Natural Yanagi

Description

What is Bancha? 

Bancha (番茶) means ‘common tea’ or and is a type of Japanese tea that is popular for daily use. Depending on the specific kind of Bancha, the leaves for its production may originate from a spring, summer or autumn harvest. Bancha can be made from the leaves left-over from the first crop or from late summer growth. Taken from the lower part of the plant the leaves are slightly bigger and have a firmer structure than the ones used for Sencha. After the harvest and steaming, the whole leaves, including stems, go through the same rolling process as Sencha. The end product is slightly flatter needles due to of the different quality of leaves. As it is made from coarser leaves and contains stalks and stems, it is low in caffeine but at the same time it is full of nutrition. As the lower leaves are shielded from the sun by the upper ones fewer bitter compounds are produced, This and the large size of the leaves contributes to the tea’s mild and refreshing taste.

Farmer Profile

The Obubu Team as a whole are responsible for this Tea with each member caring for the Tea Garden, Harvesting and Processing. This tea comes from the Blue Forest Tea Garden, we initially thought to create an organic garden but to do so we would need to wait three years before being able to apply for Organic Certification. We decided that we would only add the leaf which had grown and been trimmed back into the garden. We would aim to provide an alternative to Organic Tea production for the small scale farmers who aim to create delicious Japanese teas in a sustainable business model and delicious teas. This is an alternative solution to a national and increasingly international problem from the Tea Garden up, forget grass roots, more like tea roots!