2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14
Sencha is the most popular green tea in Japan today. It is grown and harvested in the Land of the Rising Sun, and then exported around the world. Sencha is a tea made from tea leaves that have been processed in a special way. They are steamed and then folded into thin strips - "spider legs" (sencha), from which the product gets its name.
General information
The long, thin Sencha tea leaves actually look like spider legs. Despite this unappetizing fact, sencha green tea, prepared according to the rules, has a pleasant tart taste with a slight bitterness and peculiar "sea", herbal and nutty aftertaste notes.
The color of a properly brewed tea drink should be pale green, but not yellow. Sencha is a tea that perfectly invigorates and refreshes in the summer. But most importantly, of all the types of green tea known today, it is this one that has the most beneficial properties.properties.
History
Since ancient times in Japan, it is believed that the best tea grows in the Uji region of Kyoto Prefecture. According to legend, the first tea bushes on this small plantation, which is only about six hundred meters in size, were planted by a certain monk Koken back in the thirteenth century. Since then, for many centuries, tea collected in the Uji area has been presented as a gift to the emperors of the Land of the Rising Sun.
In 1738, Soen Nagatani, a merchant, invented a method for processing tea leaves, which Japanese sencha is famous for today. Tea, distinguished by its delicate exquisite taste, which, moreover, could be brewed in a teapot, from that time became available not only to the nobility, but also to the common people. The production technology of such a product as sencha continued to improve, however, the aroma and taste of this drink are still preserved in their original form.
Sencha (tea): properties
The list of useful qualities that Japanese Sencha possesses is truly huge. Regular consumption of this tea helps maintain oral hygiene. Due to the high content of fluoride compounds, sencha prevents the formation of caries and fights plaque, strengthens tooth enamel, and also perfectly freshens breath.
Catechins - strong antioxidants that are part of green tea - help strengthen the body's immune system, actively fight viruses and inflammation.
Sencha is a tea that can lower the qualityblood pressure, as well as the level of "bad" cholesterol. It is believed that this drink is useful for diabetics, as it stabilizes sugar levels. In addition, sencha is an excellent skin cleanser. This tea is also used to treat and prevent a number of oncological diseases, in particular, leukemia.
Drinking this tea is also useful for those who regularly experience stress: it has a calming effect, but at the same time promotes clarity of thought. A bath prepared with a packet or sachet of this tea will help you effectively relax after a hard day at work.
Brewing Method
Sencha is a tea that is quite unpretentious in the process of preparation. And although in Japan there is a whole ritual of brewing this drink (senchado), in order to enjoy its pleasant taste, you just need to follow a few simple steps.
Senchu is recommended to be brewed in porcelain, preferably light or white. Water for a drink should be heated to 85 degrees, it is necessary to keep a tea leaf in it for no more than one and a half minutes. The last point is very important - the taste of over-aged Japanese sencha begins to taste bitter, and the color of the drink becomes cloudy.
It is permissible to repeat the process of brewing tea, but no more than three times in a row. In summer, this drink is usually served chilled.
Home use
There are quite a few non-trivial opportunities to use the useful properties of sencha in everyday life. So, sleeping tea leaves can serve as a goodfertilizer for indoor plants. If you pre-dry the brewed tea leaves, and then put them inside the shoes for several days, this will help get rid of the unpleasant smell and destroy many specific microorganisms and bacteria that appear in the shoes while wearing them. Well, and, of course, one cannot ignore the cosmetic effect that sencha has. A medium strength tea applied to cotton swabs can be used as a hydrating and smoothing facial mask.
Sencha from Japan and from China
The historical homeland of this variety of tea is Japan. However, Chinese sencha tea is gaining more and more popularity these days. How is it different from a traditional Japanese drink?
It can be said that sencha tea grown in China is somewhat simpler and poorer in taste than its Japanese counterpart. In a drink prepared on its basis, bitterness appears quite clearly, which is barely perceptible in the classic Japanese sencha. Experts agree that the tasting bouquet of Chinese tea is less varied and brighter. However, the price of this variety differs from the Japanese in a more favorable direction. However, the quality of Chinese sencha, which is conquering modern markets, is improving every year.
A curious fact: in the Celestial Empire it is believed that it was their people who actually invented sencha, and the insidious Japanese only stole the recipe. However, whatever the historical truth, one thing is certain: both varieties of tea - both Japanese and Chinese - have the right to exist and findtheir fans and connoisseurs.
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