Collection: BANCHA

Plucked tea leaves and buds are wilted (dried), then wrung out, fully fermented, and dried.
Black tea has countless flavors such as pleasant astringency, bitterness, sweetness, and freshness after drinking.

The oolong tea polyphenols contained in oolong tea are famous for their high antioxidant properties. It has been shown to activate the SOD enzyme, which inhibits active oxygen that causes aging, thereby helping to maintain a youthful body.

Sencha is the most common type of green tea. Sencha is made by steaming plucked tea leaves and drying them while rubbing them. It has a refreshing taste with a good balance of umami and astringency.

Tea leaves are grown by covering the tea plantation with straw or cheesecloth for about one week to block out sunlight. Because the sprouts are grown without sunlight, the tea leaves are darker green and have less astringency and rich flavor.

Gyokuro is tea grown by covering the tea plantation with reeds and straw for about 20 days to block sunlight when two or three new shoots begin to open.

Tea leaves are plucked after covering the tea plantation for 2 to 3 weeks with a covering material such as a reed, comb, or cheesecloth, heated by steam, and then dried without rubbing.
This leaf is used to make matcha.

Matcha is made from tea leaves grown under cover and dried without rubbing (tencha) and ground into a fine powder using a tea grinder. The powdered form is called matcha.

Bancha is tea made from tea leaves after the new shoots have been harvested or tea leaves that have grown large and hard. Bancha is often used as an everyday tea for daily use.

Roasted green tea is made by roasting tea leaves.
It is made by roasting the leaves over high heat until they turn reddish brown.
Roasted green tea is produced by roasting sencha or bancha leaves over a strong fire.
Roasted green tea is characterized by its savory aroma.

Genmaicha is a tea made by roasting steamed rice soaked in water and adding equal parts of Bancha or Sencha tea. Genmaicha has the aroma of roasted rice and the refreshing taste of Bancha or Sencha.

Tea leaves are roasted in a high-temperature cauldron, then placed in a rotating drum and dried with hot air.
There is no process of rubbing the tea leaves, which results in a rounded shape.
It has a clean, aromatic flavor with little astringency.

Barley tea is a tea made by infusing roasted barley. It is characterized by the savory aroma of barley and is often served cold as a hot summer beverage, or hot in the winter.

The drink made by pouring boiling water into chopped kelp and leaching it or pouring hot water into powdered kelp is kelp tea. It has high nutritional value and became a trend for a while.

Japanese black tea is a black tea grown and processed in Japan.
Japanese black tea, made from tea leaves grown in the Japanese climate, has a mild taste with little astringency and a clean aftertaste.

Steaming time is generally 30 to 40 seconds, but deep steamed tea is steamed twice as long, 60 to 80 seconds. The steam heat is fully transferred to the inside of the tea leaves, so the tea becomes powdery in shape, but the flavor and green color of the tea are enhanced.

The tea made from only the stems removed in the process of making sencha is called stem tea. The tea stems are sweet, fragrant, and umami, and have a unique, refreshing aroma.

Organic tea is naturally grown tea that is cultivated and managed using only plant-derived fertilizers, without the use of any pesticides or chemical fertilizers. Organically grown tea gives you the true flavor of Japanese green tea.

We have compiled a list of places in Kyoto where you can experience the tea ceremony.