FRENCH NAME  SENCHA FUKUJYU CHA JAPONAIS
BLEND NO.  5004
One of Japan's most popular natural leaf teas, Sencha Fukujyu ("Green Spider Leg") is known for its refreshing sweet and grassy taste. Harvested in the famous tea growing region of Shizuoka Prefecture, adjacent to the mountainous Fujiyama.  Prized for its round-bodied cup, slightly astringent sweetness and fresh, clean, light notes of hay. 

Our blenders typically select Senchas (which literally means decocted tea) from the shincha ("new tea") in late May.  Top quality senchas are harvested early in the season as young tender shoots every four or five days, and steamed for 20 seconds to denature the leaf enzymes and prevent fermentation.  Leaves are carefully graded in size and then rolled and twisted before drying.  Deep olive in color, leaves are delicate and need to be carefully sifted in blending process to reduce breakage (which results in smaller broken leaves and incorrect infusion character). 

If you visit our Tearoom in Vancouver, you can see chado ("the Way of Tea") using matcha and sometimes Senchado using high grades of sencha.  Infuse at 60 seconds at 75 Celcius and repeat subsequent steepings. 

ORTHODOX LOOSE TEALEAVES
AROMA: Rich with notes of hay
PALATE: Sweet lively character with a slightly tannic finish, vegetal (nori-like)
LIQUOR:  Golden emerald green

Sencha is a natural leaf tea, meaning that the leaves are un-rolled. Unlike Matcha and Gyokuro, Sencha is grown in full sunlight, and accounts for the largest portion of Japan's tea production. Once picked, the leaves are rushed to the factory for a quick steaming, which seals in the flavor and stops fermentation. This is a key difference between Chinese and Japanese green tea-making processes. The leaves are then fluffed with hot air before pressing. The moisture content for Sencha is only 3%.