(Photos top left are dried leaves, top right are the wet leaves & the bottom image is the first cup of tea)
For a bit of background information, Japanese Uchiyama is a Sencha tea comes from 'Sen' which means steamed & 'Cha' which means tea (Twinings.co.uk) as it has been steamed during its process after being picked rather than being fried which prevents the leaves from oxidising. This is very different from the Chinese Green as it means the tea is more delicate & doesn't have those bitter aftertaste that you do get with higher oxidised tea. As it is a green tea, like matcha (see last blog post) it has a number of health benefits, even being cited as a 'cancer fighter' due to the high levels of polyphenols (Teaandmore.co.uk & acjn.nutrition.org).
I have to say I am not fond of 'normal' green teas that you can buy in the supermarkets as I find they are very bland but this is so lovely & delicate I will definitely have to make a trip up to F&M again to buy some more!
References
http://www.twinings.co.uk/tea-club/japanese-green-sencha
http://www.teaandmore.co.uk/products/GREEN/JAPAN/Japan-Sencha-Uchiyama-organic.html
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/79/5/727.full
For a bit of background information, Japanese Uchiyama is a Sencha tea comes from 'Sen' which means steamed & 'Cha' which means tea (Twinings.co.uk) as it has been steamed during its process after being picked rather than being fried which prevents the leaves from oxidising. This is very different from the Chinese Green as it means the tea is more delicate & doesn't have those bitter aftertaste that you do get with higher oxidised tea. As it is a green tea, like matcha (see last blog post) it has a number of health benefits, even being cited as a 'cancer fighter' due to the high levels of polyphenols (Teaandmore.co.uk & acjn.nutrition.org).
I have to say I am not fond of 'normal' green teas that you can buy in the supermarkets as I find they are very bland but this is so lovely & delicate I will definitely have to make a trip up to F&M again to buy some more!
References
http://www.twinings.co.uk/tea-club/japanese-green-sencha
http://www.teaandmore.co.uk/products/GREEN/JAPAN/Japan-Sencha-Uchiyama-organic.html
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/79/5/727.full