Tea Garden - Japan Kukicha - green tea, 500 g

Different types and traditions of green tea drinking

In China, freshly picked leaves were used to brew tea in earlier times. In some food-scarce areas, tea leaves were mixed with rice to make a cake, which was then used with herbs, vegetables and pieces of meat to make a nutritious soup. Later, the fresh leaves were steamed and formed into small compressed cakes or tablets, dried and crushed before being added to boiling water. During the Tang Dynasty between 618 and 903 AD. l. it was common to drink a brew flavoured with onion, ginger, mint, orange pieces or salt. Whisking powdered tea in hot water in 10-12. century was spread by Buddhist priests. Most of the green teas that are imported into Europe come from China and Japan. Chinese teas are dried and shaped immediately after harvesting, such as the classic Chun mee or the small rolled balls of the popular Gunpowder tea. In Japan, the leaves are steam-treated before shaping and drying. This gives them a more pronounced aroma, sometimes even a fishy taste, and more bitterness if they are basted for more than 2-3 minutes. Traditional Japanese green teas include coarse and stemmy Bancha, dark green Sheikha tea needles, roasted Hojicha and Genmaicha with the typical addition of roasted rice. The expensive Gyokuro and also Matcha (powdered tea for tea ceremony) are somewhat rarer. In Mongolia, green tea cubes are used, which are crushed into a powder and mixed with milk and salt before brewing; in Morocco, green tea is the basis for traditional mint tea with sugar. It is prepared in tall decorated teapots from which the finished brew is poured from a height into small glasses.