A herringbone pattern of tea garden perfection (Uji, Japan).
In Japan it is essential that all available space for growing tea be used efficiently and that the greatest yield of tea is realized from each bush. Although some very specialized and expensive tea is plucked by hand, most of Japan’s tea is harvested with hand-held mechanical cutting shears or high-volume mechanical shearing machines. Hand-held cutting shears are guided over the tops of bushes by a pair of workers each holding an end of the cutting shears and facing each other across a row of tea bushes. In large gardens, where the rows have been perfectly spaced to accommodate their girth, large shearing machines straddle the rows of bushes, allowing the shears to achieve a uniform, even pluck. Workers rely on these mechanical shearing machines to trim the bushes neatly and keep the pluck uniform while performing the task with great efficiency. The amount of leaf picked using one of these mechanical means is much higher than the amount of shoots plucked by hand—200 to 300 pounds per day per worker, versus 20 to 30 pounds per day per worker. In Japan, even when tea is plucked by hand, efficiency is higher than it is in China because of Japan’s less difficult and less vast terrain and the regularity of planting arrangement of the rows of tea bushes. As harvesting efficiency speeds up the plucking time, a fourth harvest can sometimes be gained in the southernmost regions if the weather cooperates.
UNIQUELY JAPANESE TEAS
All tea in Japan is manufactured as green tea, but there are ten main types and a handful of regional specialties produced. Several aspects of Japanese tea production lend their teas distinctive flavors and appearances. Nearly all Japanese tea is steamed during its manufacture, although some tea produced on the island of Kyushu is pan-fired in the Chinese style. Tea was introduced to Japan as cake tea made from compressed powdered tea, and it remained this way until leaf tea was introduced in the eighteenth century. Not only was the change to leaf tea significant, but the additional step of steaming the fresh leaf in order to retain flavor and vivid color changed the nature of the tea and made it uniquely Japanese.
It is reported that Soen Nagatani, an Uji tea producer, invented this method of steaming and rolling fresh leaf in the eighteenth century. This became the basic technique that is now used throughout Japan for producing bancha, gyokuro, and sencha. Steaming also preserves the natural enzymes in the leaves and “fixes” the leaf’s dark, emerald green color. Sometimes described as tasting like spinach, seaweed, or newly mown grass, the flavors of Japanese tea can often be startling on first sip. But given a second and third taste, the underlying sweetness becomes apparent, along with an abundance of fresh, clean, and complex flavors. The standard steaming process lasts less than one minute and softens the leaf, imparting a characteristic vegetal taste. A lengthier steaming is given to some leaf to give it a darker color and impart a stronger flavor.
Most Japanese green teas are recognizable by their distinguishing, thin, needle-shaped leaf as well as by their characteristic color. The steaming process sets the color of the dried leaf, which is why you will notice that there is a similar vivid dark green color to many Japanese teas. The characteristic straight, needle leaf shape is attained by putting the partially dried leaf through a series of rolling/drying machines. These machines use metal “paddles” that move the tea back and forth over a series of fixed metal ridges while gentle heat is applied to slowly form the familiar needle shape.
All Japanese green tea begins with steaming the leaf (Shizuoka prefecture, Japan).
Some Japanese tea is grown in the shade, such as the famous gyokuro (Jade Dew), kabusecha, and tencha. Gyokuro and kabuse cha are specialty leaf teas manufactured to be sipped and savored. Tencha leaf is grown expressly for deveining and grinding in slow-turning stone mills to turn it into light and delicate tea powder or matcha. Sun shading eliminates astringent qualities in the leaf and imparts a strong vegetal sweetness to the tea.
Some teas are reprocessed, meaning that something has been added to the tea (such as the roasted rice that is added to genmaicha) or that something has been removed (such as the veins from the leaf when making tencha for processing into matcha) or that the leaves or twigs have been roasted (as with hojicha and kukicha).
Tea bushes growing underneath a tana covering (Uji, Japan).
Japan is the only country that produces a significant amount of matcha, the powdered tea that is integral to Chanoyu, the Japanese tea ceremony. Japan has raised the details of matcha production to a fine art and in teashops one can find many choices in flavor and cost in both ceremonial-grade matcha and premium-grade matcha for less formal tea drinking and socializing. Matcha is highly regarded in Japan but not widely used in other tea-drinking countries. China and Vietnam now also produce matcha, but these imitations suffer, as the fresh leaf used for making matcha is dissimilar to that used in Japan. We have yet to see Chinese matcha that compares in flavor, color, astringency, and overall punch to the traditional Japanese product. Some Chinese matcha is made for and sold to the Japanese tea market, but it is used in iced tea beverages, where the flavor of the tea is only part of the taste.
In Japan, all tea is vacuum-packed and kept under refrigeration to maintain maximum freshness. This begins in the tea factories and is maintained up to the time the customer makes a purchase in a teashop. Japanese tea drinkers purchase tea in small, elegantly designed paper pouches or tea tins that contain a sealed envelope of tea inside. Matcha, which is the most perishable form of tea, is sold in small, sealed tin containers of 20 or 40 grams.
SHINCHA: JAPAN’S FIRST TEA OF THE NEW SEASON
In Japan the growing season and the leaf-plucking schedule follow the same agricultural cycle as in other tea-producing countries. Springtime in Japan brings shincha, or the first new tea (shin = new, cha = tea) of the season, to market. Shincha is an early plucking that arrives before the first-flush teas; it is made from tender young leaves plucked just from early April to early May. The shincha season traditionally starts after budbreak, or after the beginning of the lunar new year. In both Japan and China the arrival of new tea is an important rite of spring. Tea drinkers associate the arrival of these teas in their favorite teashop as a sign of a prosperous harvest to come.
Shincha is produced in all tea regions of Japan and reflects the Japanese love of fresh, bright tea flavor that is tinged with grassy sweetness and luminous, light-green color in the cup. Sometimes shincha is sencha, as this is often the earliest tea to come to market, but shincha can refer to the new crop of any style of tea that has been made from leaf plucked during the pre-harvest before the main harvest begins. Shincha has the highest polyphenol content of any Japanese tea; in early spring the tea bushes awaken from winter dormancy and begin to send stored-up nutrients to the tiny buds. When picked at the right moment, the catechin polyphenols in the early buds and leaves is highly concentrated. Because of its seasonal nature, shincha is produced in small quantities, is packaged immediately, and usually sells out by the end of July. As shincha represents only one-fifth of the tea produced during an entire year, it is as expensive as it is exquisite: two ounces can cost twenty to thirty dollars or more.
Despite its popularity with tea lovers, tea producers disagree on the merits of shincha. Some believe that fresh early tea lacks the finesse and richness that tea develops after it has rested for a few months. Most Japanese green tea is processed to a half-finished state called aracha, a primary tea that is stable and able to remain like this until it is time to move it on to the final leaf-finishing state. Aracha is kept fresh in vacuum-packed foil bags and refrigerated until it is ready to be finished. Some believe that during this resting period Japanese green teas undergo a necessary mellowing that softens their sometimes sharp edge and helps the tea to gain a deep, rich flavor that is lacking in the first tea of the season.
SHIRAKATA “HASHIRI” SHINCHA
In Shizuoka prefecture the Honeyama Mountains north of Shizuoka City are home to many fine tea gardens. In fact, the prefecture is the largest tea producer in Japa
n. Here, tea from Honeyama, Kawane, Makinohara, and other tea areas supply much of the tea that passes through the bustling Shizuoka Wholesale Tea Market. The tea gods were smiling upon us when we arrived at the shop of Shirakata-Denshiro Shoten in Shizuoka City late one spring afternoon. The first of the season’s crop of shincha tea had just come to market, and we were offered a taste of the Hashiri shincha.
One sip of this pale golden-green tea confirmed all of the characteristics that we had hoped to savor in tea this young. It had a distinctive and expressive vegetal taste that was underscored by a crisp but slightly sweet flavor. The liquor had a smooth, nearly buttery quality, which was unexpected. This tea perfectly captured the essence of tender young tea sprouts. The fresh and lively aroma added yet another element of pleasure to the experience of savoring this tender, young tea.
JAPAN’S SENCHA: A FAVORITE NATIONAL TEA
Sencha is the next tea to come to market after shincha, and heralds the beginning of the main tea harvest. Sencha is produced throughout the tea season, and it is the quintessential tea of Japan. The first sencha of the season, called first-flush sencha, commands a 30 percent higher price for what it offers in the cup—the sweetest taste, the most satisfying rich goodness. Sencha becomes stronger in flavor and darker in color as the leaves are plucked later and later during the season. Each successive flush yields tea of a lesser quality and price. Many of the best teashops in Kyoto and Tokyo feature teas from artisan tea producers, but most sell the teas under the shop name, not the producer. Japanese like their o-cha (tea) to exhibit the three necessary characteristics of a well-made tea: good aroma, good taste, and good appearance.
JAPANESE GREEN TEA PROCESSING
Different teas require different steps in the leaf-manufacturing process, and some tea processors will change various steps to accommodate a particular result that they feel enhances the flavor of their tea. Essentially there are nine basic steps involved in manufacturing Japanese green tea like bancha, gyokuro, and sencha. But as many as twelve to fourteen other intermediary steps can be added. Regional techniques for tweaking flavor also come into play, as does what the age and sophistication of machinery will allow. But no matter what else, the skill of the leaf processor is always paramount for success. The first six preliminary manufacturing steps yield aracha and the remaining three steps are used for final tea refining, or shiagecha.
Leaf plucking
Tea steaming machine
Primary roller/dryer
Rotary tea roller
Secondary roller/dryer
Final tea roller/shaper
Final dryer
Refining machine
Tea blending
Soon after the leaf is plucked, it is quickly brought to the tea factory for processing. The leaf is stored in the green leaf pre-server until the production line is ready for it. The tea remains in the pre-server only for several hours and cool air is blown over the top of the leaf to keep it cool while it remains here. The first step in the leaf manufacture is to stop oxidation in the leaf by steaming it, which usually takes 30 to 45 seconds, or longer (up to 120 seconds) when manufacturing a deep-steamed tea such as Fukamushi Sencha. Two types of steamers are used; one is a revolving steaming machine and the other is a conveyor belt steamer. After the leaves undergo the traditional steaming, they are allowed to cool to room temperature. Following this step, the leaf is placed in the primary roller/dryer, which is an enclosed machine that blows gentle, warm air onto the leaf while mechanical hands toss the tea in a continuous motion. Next, the tea is transferred to a rotary rolling machine, which rolls the tea in a slow and steady circular manner over a grooved bottom plate. This machine exerts a slight pressure on the fresh leaf in order to evenly distribute the internal cell juices throughout the leaf.
Next, the leaf is placed in the secondary tea roller/dryer and further dried while it begins to take on its characteristic shape. Following this, the tea is placed in the final roller/dryer, where it encounters a series of mechanical paddles that push the tea back and forth across a grooved plate to shape it into its characteristic long, needle-leaf style.
At this point the moisture in the leaf has been reduced to about 13 percent, and the leaf is now called aracha, or crude tea. All Japanese green tea is processed first into aracha, which must then be skillfully fashioned into a finished product by careful refining. The refining process puts the aracha through a second set of machines for sorting, separating, and final drying (or “roasting”) of the leaves. Refining will bring out and balance the flavor, aroma, and color of the leaf, giving the surface of the finished leaf a rich, glossy shine. The moisture content of the leaf will be reduced to 5 percent. Although it is essential that quality leaf be grown and picked in the tea gardens, this critical work of the tea refiner transforms the aracha into a fine, stylish tea that will deliver exquisite flavor and aroma.
Once aracha has been refined, the finished leaf is called shiagecha. The largest tea companies down to the smallest artisan tea maker process tea from aracha. The shiagecha method of leaf finishing is unique to Japan, where it is common practice for artisan tea merchants to purchase aracha and then skillfully finish the tea in their own workshops, nurturing the process slowly and carefully.
JAPAN’S CUSTOM BLENDS
Such teas as sencha and gyokuro are blended to suit the taste of their customers, and these teas benefit from the signature touch of these artisans. Because all the leaf tea that Japan grows is used to produce just a handful of tea styles, Japanese tea is almost always blended and sold without specific designation of region, farm, or garden.
This way of selling tea is different from the emphasis on region, elevation, and estate that is attached to premium teas from India or Ceylon, or from the emphasis on leaf appearance and terroir or source that is so important with Chinese teas. Most Japanese tea is sold as a signature brand of a teashop or tea company. Several blends of varying levels of quality are often available, and each blend is priced according to the cost of the teas used in the blend. Tea aficionados have come to rely on their favorite teashops for the tea flavor that they prefer. Japanese tea drinkers know that tasting the tea is essential before purchasing, and teashops routinely brew small samples for consideration. Tea lovers find the taste they like at the price that they wish to pay and they will continue to support that shop or brand for their tea throughout the year.
Of course it was not all that long ago that all Japanese tea was plucked and processed by hand. Some tea in the highest price category is still plucked by hand, but those teas are the exceptions to the rule. Along with price usually goes limited production, so this extra effort is reserved for the more specialized harvests, such as the first-flush gyokuro or sencha from very special gardens. Little tea is hand-rolled anymore; we were told that it takes six hours to properly hand-roll a batch of sencha tea, a task that tea-processing equipment can accomplish in fifty minutes.
Japan’s premium teas are limited in quantity, so the small amount that is not consumed domestically is exported and sold abroad, where it commands high prices. To meet the growing demand in Japan for bottled green tea as well as snacks and traditional foods made with green tea, Japan must supplement its tea production with green tea imported from and manufactured in China, in the so-called Japanese style, under the supervision of Japanese firms.
Deeply steamed versus traditionally steamed leaf (Shizuoka prefecture, Japan).
THE 370-YEAR-OLD TEASHOP
As a specialty food retailer who has been in business since 1974 we are used to people responding with surprise when we tell them how long we have operated our shop. Imagine our surprise when we discovered that Mr. Furon-Izumi-en’s shop is 370 years old and has always been in the same location! Mr. Furon-Izumi-en is a fifteenth-generation tea blender in Uji.
Mr. Furon-Izumi-en dispenses the third infusion of his family’s gyokuro for tasting (Uji, Japan).
JAPAN’S TEA-GROWING REGIONS
Tea gardens are concentrated in three pri
nciple areas in Japan: Kyushu island, Uji, and Shizuoka prefecture on Honshu island.
Kyushu. On Japan’s southernmost island, Kyushu, tea gardens flourish in its northern and southern regions. Kyushu was once the gateway from China or Korea into Japan, and the cultural influences of pottery making and tea production came early to this part of the country. In the south, Kagoshima prefecture, Japan’s second largest tea-producing region, is protected by the Bay of Kagoshima. The bay separates the city and its surrounding region from the brooding and still active volcano Sakurajima, which lies to the west of Kagoshima City. North of the city lies Aso-San, one of the world’s largest volcanoes, with a five-peak caldera. Kirishima National Park, also in the north, offers splendid hikes and stunning vistas.
Although tea has been grown in Kyushu for centuries, the tea industry today is modern and efficient. Kagoshima’s climate is ideal for encouraging lush growth: warm air mixed with cool bay breezes. There are fifteen tea-growing regions in Kagoshima, and more than eight thousand hectares planted at low elevations in systematic rows that allow for high-volume mechanical harvesting. A broad variety of tea is produced here, including sencha and kamairi-cha from the four harvests that are plucked from April through mid-October. Rich and earthy matcha is also produced from the Sakura-jima variety of tea bushes, which are shaded and covered with traditional kabuse nets. The best matcha from Kagoshima, like that of the Uji district, comes from the earliest tea of the spring, in the pre-season, before the main harvest begins. The green tea known as kamairi-cha forgoes the traditional Japanese leaf-steaming process and instead is processed by pan-firing and hand-rolling in large iron pans over a heat source in the manner of some Chinese green teas. Kagoshima Shincha is the first to arrive in Japanese markets each spring. Most gardens are company-owned and are the most modernized and mechanized in Japan.
The Story of Tea Page 21
