Collection: Green Tea 緑茶

What Makes a Tea Green

Green tea is tea whose enzymes are stopped straight after plucking, either by steaming or by pan firing, so that the leaf never oxidises. That single step — sha qing, the fixing of the leaf — is the largest difference between green tea and white, oolong or black tea.

Steamed or Pan Fired

Japanese green tea is mostly steamed, which gives a fresh green aroma and a thicker body. Chinese green tea is mostly pan fired, which brings out a toasty note and a lighter mouthfeel. The leaf may be the same; the method sends the flavour in a different direction.

How We Choose Green Tea

We judge green tea on body and finish rather than on theanine content. Raising the amino acid level in a leaf requires nitrogen fertiliser, and a bush given nitrogen produces less catechin and fewer minerals, which flattens the depth of the taste. Leaves grown with no fertiliser, or with very little, hold more minerals and leave a finish that stays after the cup is down.

What We Carry

From Japan: Asahina gyokuro and Hon Yama Hebizuka sencha from Shizuoka, naturally grown sencha from Tsukigase and Tsuge in Nara, and sencha from Jubu Mountain in Kyoto. From China: Xi Hu Long Jing, Tai Ping Hou Kui, Bi Luo Chun and Meng Ding Gan Lu. We also make our own pan fired green tea from naturally grown old trees in Yunnan.