Gyokuro is made with the tea leaves that are grown in fields shaded from sunlight after new shoots begin to emerge, or about 3 weeks before the tea-picking season. Blocking sunlight increases chlorophyll content in the tea leaves and turns the color to bright green.

Uji Gyokuro is the highest grade of all Japanese green tea varieties. After drinking, a mellow and rich taste is left in your mouth.

Kabusecha is made with the tea leaves that are grown in plantations covered with straw or cheesecloth (covered cultivation) to screen the sunlight for about a week. It combines the flavor of Uji Gyokuro and the refreshing taste of Uji Sencha.

Matcha is green tea powder ground in a stone mortar. It is made with the tea leaves that are steamed and then dried without the rolling process. Enjoy the rich and mild sweetness of Matcha.

Karigane consists of stems and stalks that are removed during the manufacturing process of Uji Gyokuro and Uji Sencha. It is characterized by the distinctive taste of stems.

Hojicha is composed of Uji tea leaves that are roasted at a high temperature to bring out the rich aroma. It is gentle to the body because of the low caffeine content, so recommendable for small children and elderly people.

As the name connotates (Bancha means "late harvest tea"), Kyobancha is made with fully grown up tea leaves. “Bancha” in general is processed by kneading the old tea leaves,  but“Kyobancha”, or Bancha produced in Kyoto, is made in a different way. The tea leaves are firstly steamed, then dried without the kneading process, and after that roasted like Hojicha. A lot of fragmented leaves and stems can be found in Kyobancha. Kyobancha has a fragrant aroma. 

Approximately 2 grams per person (for Sencha)

Approximately 3 grams per person (for Gyokuro)

 Boil water for about 5 minutes. Then let the water cool down to the appropriate temperatures as indicated below.

When hot water is poured into a teapot, its temperature drops by approximately 10 degrees. In turn, the teapot becomes warm, thereby enhancing the taste of tea.

Appropriate water temperatures:

70 ℃ (for Sencha)

50 ~ 60 ℃ (for Gyokuro)

Tea leaves for Sencha and Gyokuro harvested by hand or shears are processed through a series of steps. Nowadays, most of the steps is done by machines, but this whole process was originally devised based on the principle of manual tea rolling.

The manual-rolling tea production method was devised in 1738 by Nagatani Soen, a tea farmer in Ujitawara. Green tea prepared with this method was superior in terms of color, aroma and flavor, compared to the conventional one, so it spread out across the nation and became the basis for today’s Uji tea processing method. The valuable technique has been preserved and passed on as an intangible cultural asset by Uji-cha Tea Production Method Preservation Association. 

In 2009, the effort to preserve the traditional technique was acknowledged by the Kyoto Prefectural Board of Education, and it was designated by Kyoto Prefecture as an Intangible Folk Cultural Property.