is a type of
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...
ese
green tea
Green tea is a type of tea that is made from '' Camellia sinensis'' leaves and buds that have not undergone the same withering and oxidation process which is used to make oolong teas and black teas. Green tea originated in China, and since th ...
. It is harvested from the second flush of ''
sencha'' between summer and autumn. (The first flush is harvested for ''
shincha''.)
It can be found in a number of forms such as roasted, unroasted, smoked, matured or fermented for three years and even post-fermented. For example,
goishicha Goishicha ( ja, 碁石茶 ' go-pebble tea') is a fermented tea originally from China but now grown only in Ōtoyo, Kōchi and Ishizuchi-Kurocha, Ehime prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Ehime Prefecture h ...
.
Background
Bancha is harvested from the same tea tree as ''sencha'' grade, but it is plucked later than ''sencha'' is, giving it a lower market grade. It is considered to be one of the lowest grades of Japanese green teas.
There are 22 grades of ''bancha''. Its flavour is unique and varies depending on the type.
Flavours range from smoke, roasted nuts, green grass, earth, soil, wet leaves, some of the types of bancha have a stronger straw smell.
See also
*
Hōjicha
() is a Japanese green tea. It is distinctive from other Japanese green teas because it is roasted in a porcelain pot over charcoal. It is roasted at to prevent oxidation and produce a light golden colour, as opposed to other Japanese teas wh ...
– often made from bancha
*
Japanese tea
References
{{Teas
Japanese tea
Green tea