GreenCaffeinated

Japanese Sencha

4.8 · 1,910 reviews

Japanese Sencha

Fresh Japanese Sencha tea leaves with brewed green tea in a white cup above. Rich color and aroma.
Green tin of Harney & Sons Japanese Sencha tea sachets, featuring elegant design and detailed product information.
Harney & Sons Fine Teas-Japanese Sencha- Black and Gold Bag of 50 Sachets
Box of Harney & Sons Japanese Sencha green tea, featuring 20 individually wrapped tea sachets.
Box of Japanese Sencha green tea bags, containing 50 individually wrapped bags, 3.1 oz total weight.
Harney & Sons Japanese Sencha green tea box, featuring 20 individually wrapped tea bags, 1.26 oz.
Black packaging of Harney & Sons Japanese Sencha tea, featuring gold accents and a tear-off top.
Black tin container of Harney & Sons Japanese Sencha green tea, labeled for 65-75 cups, 8 oz. size.
Harney & Sons Japanese Sencha green tea tin, 4 oz, labeled for 30-40 cups, elegant black and gold design.
Harney & Sons Japanese Sencha tea packaging, featuring a blue background and gold label design.
A tin of Harney & Sons Japanese Sencha tea stands on a woven table surface, with a teacup, honey pot, and cookies in a real outdoor setting in the background.

Japanese Sencha

The Kaburagiens, a renowned Tokyo family, supplies this vegetal tea.
$ 14.50

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Description

Japanese Sencha is a classic steamed green tea from the Shizuoka province of Japan, the style that fills everyday cups across Tokyo. Ours is fresh and spring grass with light notes of citrus and toasted bread, medium in body for a green, and forgiving enough to drink from morning to afternoon.

We buy it from the Kaburagi family in central Shizuoka and choose leaf from the middle of the season, which keeps it approachable in flavor and in price. Brew it with water off the boil, around 160 degrees, and it stays sweet and clean instead of turning bitter from too many catechins in your cup.

Mike's Rating
3 Briskness
3 Body
3 Aroma
 Details: The Kaburagi family has sold to Americans for over 110 years. They are well known in Tokyo and throughout Japan as a pre-eminent supplier of tea. They supply this pleasant Sencha from central Shizuoka. To keep the price somewhat reasonable, we choose teas from the middle of the season. John Harney drank this tea everyday for over 10 years. He valued the pleasant flavor and the antioxidants.
 Dry Leaves: The leaves from this tea are a medium lime green color. Since this is a traditional sencha (futsumushi), the leaves are more identifiable than in the deep-steamed fukamushi.
 Liquor: The liquor is a medium green, not as intense as the Ichiban. The green is a truer green than the Bancha, which tends more towards yellow.
 Aroma: Our Japanese Sencha has pleasant spinachy notes, with slight roast flavors that are similar to toasted bread.
 Flavors: This is a very pleasant green tea. The mild vegetal flavors with light accents of citrus and toast make this a tea that can handle all your moods, every day.
 Caffeine Level: Caffeinated
 Body: Medium-bodied. As a mid-season Sencha, this green tea has good levels of amino acids and more body than most green teas.
 Brewing Time: 2 to 3 minutes
 Brewing Temp: 160º

Ingredients
Green tea.

Packaging Types

Loose Tea: Bulk whole or broken leaves

Tea Bags: Finely cut tea in paper bags

Sachets: Whole-leaf tea in mesh bags

Tea Pods: Single-serve pods for Keurig® brewers

Iced Tea Pouches: Large bags for batches of iced tea

Packaging Types

Loose Tea: Bulk whole or broken leaves

Tea Bags: Finely cut tea in paper bags

Sachets: Whole-leaf tea in mesh bags

Tea Pods: Single-serve pods for Keurig® brewers

Iced Tea Pouches: Large bags for batches of iced tea

At a glance

TypeGreen
Caffeine ContentCaffeinated
FlavorsFresh and spring grass with light citrus and a toasted-bread finish, medium-bodied for a green tea.

Mike Harney's Ratings

Aroma
Body
Briskness

We buy this Sencha from the Kaburagi family in central Shizuoka, who have been supplying tea to Americans for over a hundred years. I choose tea leaves from the middle of the season on purpose, it keeps the price sensible while still giving you the body and quiet sweetness a good Sencha should have.

What Customers Say

4.8 out of 5 · 1,910 reviews

morning ritual cupsmooth, never bittergrassy, umami sipall-day and iced
This has the smooth umami and vegetal taste.
— Jayme
One to two minutes of brewing is just right, making the tea taste delicious.
— Carolyn E.
I keep this on auto ship since we drink it every day.
— Marianne W.

Four Decades of Tradition

In 1983, John Harney set out to make tea an everyday luxury, hand-blending his first teas in the basement of his country inn in Salisbury, Connecticut.
Three generations later, we still follow his one rule: only buy and blend teas that make us smile. Today we blend more than 300 of them from a home base in Millerton, New York, where the third generation is adding blends of its own.

Where John Started His Mornings

Our Sencha comes from central Shizuoka, the heart of Japanese green tea country, grown and finished by the Kaburagi family who have supplied tea to Americans for more than a century. It is a traditional futsumushi Sencha, steamed the standard way rather than deep-steamed, so the leaves stay whole and the cup pours a clean, true green. We buy from the middle of the growing season, which keeps it sweet and approachable in both flavor and price. This is the everyday green John Harney reached for every morning for years, and it still tastes like the reason he did.

Blended in Millerton, poured the world over

How to Enjoy It

Japanese Sencha is more delicate than most black teas, and that is the whole trick to it. Here is how we brew it so it comes out sweet and grassy instead of bitter.

Water

Start with fresh spring or filtered water. It's nearly everything in the cup, and even a tea this bold takes on whatever's in the tap.

Hot

With its green tea base, you'll want water just off the boil, around 160ºF. Steep 2 to 3 minutes so the grassy sweetness and light citrus have room to come forward.

  • 1 sachet per 12 oz mug
  • 1 teabag per 8 oz cup
  • 1 teaspoon loose (2.5 g) per 8 oz cup

Iced

Brew it double strength, twice the tea for the same water at 160 degrees, then pour straight over a tall glass of ice. It stays clean and grassy as it dilutes instead of thinning into water.

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Common questions

How do I brew Japanese Sencha?
Use water around 160 degrees, well off the boil, and steep 2 to 3 minutes. Cooler water is the key, since water at a full boil is what turns green tea bitter from too many catechins in your cup.

Does Japanese Sencha have caffeine?
Yes, it is a caffeinated green tea. It tends to feel gentler in the cup than a black tea, which is part of why it works all day.

Should I add milk to Sencha?
We drink it plain. The delicate flavor is the whole point, and milk would cover it up. Although there is a book about Japanese teas sold to the US a century ago: Green with Milk & Sugar. I guess we used to add them to Japanese teas.

Loose leaf or sachets?
Both give you the same tea. Loose leaf lets the whole leaves open up in the pot, while sachets are the easy choice for the office or travel.

Is there an organic or decaf version?
Yes. We make an Organic Sencha and a Decaf Sencha if you would rather have one of those.

Can I make iced Sencha?
You can. Brew it double strength with cool water, then pour it over a tall glass of ice. It holds its fresh, grassy flavor as it dilutes.

What does Japanese Sencha taste like?
Fresh and spring grass with light citrus and a hint of toasted bread, medium-bodied and clean for a green tea.