Bancha (Common-Grade Sencha)
🇯🇵 Japan

Bancha (Common-Grade Sencha)

番茶 · ばんちゃ · Bancha

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).

Quick facts

Origin
Japan
Region
Shizuoka
Harvest year
2025
Harvest season
summer
Cultivars
Yabukita

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.

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Tasting notes

Aroma
hay, roasted nut, light smoke
Flavor
mild, slightly nutty, light vegetal, low astringency
Mouthfeel
light, smooth
Finish
clean, faintly sweet

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