Tea type
Green Tea
Ingredients
Sencha
Flavors
Grass, Marine, Seaweed, Peas, Spinach, Vegetables, Vegetal, Butter, Autumn Leaf Pile, Broccoli
Sold in
Loose Leaf, Sachet
Caffeine
Medium
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by guzzlr
Average preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 15 sec 2 g 10 oz / 285 ml

From Our Community

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42 Tasting Notes View all

  • “This is a sencha sample I got from Harney and Sons so I thought I’d check it out this morning since I’m in the mood for a green tea again. I got the loose leaf sample and not the teabag...” Read full tasting note
    78
  • “Another sample sachet from my Harney order. I was prepared to be completely underwhelmed by this one. I don’t really know why, maybe I just have a low opinion of most senchas used in flavored tea...” Read full tasting note
    80
  • “Since today was a nice, warm, sunny day everyone happened to be out mowing their lawns today. I love the smell of just cut grass, especially when it’s still damp from morning dew. It brings me...” Read full tasting note
    87
  • “I’m not sure who coined the term “sip down” but it’s kinda cute. ;-) Go missing from Steepster for a while and a whole new language gets invented. Wow. I’m on a bit of a sip down quest myself,...” Read full tasting note
    82

From Harney & Sons

The Japanese drink sencha every day & so does John Harney. You may find it to be a very approachable green tea. There are many different Senchas available on the market today… you can count on Harney & Sons to offer one of very high quality.

Try the standard cup of tea in Japan. Nourishing Japanese Sencha is handpicked in spring to draw out a soft, light character found only in the finest green tea. The delicate and clean flavor of this green tea make it quite approachable. To be enjoyed hot or cold, the casual and mellow tea abundant in antioxidants, makes Japanese Sencha an easy everyday favorite.

About Harney & Sons View company

Since 1983 Harney & Sons has been the source for fine teas. We travel the globe to find the best teas and accept only the exceptional. We put our years of experience to work to bring you the best Single-Estate teas, and blends beyond compare.

42 Tasting Notes

89
53 tasting notes

I thought Matsuda’s sencha would spoil me for this standard, more affordable Japanese sencha, but no, I love it! I would describe it as buttery and vegetal with some sweetness to the aroma. The flavor is strong and that first mug easily becomes bitter when brewed over a minute (which I did. Sorry, Sencha). The liquor is clear, vibrant green-yellow, with lots of little particles at the bottom of the mug. Yummmmmm.

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62
64 tasting notes

Smell: Grassy sweet and Oceanic
The taste is sweet and buttery.
Probably an older bag as it is quite flat and ghostly.

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 0 min, 45 sec

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75
523 tasting notes

I love green tea. It was the first and only tea I drank regularly in sachet or bagged form until I discovered loose leaf (and that teas besides green exist. . lol, not really, but…). Back in the day, I’d leave my teabags in the cup the whole time while I drank. Fortunately, many of them were forgiving to my ignorance. The very first loose tea I purchased, naturally, was a sencha. The staple every-day tea of Japan, I thought it would be my one and only. But Sencha and I, we had a rough start. Several bitter and astringent cups later, I ended up getting rid of my very first bag of sencha (and it was a big bag, as I expected to like it). As I got more experienced with tea brewing methods, I gave sencha another shot. Sencha tends to be the most picky of my green teas to brew just right. Could be just the specific ones that I’ve tried, I don’t know. At any rate, when I brewed them just right, they are the best cup of green tea.

So here I am confronted with a sachet of sencha (free sample from H&S). I quite mindfully heated my water to exactly 165F and steeped my sachet for 1min30sec in an 8oz mug. The flavor is surprisingly sweet and not the least bit bitter, but it is weak. If only I could guarantee a way to increase the strength of flavor without adding bitterness, this could be a worthwhile repurchase.

Preparation
165 °F / 73 °C 1 min, 30 sec

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78
172 tasting notes

This is the very first sencha I tried, and it remains one of my favorites to this day because it is a good quality sencha for the money. This is what got me hooked on the buttery, vegetal taste of a good Japanese green. In my opinion, this is the best sencha for everyday drinking. Recommended.

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65
902 tasting notes

Another bag from my coworkers. Again, who knows the age of these bags.

Brewed bag smelled like fresh-cut grass. It’s the smell that happens when you cut grass that’s still wet with dew. Not bad, just not what I was expecting.

Tea itself is very buttery, with a mild grassy taste. It actually tastes very similar to sauteed poke. Probably not something I’ll run right out and buy, but nothing I’d really say no to.

Preparation
3 min, 0 sec

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82
168 tasting notes

A classic Japanese vegetal green tea.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 0 sec

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74
34 tasting notes

Had this at a meeting in tea-bag form recently. Really nice simple green tea, kept me going all day. I’ll have to try some at home so I can play around with steeping times and temperatures, but it stayed pretty good even in the steeping-forever-not-paying-attention fashion that is meetings.

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69
48 tasting notes

Got this in my harney sampler box. This makes me want to like green tea more. It tastes grassy and mellow. I didn’t taste any bitterness. Wanted something light last night and this was pretty nice. I don’t get too excited about green teas cause I lean more towards strong spices and sweet things. But I could see this would be nice to have around for when you need something lighter. I feel healthy and calm drinking it…

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90
15 tasting notes

My tried and true friend. With me daily, consistent quality from Harney’s, a sweet vibrant nectar I adore both tasting and looking at. Life exists for moments with this tea.

Preparation
160 °F / 71 °C 1 min, 0 sec

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83
2 tasting notes

I’ve had this tea a few times before and just received a sample of it with my latest Harney order.
One of my favorite green teas, it has a very buttery taste and still holds the taste of green tea.
The main thing to note about this tea is that you have to be careful about the time and temperature that you steep it at. Many times I’ve had this tea steeped too long or too hot and it’s tasted very bitter. Steep for no more than 2 minutes and then check the taste and and steep longer if necessary. I brewed mine with instanthot water so i let it cool down a bit first.

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 2 min, 0 sec

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