Sencha Tea Benefits - 5 Benefits of Sencha

There are many different reasons to drink sencha green tea, but in this video we're going to cover five specifically. Sencha is the most popular type of tea consumed in Japan and it spans across a broad category. Different sencha teas look different, taste different, and are created in different ways. In this video we're going to learn a little bit about sencha green tea and why you might want to consider adding it to your daily routine. When people consider drinking a new tea or coffee, the first thing they tend to think about is the caffeine content of the drink. This can determine what time of day you drink it and how much of it you're able to have. In the case of sencha, it contains about half the caffeine as a cup of coffee. This makes it a more sensible choice for people who are more sensitive to caffeine and for people who are looking for a nice hot beverage to enjoy later on in the day. In addition to caffeine, sencha also has L-theanine, an amino acid that can buffer some of the negative effects of caffeine. That means that instead of having a jolt of energy and then crashing later on in the day, you may notice a longer lasting, calm, alert energy throughout the day. Many of our customers like to drink green tea during long periods of work or study because they don't get a crash right after drinking it. The caffeine content can vary from tea to tea and more premium sencha teas will tend to have more caffeine. That's because they're made from the younger sprouts of the tea plant and they come from the first harvest. Lower quality sencha teas will come from later harvests, older leaves, and contain more stems. This is why tea gets a reputation for being low in caffeine, as most people are used to drinking the tea bag variety tea, which is very low quality. Shaded sencha teas can be even higher in caffeine. During the shading process, the tea plants are put under a lot of stress and they produce caffeine as a defense mechanism to ward off insects. If you're looking for a higher caffeine tea, you can go for a kabusei sencha or even a gyokoro, which will have more caffeine than coffee. Another benefit to sencha green tea is it tends to have a sweeter flavor. As we mentioned before, the green teas that most people are used to are quite bitter and they lack any sort of complex flavor. Premium sencha green tea is very different. The strong, sweet flavor of sencha teas comes not only from the shading process, but also from the steaming process. After the tea leaves are picked, they are almost immediately steamed in order to deactivate the enzymes that cause oxidation. This is what stops the tea from oxidizing and turning into a black tea. This steaming process is unique to Japanese green teas and gives the tea distinct flavors of sweet steamed vegetables. Japanese green teas also tend to be made from younger pickings, which makes the flavor smoother. If you compare a sencha tea to a green tea that comes from a teabag, you will be pleasantly surprised by the difference in flavor. Not only will the taste be smoother and sweeter, you will also find it more complex, with notes of citrus, vegetables, and fruit. A third benefit of sencha is that some of them have this beautiful green color. While most green teas are actually more yellow in color, sencha teas tend to drift off into this yellowish green or even jade green color. This becomes particularly apparent with fukumushi, or deep-steamed teas. Deep-steamed teas are steamed for an extra 30 to 45 seconds, and during that time, the cell membranes of the leaf are broken down, allowing more of it to flow into the cup. When you see these powerful green colors, you know that the tea is a fukumushi. The fukumushi tea has benefits beyond just its green color. The longer steaming process also smooths out the flavor of the tea, giving it these sweeter and even fruity characteristics. The deep-steaming method was an important discovery because it allowed farmers to turn a tea that was slightly more astringent into a smooth, sweet green tea that is enjoyed by people all around Japan. In addition to having more caffeine than a normal green tea, sencha teas also tend to have more nutrients as well. Antioxidants and amino acids are higher in premium sencha green tea because it's made from younger leaves and earlier harvests. The tea plant spends all winter long building up nutrients from the soil, and then it releases them in the fresh sprouts in the springtime. While black teas and oolong teas tend to be made from older, more mature tea leaves, a lot of Japanese green teas are made from the younger sprouts. These sprouts are loaded with nutrients, making sencha a good choice for anyone who is interested in getting the most health benefits out of their green tea. The fifth and final benefit to sencha tea is that they tend to work really well as a cold brew. Cold brewing can be a great way to create a cool, refreshing tea on a hot summer day. After trying the cold brew method with other teas, we have found that Japanese green teas like sencha actually work the best. The cool water extracts less of the bitter components of the tea and more of the sweet or even fruity flavor profiles. The deep-steamed senchas, as we mentioned before, are particularly good for cold brew. With one of our most popular sencha teas, the Fukumushi Yamaga, the cold water brings out more of the lychee berry notes, making it one of the top green teas for cold brew. The best tea for cold brew is likely the shizuku sencha, made by combining sencha leaves with matcha powder. This creates a super cloudy infusion and a strong fruity flavor. To make a cold brew, all you have to do is add 5 to 10 grams of loose leaf tea to a pitcher and then pour in 500 milliliters of room temperature water. You can then let this sit for a few hours or just leave it in the fridge overnight and you'll have a cool, refreshing bottle of cold brewed green tea. This is definitely our go-to drink for the summertime. What's your favorite reason to drink sencha green tea? Please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below. Until then, we'll see you next time.