''Aracha'' (), also known as unrefined or crude tea, is a type of

green tea Green tea is a type of tea made from the leaves and buds of the '' Camellia sinensis'' that have not undergone the withering and oxidation process that creates oolong teas and black teas. Green tea originated in China in the late 1st millenn ...

produced in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. Unlike most other teas, aracha green tea is produced using the ''entire'' leaf of the

tea plant ''Camellia sinensis'' is a species of evergreen shrub or small tree in the flowering plant family Theaceae. Its leaves, leaf buds, and stems can be used to produce tea. Common names include tea plant, tea shrub, and tea tree (unrelated to '' M ...

, including the leaf blade, leaf stem, broken particles of the leaf, and the fine leaf hair. This often gives the tea a deep green colour and a bold taste though variations are greatly affected by the cultivation and production processes. After leaves are harvested by farmers in Japan, they are then processed at either private or often communal processing facilities where they are steamed, rolled, and dried. At this point, the tea is called aracha and is ready to be sold into the tea distribution channel, where wholesale brokers or large tea companies will purchase the aracha. The tea then is "finished"—the parts of the leaves are sorted, sized, graded, and blended to produce

sencha is a type of Japanese green tea (, ) which is prepared by infusing the processed whole tea leaves in hot water. This is as opposed to matcha (), powdered Japanese green tea, where the green tea powder is mixed with hot water and therefore the ...

tea with specific flavor profiles.

References

Japanese green tea {{Tea-stub

See also

References