Kabuse tea, or is a class of Japanese tea leaf. literally means to cover or place on top, as a hat on a head, therefore kabuse tea is a tea leaf harvested from a tea plant that, for some period of time ranging from 2–25 days, has had a porous material draped over the plant while the young leaves are being produced. Kabuse tea is almost exclusively a first flush tea. Though kabuse tea is usually processed into a green tea after picking, kabuse tea denotes a pre-picking process and the freshly picked leaf can be used to produce any kind of tea, from
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 ...
to
oolong tea
Oolong or Wulong (, ; ; , "black dragon" tea) is a traditional semi-oxidized Chinese tea (''Camellia sinensis)'' produced through a process that includes withering the leaves under strong sun and allowing some oxidation to occur before curling ...
to
black tea
Black tea (also literally translated as red tea from various East Asian languages) is a type of tea that is more tea processing, oxidized than oolong, yellow tea, yellow, white tea, white, and green tea, green teas. Black tea is generally st ...
, or other types.
Background
Kabuse tea leaves are used to produce one of the three most expensive Japanese green teas (the others are
gyokuro
is a type of green tea from Japan. It differs from the standard ''sencha'' (a classic green tea grown in the sun) in being grown under the shade rather than the full sun. The name "gyokuro" translates as "jewel dew" (or "jade dew"). According to ...
and
matcha
is a finely ground powder of green tea specially processed from shade-grown tea leaves. Shade growing gives matcha its characteristic bright green color and strong umami flavor. Matcha is typically consumed suspended in hot water.
Matcha ori ...
). These teas are made from leaves that are hand-plucked and grown in the shade. Shade grown leaves produce superior quality green tea - ''ooika'' is the Japanese term for the "covered aroma" of these teas, which are high in
theanine
Theanine , also known as L-theanine, L-gamma-glutamylethylamide, or ''N''5-ethyl-L-glutamine, is a non-proteinogenic amino acid similar to the proteinogenic amino acids glutamic acid, L-glutamate and glutamine, L-glutamine. It is produced by ce ...
and other
amino acid
Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although over 500 amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the 22 α-amino acids incorporated into proteins. Only these 22 a ...
s that contribute to their distinctive flavor. Kabuse is shaded for a shorter time than ''gyokuro'' it is sometimes called a shade grown ''sencha''. Studies have found considerable difference between the
essential oils of kabuse-cha and normal
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 ...
made from leaves grown unshaded in an open field. Kawakami and Yamanishi found that kabuse-cha contained large quantities of
ionone series compounds.
The kabuse tea process was created to mimic the shading effect of the
tanakake tea process used in the cultivation of tencha which is in turn the base for
matcha
is a finely ground powder of green tea specially processed from shade-grown tea leaves. Shade growing gives matcha its characteristic bright green color and strong umami flavor. Matcha is typically consumed suspended in hot water.
Matcha ori ...
. The term kabuse tea is used for marketing purposes for an above average quality green tea. The covering process is distressing for the plant and can result in damage or disease if not applied and maintained with proper care.
See also
*
Japanese tea
*
History of tea in Japan
References
{{Teas
Japanese words and phrases
Japanese tea