JAPANESE GROWING REGIONS

Tea is grown throughout Japan and Japan ranks in the top ten in world tea production. The premier growing regions in Japan are Shizuoka, Kagoshima, Uji and Sayama. (Den's tea is grown in the Shizuoka Protectorate.) The first harvest of the year, usually in early May, produces the highest quality tea in Japan. This tea is called Shin-Cha or new tea. After a long period of dormancy during the winter, the first leaves of the season are rich with nutrients, including amino acids and catechins. These enhance the flavor and aroma of this first-harvest tea. This Shin-Cha has a bright, luminescent green color, strong aroma and pronounced sweetness. Japanese tea production starts with steaming which stops the oxidizing process of the enzymes in the tea leaves. This steaming process is unique only with Japanese style tea, though. This preserves the green color and aroma of the tea. After steaming, the tea is dried to reduce the moisture content. At this point, the tea is rolled or kneaded to breakdown the cell structure of the leaves. Subsequent processes dry the leaves further and roll them again producing the characteristic needle shape. Before describing some of the more common tea, one special tea, Aracha, is worth mentioning. Aracha, or rough tea, is not finished tea. It isn't sold to consumers because it contains stems, tea dust and the leaves are irregular shapes. Most of the teas described here are made using the same general process with the next manufacturing step defining it as one of the 20 types of Japanese Green Tea. The differences among them have to do with a character of Aarcha or the way each is sifted and blended. Variations of these conditions impart distinctive tastes, colors and aromas.