Gray & Seddon
and the 2006 green tea season
Sorry we're late this year editing the seasonal green tea - sencha - page, but so have the teas from northern areas of Kyushu in 2006. Alternate, warm then cold periods throughout February and March left us slightly confused with manufacturing and release dates of the early sencha uncertain and not forthcoming. Anyhow, after the threat of late frosts past, spring arrived by late March and the sencha leaf-buds blossomed. As of April 25, with many of the earliest shin-cha green teas now made, the 2006 sencha promise to be a delicious offering. Bright and fragrant teas, on a par with last year's 'super' shin-cha. In 2006 Gray & Seddon is again extending its premium sencha - green tea - listings with new additions originating from gardens all over Kyushu Island and parts of Honshu as well. G&S is now promoting selected teas from southern Kyushu such as Kagoshima, the Honshu giant Shizuoka and the connoisseur's favourite, Niigata. Please look out for those, or e-mail G&S for details. In the meantime enjoy the new season's sencha and the other great teas to follow in 2006!

Buying sencha - premium green tea
with Gray & Seddon
Most people who love fine sencha green tea will have only tasted teas originating from Shizuoka, the largest and most commercial tea-producing region in Japan. Importers in the USA & Europe routinely source their teas from this region. However, there are many other sencha-producing areas in Japan where the dedicated sencha drinker can find regional styles of this uniquely Japanese green tea. Among the Sencha, and wider Japanese listings, we G&S now included a new selection of the best Ureshino Shin-cha (early harvest tea), a bigger range of deep-steamed Fukamushi teas and added perhaps the most comprehensive listing of late-season sencha and bancha available anywhere on-line. In 2006 G&S maintains a full listing of the old favourites such as Emerald, Heaven's Sun,'April' and the high-grade tamaryoku-cha teas such as Jade Treasure and Yame Spring. Fine sencha selected by us from gardens at Ureshino, Sonogi, Yame and Sechibaru. In our opinion these teas still represent the best kinds of connoisseur sencha made in Japan. This year there are no minimum orders, and as ever, teas are shipped freshly packed from our associates in Japan. In the listings below please look out for substantial discounts on the larger packs of 200g (7.06oz) and above.

SENCHA: The Basics
Sencha literally means roasted tea. An old name pertaining to the main processing stage once dominant in the making of this most popular of all Japanese green tea. In the modern sencha-making process, the leaf is initially steam treated to a precursor tea called ara-cha, before further processing by hot-air drying, rolling and finally light roasting. The leaf of the best sencha has a high degree of size uniformity and possesses an aromatic & polished emerald colour. Tamaryoku-cha is frequently used as an all-embracing term for fine sencha. Indeed, some western tea traders prefer to use this name as a label. The early season sencha is most often named, shin-cha. But in Japan this term is only applied in the first weeks of marketing new tea, and is normally dropped as June approaches. Sencha is certainly shin-cha before the end of May. After that date regional names take precedence. Sencha may also be of a type called kabuse-cha if cultivated under shade. This sencha is very often the highest quality. Sencha may also be (fu-)hukamushi-cha if the processing has involved a heavier steaming cycle. Fukamushi-cha is fragrant and heavily flavoured sencha. Tea harvested towards the end of spring and into the summer months are usually called bancha. Then there's the use of fine sencha for kona-cha making if the leaf is finely chopped or kukicha if the tea includes soft stems. However, in terms of leaf form, two basic kinds of sencha leaf are processed; the needle leaf and the twisted knot or 'comma' leaf. The needle leaf is, as its name suggests, long/short and thin, (round or flat) & often highly glossy. Needle leaf sencha is favoured in Shizuoka and in the Yame region of Fukuoka. While in other areas, including most of Kyushu, the comma-shaped leaf form is much favoured.

Yame tea gardens, Kyushu Island. Where good garden management, early spring harvesting & carefully controlled steaming make this sencha the world's premier green tea

For better information on the best regional sencha contact Gray & Seddon.
REGIONAL SENCHA ENQUIRIES