Rishi Organic Sencha
If you happen to be visiting any household in Japan, chances are that you will be served with green tea sencha. Being the most popular green tea in Japan, it accounts for as much as 75% of the tea produced in the country. This is one beverage that you can drink not only at tea time or after a meal but practically at any time throughout the day. It is also a tea for all seasons – you can drink it pipping hot during the deep cold of winter or as iced green tea in the scorching heat of summer.
Green tea sencha on Amazon.com
Amazon.com has in store a number of good quality sencha green tea. I list some of them here since they have the best customers’ reviews and ratings so that you check them out at Amazon.
SA Japanese Green Tea Sen Cha Tea, Loose Leaf
Two Leaves and a Bud Organic Orange Sencha Green Tea, Loose
The flavor of sencha
Sencha is easily recognizable by its appearance as the tea leaves are rolled into needle-looking shapes and the smell is refreshingly fragrant. It is yellowish-green in color though it partakes more of a greenish hue as compared to most Chinese green teas. Its taste is sweet but is more bitter than most Chinese green teas. It is mildly astringent and its caffeine content is moderately high.
Now, taste in tea is a personal thing. Whilst there are some tea drinkers who particularly like the delicious bitter taste in their tea which come from the catechins polyphenols, there are others who don’t. Here, we are not talking about the bitterness that result from over steeping the tea. But, if you don’t like it bitter, you may like to try orange flavored sencha green tea which will mask some of that bitter taste. This is a product by Two Leaves and a Bud which I have listed above. It is also very popular in making it into an iced green tea.
Drinking Sencha with food
Practically, it goes well with most foods, even the spicy ones. I have even heard of people drinking it with chocolate. Ordinarily, if you are drinking it during your tea time with cookies and biscuits, choose those which are not too sweet since there’s already some sweetness in the tea. Another thing you may like to do is to take at least the first few sips of the tea first without the cookies so that you can savor its full flavor. But, one delight which I indulge in once in a while is to enjoy my Sencha with seafood – grilled fish being my favorite.
The health benefits of Sencha
Sencha is rich in green tea vitamins or more accurately the antioxidants known as polyphenols catechins to which most of the health benefits of green tea are attributed. This is because it is fully exposed to the sun throughout its growing season and not under the shade before the harvest which may to some extent reduce the content of the polyphenol catechins. Unlike Chinese green tea which are pan fired, after the harvesting of sencha they are processed by steaming to stop the oxidation which preserves it antioxidant content.
Check out more on Sencha on Amazon
Brewing your sencha
The sencha product you buy would normally come with brewing instructions which would be best for you to follow. But, sometimes you might just like to experiment till you find the taste that you personally like best. Here are some hassle-free tips on making your hot and iced sencha.
I am pretty sure that you must have heard that the best kind of water in making tea is spring water. But in case it is not available, then the next best alternative is to use filtered tap water so that the flavor will not be too compromised. Most carbon filters can substantially remove the taste of chlorine in the water.
Generally, the recommended water temperature for brewing sencha is between 160F to 180F. Again, the specific product you purchase would have its own recommended temperature. The Rishi Tea sencha product, for example recommends a temperature of 180F. You can use a thermometer if you like. But a quick rule of thump you might want to try is simply to wait 3 minutes after the water has boiled before poring it over your sencha tea leaves.
Another thing to take note of is check the product instructions to see how many teaspoon or tablespoon of the tea leaves to add to how many ounces of hot water. The Rishi Tea sencha product recommends 1 tablespoon per 8 ounces of hot water. The SA Japanese green tea sencha product recommends adding 2 – 3 teaspoon to a 12-ounce teapot.
And take particular note of the steeping time. Now, this is important because you wouldn’t want to over steep your sencha lest it gets more bitter.
It is even easier to make iced sencha tea. Just remember to add in more tea leaves when you pour hot water over it in the usual way. Let the brew cool a little before poring it over ice. That’s it – simple, wasn’t it.
Ready for a cup of green tea sencha, click here to check them out on Amazon.
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