Green Tea Basics

When it comes to different types of tea, matcha and sencha green tea are two many people have questions about! Get answers in this post.

Nara Medical University (奈良県立医科大学, Nara Kenritsu Ika Daigaku) reported on November 27th, 2020 that their research confirms that green tea sold in the market can kill or make the virus harmless in their study. 

The research is the first stage of the study, and they have not tested with the human body yet; however, adding COVID virus in green tea for one minute reduced their Infectious by 99%. Click here to read more.

As kids, we are taught that there were four basic tastes; salty, sour, sweet, and bitter which are represented by a map of the tongue. Not to burst your bubble, we do not just have four basic sense of flavor, instead, we have five! The fifth element:  Umami.

What does Umami (oo·maa·mee) うま味 mean for Tea Drinking? I will first explain what exactly umami is and then will touch about how it relates to tea. Keep reading as I also added a couple of interesting facts about umami at the end of the article. 

Chanoyu（茶の湯）, Sado（茶道）or simply the Japanese tea ceremony is a ritual which is religiously followed in Japan. Japanese Matcha green tea is served in a series of choreographed steps with the host simply gliding through the whole ceremony. 

Tea Ceremony is so deep, that there can be books of information, but I tried to summarize the ceremony in easy simple steps so that you can understand what they are. 

Tea is the most popular drink on Earth, next to water. In around 80% of the world, most people prefer black tea to green tea. Yet, in Japan, green tea is the most consumed beverage, and it is a 6.95 trillion yen (7.8 billion dollar) a year industry. Green tea is embedded in the culture and day-to-day life since it was introduced by China in the 7th Century. 

In this article, I will explain green tea, focused on Japanese green tea, how it came to Japan, what exactly is green tea and what are the benefits of drinking green.