Japan’s Shizuoka Prefecture is famous for its low cancer death rates.
Shizuoka is the top tea producer in Japan, its share amounting to 38% in 2021.
We say Japanese green tea has something to do with Shizuoka's low cancer death rates.
The benefits of Japanese green tea are:
Anti-cancer
Reduce cholesterol
Anti-aging
Lower blood sugar and blood pressure
Antivirus
Prevent cavities
Prevent bad breath
Tea leaves of Japanese green tea are the same as English black tea and oolong tea, but we steam tea leaves just after we collect them to make green tea. This process stops oxidation by enzymes in tea leaves. So the leaves stay green and keep vitamin C inside of them.
Japanese green tea is getting more available globally now. So I would like to share how to brew flavorful tea. One little tweak can make it completely different.
Here we go!
How to brew flavorful Japanese green tea
The point is to avoid boiling water. Especially when we brew high-quality tea, the water temperature should be lower. If water is too hot, tea becomes more bitter.
There are several kinds of Japanese green tea. The most common one is Sencha(煎茶). So I will talk about Sencha here.
Warm a teapot and cup. The tea flavor is lost when it gets cold. Pour hot water into a teapot and a cup to warm them, and drain the hot water after 2 minutes.
Prepare hot water at 70-80 degrees Celsius. Boil water and pour it into another cup or a bowl to lower the water temperature.
Pour 2. into the teapot. Brew for about 30 to 60 seconds.
If you use a tea bag, cool the water before you pour it into the cup, too. The best temperature for Sencha is 70 to 80 degrees Celsius.
What is matcha? What is the difference between matcha and green tea?
Matcha is used in matcha cookies, matcha ice cream, matcha latte, etc.
Then, what is matcha? And what is the difference between matcha and green tea?
Matcha (抹茶) is a kind of green tea, but it's a powder form of tea leaves (photo below). Tea leaves for matcha are grown under the shade in the last 20 days before they are collected. Most kinds of green tea other than matcha don’t have this process.
Matcha has less catechin and more L-Theanine than other green tea because of the process. Catechin is a polyphenol, which is the origin of bitterness. L-Theanine is the origin of Umami, which makes the taste milder and sweeter.
The good thing about matcha is that we take matcha powder itself when drinking. For other green tea, we take only extract of tea leaves. So we can get more nutrition by drinking matcha.
Caution.
Green tea, matcha included, contains caffeine. So too much drinking may deteriorate your sleep quality. Be careful.
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