Supreme Sencha - Loose Leaf Tea

With its kelp-green leaves and aroma of fresh grass and seaweed, our Great Taste award-winning loose-leaf Supreme Sencha calls to mind the coastal area where it's grown. This Great Taste award winner is a beautifully refreshing Japanese green tea with a mellow sweetness balanced by a mild astringency that makes it a perfect morning or post-meal infusion.

Harvested in Ise Bay, Mie Prefecture, on the Pacific coast of Honshu, this outstanding No. 69 Sencha green tea is made in a time-honoured tradition: plucked early in the spring harvest, quickly steamed to halt oxidation, then immediately rolled and dried, locking in the verdant nature of its long, broken, needle-like leaves.

Underscoring Supreme Sencha's grassy freshness is the subtle green hue of the brew, complemented by an outstanding, complex flavour and thick, creamy mouthfeel. Enjoy this tea like the Japanese do: hot in the colder winter months and chilled during the summer heat.

Where does Sencha tea come from?

Sencha is the most popular tea in Japan, representing about 80 per cent of Japanese tea production. At The Tea Makers of London, we work very closely with Japanese farmers to ensure that only the most exceptional. High-quality tea leaves end up in your teacup. Like our exquisite Supreme Sencha, some of the finest examples are painstakingly cultivated by the tea farmers of Ise Bay, whose tea expertise has been passed from generation to generation for more than 800 years.

Supreme Sencha is grown in full sunlight and is delicately hand-picked, then lightly steamed to prevent oxidation of the leaves. Following this, the leaves are rolled, shaped and dried. This step creates the customary thin and cylindrical sencha tea leaf, known for its fine and fragile structure. Finally, after drying, the leaves are heated in a wok to aid in their preservation and add flavour complexity.

The health benefits

Like other speciality green teas, sencha's low-intervention production process helps preserve the mother plant's nutrients and antioxidants. Studies have shown that the health benefits of green tea may include lowered blood pressure and cholesterol,

better resistance to the ageing effects of free radicals – even improved dental health, thanks to its fluoride content. Sencha also has a high concentration of vitamin C, helping support immune system function. But of course, the best reason to drink our Supreme Sencha is its beautiful flavour.

Alternatives to this Japanese loose leaf tea

If you like this tea, consider keeping a caddy of our excellent everyday Sencha or our luxurious Gyokuro green tea in your kitchen cabinet. Double the health benefits of Japanese sencha by combining it with matcha in a caddy of clean-tasting Sencha Iri Matcha or enjoying our antioxidant-rich Sencha Goji Berry blend. Alternatively, for the freshness of green tea combined with the toasty notes of roasted rice, try our Supreme Genmaicha.

Supreme Sencha Japanese green tea is beautifully refreshing when chilled. Learn how to cold-brew it here.