Teas / green / Bancha (Common-Grade Sencha)
Bancha (Common-Grade Sencha)
番茶 · Bancha
Bancha is the everyday Japanese green tea — made from the same Camellia sinensis bushes as sencha but plucked from the third or fourth flushes between summer and autumn (vs. sencha's first/second spring flushes), giving it a lower market grade. Per Wikipedia there are 22 distinct grades of bancha. The leaves are larger and more mature than sencha, the cup is lighter and less umami-dense, and the lower price point makes bancha the canonical "drink with food" Japanese green. Many bancha lots are further processed into hojicha (roasted) or genmaicha (blended with roasted rice).
Brewing
- Leaf
- 3.0 g / 100 ml
- Water
- 90°C
- Rinse
- no
- Gongfu steeps (s)
- 60, 90, 120
- Western (min)
- 2.0
Bancha tolerates hotter water (up to 90 °C) than first-flush sencha because the later-harvest leaves have lower amino-acid content and don't extract bitterness as quickly. Holds 2-3 infusions easily.
Tasting notes
- Aroma
- hay, roasted nut, light smoke
- Flavor
- mild, slightly nutty, light vegetal, low astringency
- Mouthfeel
- light, smooth
- Finish
- clean, faintly sweet
Related teas
Where to buy
- 25g 3.25 GBP Out of stock
- 50g 5.40 GBP Out of stock
- 100g 10.25 GBP Out of stock
- 250g 24.30 GBP Out of stock