Old Tree Bancha Tea Contains the WHOLE Tree!

Old Tree Bancha. Does that mean bancha made of leaves from ancient tea plants (good)? Or bancha that's been sitting around awhile (bad)? Actually, neither. I had never heard of this tea until Lisa of TeaHaus told me about it after touring Japan's tea gardens in Shiga Prefecture back in 2018, having been invited by …

One Japanese Tea Garden, Many Teas

Matcha and Japan. Although these seem synonymous, around three-quarters of the tea produced in Japan is actually sencha. And while matcha and gyokuro are highly prized by the Japanese (see earlier post to see why these teas are so valued—and pricy!), the country's everyday tea is sencha. However, this doesn't mean that sencha is a low-end …