Kagoshima Sencha First Flush Green Tea

Information provided by Takahiro Ino, Japanese Tea Instructor and owner Mauna Kea Tea.

Kagoshima First Flush is a fukamushi sencha, or one that is deeply steamed.  This deep steaming process makes the leaf fine and when steeped, it gives a surprisingly deep and vivid green color and sweet flavor.

Sencha Production Process
Sencha is the most popular green tea consumed in Japan.  It is steamed to stop oxidation unlike many of Chinese green teas which are pan fired. The production process consists of two steps- the Crude Production Process and the Finishing Process.

Sencha Crude Tea Production Process

1. Harvesting
Plucking is generally done by hand, by scissors, or by handheld or riding machines depending on the targeted quality, cost and accessibility of machines.

Labor is expensive in Japan, therefore, handpicking is generally reserved for the highest quality teas.  Hand plucked teas often yield contest grade and very high priced teas.

Tea leaves are plucked or harvested under precise calculation of leaf maturity (30-70%).  The intention of the plucking is to retain the whole leaf, but mechanized harvesting often results in the inclusion of leaf parts.

2. Steaming
Harvested leaves are steamed immediately after plucking to eliminate oxidation.  Steaming affects the characteristics of the finished leaf and steep.  Normal sencha is steamed between 15 and 45 seconds depending on the harvest and stiffness of the leaf, whereas fukamushi, deep steamed, sencha generally takes 2-3 times longer for steaming.  In the dry leaf, deeper steaming gives a lighter leaf color and more flakes and powder, but gives a milder and less astringent taste and a shorter steeping time.

3. Rolling

1st Rolling
The 1st Rolling reduces the moisture content of the leaf by 50 – 60 %.  The leaves are lightly agitated while hot air removes excess moisture.  This allows the leaf to dry evenly before heavy rolling.

2nd Rolling
At this stage, pressure is added to break the fiber of the leaf and extract water from the stems.  This makes the moisture even throughout the tea.

3rd Rolling
The 3rd Rolling further dries the leaf through light rolling and creates a narrow and thin leaf shape.

4. Shaping
The shaping process uses a specialized machine that mimics the traditional hand processing technique. This further reduces moisture in the leaf and gives a thin needle shape and dark green color.

5. Drying
This is the last stage of sencha crude tea production and reduces the leaf moisture to 5%.

 

Sencha Finishing Process
Because crude tea contains moisture, old stiff leaves, stems and powder, irregular leaf sizes, further drying and sorting are done before the tea is blended.  Single variety sencha would be fired and sorted before packaging.

1. Firing
The purposes of firing are to further dry the leaf, to extend shelf life, and to enhance aroma and flavor.

2. Sorting
Powder, old stiff leaves, and stems are removed from the main body of the tea and separated into different grades of tea.  The tea leaves are also cut to uniform size.

3. Blending
Each tea merchant has a uniquely desired aroma and flavor profile.  They blend tea to achieve a signature profile as well as to keep the flavor of the tea consistent year around.

For detailed information on green tea visit Mauna Kea Tea.