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| Hojicha- Bancha Japanese Roasted Tea Roasted Japanese (bancha) green tea with an amber colored infusion with a rich nutty flavor. Low in caffeine. Most
Japanese teas are made from well handled leaves and much of their
elegance and style is due to the processing: steaming immediately after
plucking and then air drying. Bancha or Sencha are the everyday green
tea drinks of Japan.
Ban 2 GO is one of the highest grades of Bancha. The leaves to produce
Bancha are generally plucked after the new season and tend to be
somewhat coarser. This however gives the tea its unique character and
visual appearance. Since the leaves used to make Bancha are coarser and
contain some stalks and stems the resulting tea generally contains less
caffeine or tannin then the finer grades of Japanese tea. Also the cup
tends to be somewhat milder. Because of the proceeding factors Bancha is
often give to children.
Japanese
tea gardens look quite different from tea plantations in other parts of
the world. The bushes are cultivated in long rows and trimmed so the
row has the appearance of a long dome. In Shizuoka Prefecture
it is said that the tea gives the impression of smooth waves of green,
undulating over the landscape. This curved form of the tea bush gives
the largest plucking table (the area where the new shoots used in high
quality tea production grow is called the plucking table - not only in Japan
but in other parts of the tea growing world as well). It is on the long
regularly shaped plucking table that the pickers take the leaves and
the new buds. In the early season plucking is only done by hand, but
once the first few weeks pass, mechanical plucking is the preferred
method. The Japanese have been very innovative in this aspect by
developing a curved machine that is hand held but clips the tea bush
with automatic scissors that look like electric hair clippers.
Houjicha
a pan-fried or oven roasted green tea commonly encountered in teashops
throughout Japan. Houjicha is known for very little bitterness and tend
to be aromatic teas as well as being light on the palate and quite
refreshing. Both bancha and Kukicha are used to make houjicha grades.
The tea is fried at high temperature, the leaf colors then change from
green tints to red, and the roasted flavors are extracted and
predominate. Houjicha infusions have a distinctively clear red
appearance (as distinct from hongcha) and are reputedly low in caffeine
as well as catechin antioxidants. |
 Hojicha Two Ounce $8.50 |
 Hojicha Four Ounce $14.50 |
 Hojicha Eight Ounce $24.50 |
 Hojicha One Pound $42.50 |
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