Green tea
Green tea (绿茶) is tea that has undergone minimal oxidation during processing. Green tea is popular in China and Japan, and recently has become more popular in the West, which traditionally drank only black tea.
Chinese green teas
Grades of Chinese green tea (绿茶 lücha) include:
- Longjing (龙井, "dragon well"; also lung ching) is a famous tea from the town of Longjing, near Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. Longjing is further divided into 7 grades: Superior (qiqiang), Special (queshe) and then 1 down to 5.
- Gunpowder is a basic green tea from China's Anhui Province. The tea takes its name from the rolled leaf balls that are grey-green color.
- Chun mee ("precious eyebrows"), the most common type in China, is named after the shape of the tea leaves.
- Hyson is an early-harvested tea whose leaves are twisted in a long, thin style.
Japanese green teas
Green tea (緑茶 ryokucha) is so ubiquitous in Japan that it is more commonly known as "honorable tea" (お茶, ocha) and even "Japanese tea" (日本茶, nihoncha). Types of tea are commonly graded depending on the quality and the parts of the plant used.
- Matcha (抹茶, "rubbed tea") is the highest grade of green tea, used primarily in the tea ceremony. The tea bushes are shaded from sunlight for 3 weeks before harvesting, producing amino acids that sweeten the taste. The leaves are then ground to a fine powder, which is simply blended in lukewarm water for consumption.
- Gyokuro (玉露, "jewel dew") is unground matcha leaf, prepared for consumption by infusion.
- Sencha (煎茶, "broiled tea") is the most common type of green tea in Japan, accounting for 75% of production. It is made from the young leaves of uncovered plants.
- Shincha (新茶, "new tea") is newly harvested, lightly steamed sencha. It is aromatic but highly perishable, lasting for only about 3 months.
- Bancha (番茶, "number tea") is from the last harvest of the season. It is milder, cheaper and contain less caffeine than other varieties.
- Hojicha (焙じ茶, "roasted tea") is prepared by roasting bancha leaves.
- Kukicha (茎茶, "stem tea") is made from tea twigs instead of leaves. It contains only a tenth of the caffeine of leaf tea and its flavor is commonly compared to oolong teas.
There are large variations in both price and quality within these broad categories, and there are many specialty green teas that fall outside this spectrum. The very best green tea is said to be that from Uji region of Kyoto.
Health Benefits
Many studies have investigated a link between the consumption of green tea and a lower incidence of a range of cancers in populations. More information can be found in the section on green tea in the article Health benefits of tea.
See also
