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DEEP DIVE INTo

Japanese Tea Vocab

Test your knowledge of these common tea terms

Types of tea

Asamushi: Lightly steamed tea
Bancha: Tea harvested in the summer
Fukamushi: Deep steamed tea 
Gyokuro: Top 4 leaves of shade-grown tea, steamed and rolled into needle-like shapes
Hojicha: Roasted green tea
Kabuseicha: Shade-grown tea
Kamairicha: Similar to Tamaryokucha, but pan-fired
Kukicha: Tea made from tea stems (roasted or steamed)
Matcha: A powdered tea made from milling tencha leaves
Shincha: Tea harvested in the spring
Tamaryokucha: Steamed, spring harvested kabuseicha picked smaller than 0.75" and shaped into curls
Tencha: Shade-grown tea used for milling into matcha
Sencha: Steamed, spring harvested tea where the top leaves are about .75"-1" tall and rolled into needle shapes

Matcha lingo

Chado: The art of tea
Chanoyu: The Way of Tea, Japanese tea ceremony
Koicha: Thick tea (matcha)
Matcha: A powdered tea made from milling tencha leaves
Usucha: Thin tea (matcha)

Tea utensils

Chaire: Tea caddy
Chasen: Bamboo matcha whisk
Chashaku: Tea scoop 
Chawan: Tea bowl (for matcha)
Hishaku: Scoop for water
Kama: Kettle (for heating water in Chanoyu, or for firing kamairicha)
Kintsugi: The art of repairing broken teaware with resin and gold
Kyusu
: Literally "teapot". Commonly referred to side-handled teapots
Yunomi
: Common style of Japanese teacup
Yuzamashi: Vessel for cooling water before steeping

cultivars

Common Cultivars: Yabukita, Okumidori, Asatsuyu, Asanoka, Zairai, Saemidori, Samidori, Benifuki, Tsuyuhikari,Ujimidori... There are over 150 Japanese tea cultivars, but these are common ones you will find at Blue Willow.

AFTERTHOUGHTS

This is just a short list to help you better understand some of the wording for the teas we carry. Hopefully it inspires you to keep learning!

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