While most of the Western world tea drinkers predominantly drink a cup of black tea to get started in the morning, in Japan, you’ll find a different popular morning beverage: green tea.

Grown in multiple regions throughout Japan, green tea is the only tea that the country produces. Black tea was produced for a short period in the nineteenth century, but green tea won out in popularity and is now the preferred tea of Japan. The majority of the commercially produced green tea in Japan is a blend of different types from multiple areas of the country. 

If you would like to purchase authentic Japanese green tea, you may be paying slightly more for a premium brand. The maximum quantity of green tea produced in Japan is limited, so the focus of production lies more on higher-quality tea products.

Green tea first arrived in the ninth century after Buddhist monks planted tea seeds in Japan. Tea drinking did not become more popular until around the twelfth century when the Buddhist priest Eisai planted tea seeds in different regions of Japan and promoted the health qualities of drinking green tea. 

The seeds that Eisai planted were said to be one of the finest qualities of teas. It is believed that the Uji region is one area where Eisai planted his seeds, and subsequently, this location is where most of the green tea industry in Japan takes place. Other areas of Japan that grow green tea leaves include Honshu, Shizuoka, Gifu, Shiga, and Kyushu.

The most popular Japanese green tea types include:

Sencha. This type of green tea is Japan’s most commonly produced tea and makes up about 80% of all green tea made in Japan.

Matcha. A green tea that is ground into a powder. It is typically found in use in traditional Japanese tea ceremonies.

Fukamushicha. A green tea similar to Sencha but has slight variations in the production process. The leaves are steamed for a longer time than Sencha.

Shincha. These tea leaves are made from the initial harvest and feature only young leaves. This type of tea can be from any region and is usually considered a higher quality.

Genmaicha. A unique type of green tea, the leaves of Sencha tea are blended with baked puffs of rice.

Bancha. Bancha is a lower-quality tea leaf that grows on the same plants as the Sencha tea leaves. It is harvested after the Sencha tea leaves have been plucked.

At the beginning of green tea production in Japan, leaves were hand-picked and dried, which created a time-consuming and labor-intensive process. Today, most of the Japanese tea industry uses modern technology to harvest tea leaves. Machinery now does the work of the green tea harvesting ancestors from ancient times. There are a few green teas that are still harvested and dried by hand, but this process only belongs to teas of premium quality and more expensive prices.