-your-mouth taste of matcha.

ABOUT OCHA

What is Japanese tea?

How Japanese Tea (Sencha) is Made

How Matcha is Made

Explore Our Ocha

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