Collection: Fukamushi Sencha

What is Deep Steamed Fukamushi Sencha?

Fuka means "deep" and mushi means "steaming" in Japanese. As the name suggests, fukamushi leaves are steamed for longer--two or three times longer--than regular sencha. This results in coarser leaves and a much greener cup than the typical golden colored cup of regular sencha. You may be wondering, "why did tea merchants start to steam some teas longer?" The answer to this question can be found in the next few sections. 

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Why is Fukamushi Sencha Coarser?

Due to the longer steaming process, tea leaves hold more moisture and their fibers become softer. During the rolling and kneading processes, these soft leaves are easily broken and then rolled into small balls. Hence, the small, coarse leaves that you find in fukamushi sencha are different from the broken leaves that you find in a teabag. Actually those small, coarse leaves infuse faster and make for a very good cup! 

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History of Fukamushi Sencha

Fukamushi sencha is a fairly recent type of sencha that was developed 1970's in the Makinohara area of Shizuoka. The Makinohara area is a large sencha producing area because they have well drained, rich soil and warm weather. It also is quite flat, allowing efficiently operated and managed tea farms.

 However, tea leaves grown on such a flat terrain stay in the sunshine longer than tea grown in mountainous areas.

Therefore, tea leaves grown in Makinohara tend to be thicker, larger and somewhat bitter. For this reason, teas from Makinohara were considered lower quality than those grown in mountainous areas where the leaves are thinner and less bitter. The tea farmers in Makinohara found through trial and error that steaming the teas for longer removed much of the bitterness. Even though the processed shape was coarser, the taste was milder and more flavorful. The producers focused on taste rather than the shape of the leaves. 

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Does Fukamushi Sencha Taste Better Than Regular Sencha?

Several decades ago, before fukamushi sencha was distributed, people in Japan only sipped regular sencha. They appreciated the shape of the long leaves that resembled needles, the subtle umami flavor, the slight bitterness, and the golden cup color.

When fukamushi sencha arrived on the scene, they were surprised at its mild flavor and thick body. It had less of a grassy taste, yet the brewed infusion looked deceptively dark and strong. Producers were were still concerned about the shape of the processed tea leaves, as tea was often given as a gift. At that time, the more sencha leaves could retain there needle shape, the more the tea was seen to be more premium, more expensive. Today, Japanese people appreciate the flavor, aroma and color of fukamushi sencha and appreciate it as a gift too. 

Whichever sencha you like is totally up to you. It isn't so much a question of "this or that" but more so a statement of "this and that". Both versions of sencha have their perks. It's similar to how you like your vegetables. Depending on the veggie, they can be cooked for a shorter or longer time, effecting texture and flavor. However, while vegetables might lose some nutritional value if cooked for too long, tea leaves don't lose beneficial contents like catechins, vitamins and antioxidants if steamed for longer. 

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Growing Area

Although Makinohara is the origin of fukamushi sencha, it is now produced all over Japan. Shizuoka, Uji, Kagoshima, Yame, Sayama, and many other areas produce fukamushi sencha. Den's Tea carries fukamushi sencha from different parts of Japan, each with their own characteristics. 

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Manufacturing Process

Here is a video of the Matsushita tea farm where our Organic Fukamushi Sencha is produced. 

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Brewing Technique

Another reason why fukamushi sencha has became so popular in Japan is because it is easy to brew. While the temperature or quality of water affects the taste of regular Sencha, you can have a pretty consistent cup with fukamushi sencha, even if you brew it casually.

The extra steaming process used to make fukamushi causes the ingredients to be extracted quickly, so you just need to brew for 30 seconds or less. Also, here's an important hint on how to brew it for a deep, green cup. You should decant the tea intermittently, a little bit at a time (at least 5 short pours), by repeating an up and down motion. This is demonstrated by the kyusu on the right in this video:

As seen on the left side, a single pour of fukamushi sencha doesn't come out as dark as the pour on the right. Short, intermittent pours can help to increase the strength of the cup. Knowing this, you can make your tea stronger or weaker based on how much you intermittently pour or not. Japanese tea benefits from this style of brewing, but especially fukamushi sencha.

Filters for Fukamushi Sencha

Because the tea is coarser, it can easily clog up your tea pot unless you have a wide, fine-holed filter. Make sure to use a Japanese style teapot with such a filter inside.

 

The kyusu above (our Hakudei Asamaru Kyusu (M) has a ceramic filter called a sasame. This filter is wide enough and fine enough to brew fukamushi sencha with ease.

This kyusu (our Shima Kyusu) has a 360° fine metal mesh as its filter. The filter catches the maximum amount of bigger leaf material while allowing the delicious tea leaf sediment to flow through.

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Special Health Benefits

Another benefit of the extra steaming process is found in the brew. When you brew fukamushi, the cup will contain a greater amount of leaf sediment as bits of leaves passing through the filter. Further, as explained in the history section above, fukamushi sencha produced in Makinohara contains more catechins because it is grown in full sunshine. The idea is, since your cup of fukamushi sencha contains more sediment, you will be ingesting more antioxidants. If you are interest in learning more about the health benefits of tea, click here.

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Fukamushi Sencha Trivia

Sencha be lightly, medium or deeply steamed. However, before fukamushi sencha became so popular, all sencha were steamed for about the same length of time. There was only lightly steamed sencha before fukamushi sencha so, when we say "sencha" and not "fukamushi sencha", we are referring to the lightly steamed sencha. 

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Makinohara Trivia

The Makinohara area was cultivated for tea by samurais who lost their jobs during the Meiji Restoration. This political revolution took place in 1868, and brought about the demise of the Tokugawa shogunate (a military government), thus ending the Edo period (1603-1867). This revolution returned control of the country to the emperor, which led to enormous changes in Japan's political and social structure and resulted in many unemployed samurai. 

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Cold Brew Fukamushi Sencha

1. Put one teaspoon of fukamushi sencha tea leaves, 5oz cold water, and ice cubes into a teapot and close it with a lid.
2. Wait for 5 minutes.
3. Pour the tea intermittently into your cup. This way, you won't lose all the extracted flavors.
4. You can enjoy another cup with cold water again or hot water.
   
   

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Hot Brew Iced Fukamushi Sencha

1. Prepare a glass filled with ice cubes.
2. Steep as directed for hot tea.
3. Pour out the tea intermittently over ice.

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