Japanese Sencha Loose-Leaf Tea

I never really drank green tea until roughly a year ago when I started on Jasmine by the same company. I had read about some health benefits so I thought worth a shot. This sencha is great! I now exclusively drink this alone, twice a day. Ditched black tea from bags, it doesn’t compare. As others have said it has a kind of refreshing, grassy taste. Tastes best when prepared ‘correctly’ at 70 degrees. I’ve discovered pairing this with dark chocolate and it’s surprisingly good! I’ll be buying this for a long time.

The nicest Japanese green tea on Amazon UK. Although it's doubled in price since I discovered it a few years ago. 250g was £15 in 2022

After I finished my bag of Teapiga Mao Fejg green tea, I wanted to try a different brand as they are becoming quite expensive. I thought I'd try the sencha green tea from The Tea Makers of London as the product looks great, and it comes with a caddy. The tea came loose leafed, in a plastic bag inside the caddy (not sure it needed to) with the bag being only half the size of the caddy. Once brewed the tea produced a clear green colour and a nice scent. However the tea is not strong, no matter how long it brews for. For some this might be disappointing as I like my tea to get stronger in the pot after time, so I can keep topping up with water. I've tried a few times to no avail here. However the taste is nice and delicate, so I assume it's due to the different type of green tea to what I'm used to. Overall it's a good mild green tea, not over-bitter but not strong enough for me.

Whenever I’ve attempted to make green tea at home, it always ends up looking brown. I notice that in Japanese restaurants, the colour is distinctly green; something that I have never been able to recreate at home regardless of brand. I’ve tried both mainstream and imported brands from Asian supermarkets (including ones claiming that they contain Sencha leaves) and the result is the same murky brown liquid. This Japanese Sencha from the Tea Makers is more expensive at £7.16 per 100g, but gives the restaurant quality colour, and more importantly taste, that I am used to. It has a distinct yet delicate freshly cut grass scent and a lovely, rich flavour. I use one teaspoon per serving and brew it in 80degC water for approximately a minute or so; I quite like the strength if brewed this way. I notice that on the packaging, the leaves are cultivated in Japan, so make of that what you will. This is a bit pricier than other green teas but worth it for the wonderful flavour. Another good brand is Costco’s own, which mixes in Sencha and Matcha in their tea bags.

I bought this brand of Sencha Tea because Amazon was out of stock of the one I have been buying over the last year. I actually prefer this one and instead of coming in a ziplock bag, this comes in a nice metal cannister with an airtight inner lid as well as a tight fitting inner lid. The tea itself comes in a plastic bag within the container. If you like Sencha Tea I definitely recommend this brand. Edited to add a comment because I saw a review where someone said it was hard to get rid of the tea leaves. I use a clear square based teapot with a built in metal strainer (bought on Amazon) and I find a teaspoon of tea makes 1-2 pots, where 1 pot makes 2 full mugs of tea. I refill the pot after it's emptied and the 2nd filling is still good. To dispose of the tea leaves, I fill the pot with cold water, then dump it on the garden, swirling the water around and that gets rid of most of the leaves. Alternatively just add it to your compost bin.

Very good tea

Tastes really bitter.

It’s grassy, bright, nose of raspberries and taste of pine with a hint of umami. Delicious go-to sencha tea that I’ve been drinking every morning for years. I prefer to brew 1tsp, rinsed in cold water and brewed at 90c for 2 minutes. Compared to other green teas, this is the absolute best value for money I could find, and averages about 15p a cup. Keep at it, Tea Makers.