Kagoshima Sencha Yabukita Loose Green Tea (Japan) Loose Leaf
Japan is renowned for its elaborate tea ceremony and for producing green tea that changes its taste as it cools. However, Organic Kagoshima Sencha Yabukita isn’t one of them. While Japanese and deserving of a sense of ceremony when it’s brewed, Kagoshima Sencha Yabukita maintains its mild yet stimulating taste at whatever temperature it’s drunk.
Even when it is brewed for the first time, Kagoshima Sencha Yabukita doesn’t have any astringency and has a smooth body. Its deliciously sweet aftertaste also lingers, inviting you to take another sip. The second time Kagoshima Sencha Yabukita is brewed it continues to offer a full bodied and satisfyingly refreshing cup of tea.
After the leaves are harvested they are only lightly steamed. This enables Kagoshima Sencha Yabukita’s green leaves to retain their low levels of caffeine and high levels of antioxidants. Used as a herbal remedy for centuries, green tea has been proven in studies to offer many medicinal benefits. This includes lowering levels of cholesterol in the blood, reducing stress and helping aid the digestion of food.
Whether or not you choose to perform a ceremony when serving this authentic Japanese tea, Kagoshima Yabukita can be drunk on its own, when your taste buds and mind are in need of some inspiration, or by brewing a pot and sharing with friends.
Bancha Green Tea (Japan) Loose Leaf
Japanese Bancha tea is harvested from the same tree as the popular Sencha family of teas. However, the leaves for Bancha tea are harvested later, towards the start of autumn and almost up until winter when the leaves are larger. This is known as the ‘second flush’ of harvesting. Due to the fact that they are picked later in the year, Bancha tea is ranked at a lower grade than traditional Sencha tea. The advantage of this is that it makes Organic Bancha tea much more affordable.
Organic Bancha’s relatively low price point makes it a good Japanese green tea for everyday drinking, particularly if you tend to drink three or more cups a day. Because the leaves are picked later in the year they tend to give Bancha a fuller bodied flavour and aroma then you’d normally expect in a green tea. However, Bancha tea remains low in caffeine and a popular tea to have at mealtimes.
Highly refreshing and packed with antioxidants, Bancha is an excellent choice if you want to upgrade your tea drinking to several cups of Japanese tea every day and need a more affordable option than traditional Sencha based tea.
Matcha Premium Green Tea (Japan) Loose Leaf
The ancient city of Kyoto in Japan is where the country’s revered tea ceremony was born. It’s natural that the birthplace of Japanese tea culture is also the home of one of its most prized tea leaves – the Matcha tea leaf. This high grade tea leaf is grown and harvested exclusively in the Uji hills surrounding the proud city.
Specifically, it is close to the river that the tea plants are grown. This is due to the higher fertility of the soil. Packed with nutrients and moisture flowing down from the hills, it’s believed that it’s this special soil that gives Matcha tea leaves their signature deep and mellow taste.
Before they are harvested, our Matcha tea leaves are allowed to grow in the shade for up to 30 days. Upon being plucked, they are immediately steamed and dried to ensure the flavour is preserved on its journey to your tea cup or tea pot.
The special conditions and techniques used in the growth of Matcha tea leaves give it a deep taste and wonderfully silky and noble aroma. When comparing Matcha tea leaves, it is noted that as one moves up the scale toward the top grade the colour becomes a brighter shade of green, with an enriched mellow and smoother taste to match.
Matcha Super Premium Green Tea (Japan) Loose Leaf
If you think you’ve already tried the best teas Japan has to offer, we recommend you try our special Macha Super Premium tea blend. Matcha Super Premium is renowned for being among the highest quality tea leaves produced in Japan.
Grown close to the river near the ancient city of Kyoto, where the tea ceremony and Japanese tea culture originated, every tea bush is grown in highly fertile soil in the shade of the traditional ‘Tana’ canopy. What’s more, Matcha Super Premium tea is left to grow in the shade for up to 30 days before it is picked by highly skilled farmers. Every leaf is carefully selected to ensure that every cup of Matcha Super Premium is deserving of being regarded among the finest teas Japan produces.
Matcha Super Premium tea leaves are in high demand throughout the world, and hence we only ever have a limited supply. The reason for its popularity isn’t due to its scarcity and sense of exclusivity though, but because of its sweet, fruity, fresh and deliciously intense taste. This exquisite taste makes it an experience you’ll never forget and our Matcha Super Premium tea is for the true tea connoisseur, surpassing every other variety of this exclusively harvested type of tea.
So if you think you’ve explored all that the exotic world of Japanese tea has to offer, we highly recommend indulging in a cup of Macha Super Premium tea.
Kabusecha Sencha Green Tea (Japan) Loose Leaf
The harvesting process for Kabusecha Green tea is rather unique. Like all teas, the leaves are left to grow in natural sunlight. Then 2-3 weeks before they’re harvested the tea plants are covered with huge black sheets to block around half of the sunlight, hence the name Kabusecha which literally means ‘covered tea’. The reason for this is to bring out the tea’s highly sweet taste and remove any hint of bitterness. This has led to comparisons with Japanese Gyokuro tea, both in terms of taste and the emerald green colour of the leaves.
Kabusecha Green Tea is a very sweet tea, without the astringent taste of many traditional Sencha infused brews. Its colour is also a delightful shade of green, which helps it stand out from the typically cloudy colour you’ll see in most tea cups. If you invite friends to share a pot of Kabusecha Green Tea they’re certain to comment on its distinctive colour, along with it’s taste which features hints of honey and a soothing aroma.
Being a green tea, Japanese Kabusecha Green Tea has many health benefits. Studies have shown that drinking green teas, like Kabusecha, can help to relieve anxiety and stress, lower cholesterol, improve digestion and even help to improve dental health.
Genmaicha Matchi Iri Green Tea (Japan) Loose Leaf
Combining Matcha, puffed brown rice and Sencha, our Genmaicha Matcha-iri tea provides an exquisitely delicious and smooth cup of tea that’s full of flavour. After just one sip you’ll notice how the Matcha and Sencha combine to create a fresh and calming aroma with a mellow taste to match. If you’ve never experienced Japanese tea before, Genmaicha Matcha-iri tea’s calming, mellow taste makes it a great introduction.
Typically you’ll find that Genmaicha Matcha-iri tea comprises of a mixture of rice grains combined with low grade leaves from multiple harvests, namely Sanbancha, Nibancha and Sencha. Our own particular blend of Genmaicha Matcha-iri, however, uses only Ichibancha leaves from the year’s first harvest. We chose this leaf specifically for its rich flavour taste, which we found to be smoother than any of the other harvested tea blends.
We believe that tea should always taste as though the leaves were just plucked from the bush. So we supply our Genmaicha Matcha-iri tea in specially designed pyramid shaped bags to preserve the taste and flavour of this luxuriant tea leaf. Along with producing a rich flavour, our tea bags also brew quickly, whether on their own in a tea cup or in a teapot when sharing this delightful Japanese tea with friends.
So if you think you’ve explored all that the exotic world of Japanese tea has to offer, we highly recommend indulging in a cup of Genmaicha Matcha-iri.
Genmaicha Green Tea (Japan) Loose Leaf
Mellow and soothing with the freshness of other Sencha green teas, Genmaicha green tea has been beloved by green tea drinkers in Japan for centuries, and its popularity is now spreading across the world. If you want to enjoy a reasonably priced Sencha green tea, then Genmaicha green tea is a great option.
Typically, Genmaicha green tea is created through mixing together brown puffed rice with Sencha tea leaves, either from the second harvest, Nibancha, or the third harvest, Sanbancha. Our Genmaicha green tea, however, comes from the first harvest of the year, Ichibancha. This provides our Genmaicha green tea with a wonderfully roasted blend that’s richer and more full bodied than typical Genmaicha green teas.
As with other Sencha teas, the leaves for Genmaicha green tea are grown in the fertile soils and sunlit plains of Kyoto. This city is the birthplace of Japanese tea culture, making our Genmaicha green tea as authentic as it comes and a great starting point for embarking on an exploration of the world of Japanese tea.
Being a green tea, Genmaicha offers many health benefits. In fact, studies have found that drinking green tea every day can help to lower cholesterol, relieve anxiety and stress and even assist with weight loss. So along with the delicious taste, you gain benefits for your mind, body and soul in every cup.
Houjicha Bancha Green Tea (Japan) Loose Leaf
This lose Japanese tea has been carefully roasted soon after it was plucked to help release the sweet flavour and to provide a warm woody aroma, with hints of lightly toasted fruit, vanilla and blackberry jam. After brewing a cup of Houjicha bancha green tea, you can look forward to an adventure for your nose as much as your taste buds.
Like other traditional Japanese green teas, Houjicha bancha green tea is low in caffeine and offers many health boosting qualities. This includes lowering of cholesterol, improvements to the teeth and lower blood pressure. It also has exceptional thirst quenching qualities to be savoured and enjoyed with every cup.
As its low in caffeine, Houjicha bancha green tea is ideal for drinking in the evenings. It’s the perfect accompaniment to a grilled fish dinner or with slices of French camembert cheese shared with friends, who are certain to comment on its rich and varied aroma.
Houjicha bancha green is supplied as loose tea that’s been carefully packaged to ensure the taste and flavour remains intact on its long journey from the Far East. After opening the bag, all you need to do is add it to a cup or teapot of near boiling water and wait patiently for it to brew.
Sencha Karigane Loose Green Tea (Japan) Loose Leaf
If you want to enjoy a delicious cup of Japanese tea and are looking for a more cost effective option than premium Sencha tea, than our range of Sencha Karigane tea bags offer a deliciously sweet tasting cup of tea harvested with care in the land of the rising sun.
If you find that standard Japanese Sencha tea is too bitter for your taste buds, then you should try a sweeter tasting cup of our Sencha Karigane tea. This is manufactured from either parts of high grade Gyokuro or from Karigane, which comprises of a combination of leaves, stems and powder harvested from high quality Sencha plants. As it’s not made exclusively from a single tea leaf, Sencha Karigane offers excellent value for money while also offering a superior flavour and aroma to other tea leaves in the same price bracket.
Both Gyokuro and Sencha tea leaves are grown in defused sunlight for between 20 and 30 days before they are harvested. This extended exposure to sunlight means that our Sencha Karigane teas are richer in teanin than many other types of green tea, giving Sencha Karigane its signature sweet flavour.
Kukicha Green Tea (Japan) Loose Leaf
Kukicha tea is fondly nicknamed ‘twig tea’ for its distinctive appearance. Pronounced Ku-key-cha, this tea is made up of tea leaves mixed with young tea plant stems. So when buying a packet of Kukicha you will discover that it contains both medium-green and yellow pieces of tea plant. Kukicha green tea is a delightful Japanese tea for sharing a pot with friends or a relaxing cup on your own.
Kukicha is regarded as one of the freshest tasting Japanese green teas, with a slightly bitter taste. When added to a teapot or cup with near boiling water, Kukicha then takes on a pale green-yellow colour and sweet scented fragrance. Another key characteristic of Kukicha green tea is that it is not roasted after it is harvested, but merely steamed. If you prefer roasted tea, WellTea supplies lots of roasted varieties of Japanese green tea, offering more woody tones of honey and grain.
Like our other green teas, Kukicha is packed with anti-oxidants offering a wealth of health benefits, including reducing cholesterol, the lowering of stress and anxiety and assisting weight loss by burning fat. With so many health benefits, partnered with its refreshing flavour, Kukicha offers an excellent option for upgrading your tea drinking tastes and exploring what the world of Japanese tea has to offer.
Sencha Green Tea (Japan) Loose Leaf
Long before a Briton supped their first cup, drinking tea was an established part of Japanese culture. This tradition continues unabated today, with Sencha the most popular types of tea to choose from in the Orient. Its popularity is a true reflection of the tea’s quality and its sophisticated full bodied flavour. Partnering the deliciously fresh aroma, you’ll be delighted by its emerald green colour in your cup.
Sencha can only be picked at certain times of year. The leaves aren’t normally ready for harvesting in the first pick of the year, known as Ichibancha. Instead, our Sencha tea is harvested when the tea trees have only three sprouts, which is believed by generations of Japanese tea farmers to be the time when the leaves will produce Sencha tea with the most potent, fresh and relaxing aroma and taste.
This is high qulity Sencha green tea from Japan. Sencha is highly valued as a luxury tea and used in Japanese tea ceremonies marking important family events. Japan produces some of the best green teas in the world.
Sencha Premium Green Tea (Japan) Loose Leaf
Long before a Briton supped their first cup, drinking tea was an established part of Japanese culture. This tradition continues unabated today, with Sencha the most popular types of tea to choose from in the Orient. Its popularity is a true reflection of the tea’s quality and its sophisticated full bodied flavour. Partnering the deliciously fresh aroma, you’ll be delighted by its emerald green colour in your cup.
Our Sencha Premium tea is grown at Ujitawara, a region renowned for producing some of the highest grade Sencha tea leaves. Surrounded by mountain ravines and misty, sloping hills, the region’s soil is packed with nutrients, providing the perfect agricultural conditions for growing this popular Japanese tea. Grown in sunlight, the leaves have a yellowish green colour when harvested. This belays its nutritional value, however, with our Sencha Premium tea containing more catechin nutrients than other type of green tea.
Sencha Premium can only be picked at certain times of year. The leaves aren’t normally ready for harvesting in the first pick of the year, known as Ichibancha. Instead, our Sencha Premium tea is harvested when the tea trees have only three sprouts, which is believed by generations of Japanese tea farmers to be the time when the leaves will produce Sencha Premium tea with the most potent, fresh and relaxing aroma and taste.
Sencha Kagoshima Light Steamed Asanoka Green Tea (Japan) Loose Leaf
Cultivated in Japan, Kagoshima Light Steamed Asanoka green tea is renowned for its full bodied and distinctive flavour known as ‘unami’ which appeals particularly well to tea connoisseurs. The flavour of Kagoshima Light Steamed Asanoka green tea is easily recognisable to experienced drinkers of Japanese green tea, with its distinctively sweet tones and aroma particularly potent in this type of tea.
If you’re just getting started in your exploration of Japanese green tea, the first cup Kagoshima Light Steamed Asanoka green tea might taste rather strong. However, you’ll notice that the puckering sensation, known as astringency, vanishes on the second steeping of Kagoshima Light Steamed Asanoka. You’ll then find that each additional cup to be pleasantly mild while being imbued with the same hint of sweetness and distinctive warmness of Kagoshima Light Steamed Asanoka tea.
During preparation of Kagoshima Light Steamed Asanoka, the bright emerald coloured leaves are rolled into thin tube like shapes. These resemble long pine needles similar to those of high quality Gyokuro. In fact, the process of preparing Kagoshima Light Steamed Asanoka is very similar to that of Gyokuro. However, the aroma, taste and soothing sensation that develops with each steeping is distinctly Kagoshima Light Steamed Asanoka.
Miyazaki Sencha Green Tea (Japan) Loose Leaf
Miyazaki Sencha tea comes from Japan’s fourth largest tea-producing region. The reasonably priced Miyazaki Sencha is similar to a medium steamed Sencha tea but without the price tag. This makes it an excellent choice if you want to indulge in drinking Japanese tea throughout the tea and premium Japanese teas are outside your price range.
The leaves of Miyazaki Sencha can look as though they weren’t harvested until autumn, due to their rustic look. However, when added to a cup with warm water, their mellow yet slightly fruity aroma is released. You can then sit back, close your eyes and bask in the sweet scents and tastes, picturing yourself enjoying a cup of fresh tea at the beautiful plantation where Miyazaki Sencha is cultivated.
Along with its appearance, Miyazaki Sencha is renowned for its signature aftertaste which lingers in the mouth for a long time after finishing your first cup. It’s this lingering flavour which means that one cup is rarely enough, with your desire to resample the fruity flavour, imbued with hints of peach or apricot, over and over again.
Combining a delightfully sweet taste and even sweeter price tag, Miyazaki Sencha offers a refreshing and affordable way of enjoying Japanese tea as part of your daily routine.
Gyokuro Sencha Green Tea (Japan) Loose Leaf
Our Gyokuro represents the pinnacle of Japanese green tea. It is shaded prior to harvesting, which stresses the tea plant, resulting in a higher chlorophyll content. In the cup, this creates a fuller body and bolder vegetal quality. In addition, the light green infusion exhibits a sweet and nutty flavor that is smoother and less bitter than our Sencha. As is customary with most Japanese teas, our Gyokuro exhibits mixed grading consisting of both small and larger leaf pieces and very fine particles to create a full and brothy cup that, according to Japanese tea culture, creates a harmonious infusion revealing the full breadth of the leaf.
Part of Gyokuro’s revered reputation and uniquely smooth and characteristically sweet taste comes from the unique methods with which it is harvested. The young bushes from which the leaves are plucked are kept in the shade from the sun with dark straw mats. At the end of 20 to 30 days the leaves are then plucked using the “Tana" method, requiring great care and expert technique. After they are hand picked, the leaves are then steamed lightly before being rolled, twisted and dried.
The process for making Gyokuro tea is the opposite of Japan’s other popular type of tea, Sencha, which is left exposed in the sunlight. Shading the tea plants helps to turn Gyokuro leaves a vivid, chlorophyll-rich green and is what gives the tea produced an elegant sweet flavour.
Gyokuro Sencha Premium Green Tea (Japan) Loose Leaf
Gyokuro Premium is regarded as one of the highest quality green teas produced in Japan, which is high praise indeed coming from the birthplace of tea culture. Cultivated almost exclusively in the fields of Uji in Japan’s ancient capital of Kyoto, Gyokuro green tea is one of Japan’s finest grades of green tea.
Part of Gyokuro’s revered reputation and uniquely smooth and characteristically sweet taste comes from the unique methods with which it is harvested. The young bushes from which the leaves are plucked are kept in the shade from the sun with dark straw mats. At the end of 20 to 30 days the leaves are then plucked using the “Tana" method, requiring great care and expert technique. After they are hand picked, the leaves are then steamed lightly before being rolled, twisted and dried.
The process for making Gyokuro Premium tea is the opposite of Japan’s other popular type of tea, Sencha, which is left exposed in the sunlight. Shading the tea plants helps to turn Gyokuro leaves a vivid, chlorophyll-rich green and is what gives the tea produced an elegant sweet flavour.
Gyokuro Premium tea is regarded as a very exclusive and luxurious type of tea. Its reputation also comes from its elegant aroma, sweet taste, and light green colour. This combination makes it the perfect Japanese green tea for sharing with friends and watching their faces light up after sampling a cup.
Gyokuro Kerigane Green Tea (Japan) Loose Leaf
Gyokuro Kerigane green tea offers the deliciously luxuriant aroma and taste of a premium Gyokuro tea for a fraction of the cost. This is because Gyokuro Kerigane green tea is made from the stems and veins of the only highest-quality Gyokuro tea leaves, which provides it with a distinctively sweetness of taste.
The reason for the typically high price tag of Gyokuro Kerigane green tea is due to its rarity. This is firstly because there are fewer organic growers of this type of tea in Japan, compared to the more common Sencha tea plant. Secondly, knowing that it is a highly prized type of tea, growers will often choose to share it with their friends and family rather than sell it for profit.
However, Gyokuro Kerigane green tea’s high price isn’t merely due to its rarity. It is also highly sought after for its deliciously sweet aroma and rich levels of teanin. This composition comes as a result of it being grown in the shade for up to 30 days before it is harvested. Gyokuro Kerigane can also be used to manufacture a type of emerald tinged liquor.
While not a difficult tea to brew, there are many different ways of brewing Gyokuro Kerigane at many different temperatures. This variety is another reason for its revered place in Japan’s highly ritualistic tea culture along with its sweet taste.
Houjicha Karigane Green Tea (Japan) Loose Leaf
Houjicha Karigane tea is renowned in Japan for its healing qualities, as well as its taste. It is given to babies and people who are sick to provide them with nourishment and to help them feel relaxed due to its high levels of beneficial catechin, while being low in caffeine due to it being pan-roasted after it is harvested.
Our Houjicha karigane is produced from the stems of high grade tea leave, known as karigane, hence the name. Unlike regular Houjicha, our Houjicha Karigane has a deeply sweet and distinctly roasted flavour. This unique taste is another reason why it stands out from other Japanese green teas.
Another way in which Houjicha karigane is different to regular Houjicha tea is that it is roasted over an extremely low heat in an iron pot. This ensures the heat gets to the core of the tea stem without it being burnt, but rather roasted. As it’s just the stems that are roasted, our Houjicha karigane tea is able to retain its flavour and strong aroma.
While it doesn’t share the same bright emerald colour of other Japanese green teas, the cloudy water colour Houjicha karigane reflects its soothing qualities. A cup of Houjicha Karigane tea will both help you feel relaxed and rejuvenated. You’ll also discover why it’s been used as a naturally grown form of Oriental mood medicine for centuries.
Sencha Fukamushi Green Tea (Japan) Loose Leaf
When tea leaves are harvested in Japan they go through a very precise steaming process to ensure the aroma and flavour can be released when it arrives in your mug or tea pot. Sencha Fukamushi is a Premium tea which goes through a deeper phase of steaming than most other types of tea. This is where it gets its name ‘Fukamushi’ referring to the deep steaming process, whereas Chumushi tea is produced with medium steaming and for Asamushi tea steaming is light. The deep steaming phase helps to further reduce the tea leaf’s vegetal qualities while further softening and sweetening its taste.
Sencha Fukamushi is one of the most popular types of tea in Japan. This is high praise indeed coming from the land where tea culture originated. The deep steaming that goes into producing Sencha Fukamushi Premium gives it a richness and buttery smoothness which sets it apart from most other green teas.
Sencha Fukamushi Premium is harvested from young small sized shoots, which are plucked early. Although this means a lower yield than if the plant was left to grow, plucking the tea shoots early helps to give Sencha Fukamushi Premium its distinctive aroma. A small quantity of stem is also added to the harvested leaves to add an extra layer of sweetness to this soft flavoured green tea.
Sencha Green Tea (China) Loose Leaf
Green Sencha tea has been drunk for centuries in its native China, both for its refreshing taste and for its soothing medicinal qualities. In fact, the Chinese consider green tea to be one of the essential elements of life. As such, we’ve taken special care to source the lightest yet subtly sweet Sencha green teas to be found in China’s vast plantations.
Along with the quality of the tea leaf, we’ve also endeavored to source tea leaves prepared to the highest possible standard. After harvesting, every leaf has been heat treated and pressed with care. They have then been packaged in air tight bags to ensure the sweet aroma and taste remains intact all the way from the Sencha tea plantations in the Far East to your best tea glass or china cup.
Our Sencha Green Tea offers many medicinal benefits. This includes reducing anxiety, calming nerves, helping to improve digestion and even reduce cholesterol in the blood. You may even taste these benefits with every sip, as our Green Sencha Tea is exceptionally clean tasting with a pleasantly subtle sweetness.
Traditional Shincha Green Tea (Japan)
The Ujitawara region is a scenic and historic place where the world’s love affair with Japanese green tea first began. Our Shincha Traditional Green Tea is our signature tea for this special area, carefully selected for its smooth, mellow flavour, astringent aroma and traditional yellowish colour.