Customer Reviews

Green Japanese Sencha Tea, 125g

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I discovered Whittard of Chelsea many years ago on a visit to London, and have since made it a habit to stop by one of their stores whenever I am in Britain. I'm delighted to see, though, that my favorite tea company's products are now also available over the internet.

The Japanese tea tradition began in the 9th century AD (during the Heian Period, 794 - 1192, when the Japanese capital was Heian-kyo, the present-day Kyoto), when Buddhist monks returning from diplomatic missions to China brought back tea, to which their Chinese brethren had introduced them as a means of intensifying alertness during meditation. In those days, tea leaves were steamed, pounded into lumps (dancha) and dried. To make tea, the brown lumps were ground into small particles, then boiled in teapots. 300 years later, a monk named Eisai, the founder of the influential Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism, introduced the processing method used in Chinese Zen temples, which involved the use of powdered green tea (maccha), whisked into hot water. Inspired by Eisai's teachings that tea was a means to ensure longevity, its consumption quickly became popular at court, as well as among the feudal lords (daimyo) and among the newly formed samurai warrior class. With the advent of tea merchants and tea houses between the 14th and 16th century, the custom of drinking tea spread further throughout Japan, even inspiring tea tasting competitions regarding the origin of the served tea in many towns and villages.

Sencha (rolled green tea) and its preparation was introduced into Japan by influential 17th century Chinese monk Yinyuan (Ingen in Japanese), the founder of the Obaku sect of Zen Buddhism. Sencha leaves are processed by steaming, rolling them into needle shapes and drying them in a procedure designed to maintain their green color. This kind of tea eventually became particularly popular among those Japanese writers and artists who admired any and all things Chinese (bunjin), inter alia calligrapher Ike no Taiga (1723-76), scholar and poet Ueda Akinari (1734-1809) and historian and poet Rai San'yo (1781-1832). By the first half of the 19th century (late Edo period, named for the new capital Edo, today's Tokyo), tea masters began to appear and sencha tea ceremony schools gained in importance.

Today, tea is a daily part of Japanese life, with production equally divided between the western island of Kyushu and Shizuoka Prefecture on the central island of Honshu, the home of Mount Fuji. The elaborate Japanese tea ceremony was perfected in the 16th and 17th century, first using powdered green tea (maccha) and later rolled green tea (sencha). Both ceremonies are still practiced today; however, Sencha accounts for about 80% of the tea consumed in modern-day Japan, where it is known as "nichijo-sahan-ji" ("everyday tea meal affair").

In its stores, Whittard sells several kinds of Japanese tea, including, the very delicate Gyokuro and the lightly roasted Hougicha (Hojicha). The variety available here, though, is classic Sencha, with a light, bittersweet taste and a yellowish green color.