What do you prefer and why? Chinese green teas or Japanese green teas.

38 Replies

My favorite is Japanese green tea, matcha, Uji, Kyoto… Uji Cha.
I count on the quality and history.

Before I drank matcha from Uji, I felt Japanese matcha was delicious. But when I tried Uji matcha, I fell in love. I appreciate the “terroir”, like the example of French wines, you would buy ‘Champagne’ produced from the ‘Champagne’ region in France if you want authenticity.. because they are famous for it with a long history. But ofcourse I will try other regions in the future, but only matcha coming out of Japan.

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moraiwe said

I’m also throwing in a vote for Japanese greens. I love the grassy vibrancy and the feeling of drinking a spring day in a cup. I will say, though, I find myself reaching for Chinese greens more now because they’re less temperamental and there’s more variety of flavor profiles overall.

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ifjuly said

Chinese! I like Bilochun, Hou Kui, Dragonwell, Huang Shan Mao Feng…buttery, nutty, sweet, complex while still being super refreshing.

I can handle straight sencha or matcha once in a while but I never love it as much as those Chinese greens—even when it’s good there’s still a grassiness I wouldn’t ever pick as my favorite flavor to drink. That said, good sencha does seem to go wonderfully well with certain dishes. But there have been bilochuns (and most iterations of Laoshan Green) that have figuratively sent me to the moon, all smacking my lips and sighing with pleasure and marveling out loud; that’s never happened with a Japanese green tea for me. And I think Chinese greens cold steep wonderfully too, which is key given the long hot summers here.

I’ve noticed when I do like Japanese greens a lot, it’s partly because they’re flavored/have some extra thing added. I like Genmaicha, and I often love fruit flavored sencha. And some of my other favorite Japanese green teas are more green tea-based than green tea really—hojicha is yummy! I have yet to drink a proper/normal Japanese green “straight” and really fall in love the way I have with some Chinese greens.

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Being half Chinese myself, I would have to go with Chinese tea. I do enjoy Japanese teas, though.

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How is Chinese sencha made? I know Japanese sencha is steamed, but what about Chinese sencha?

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MrQuackers said

Chinese sencha is just steamed as well.

Really, Sencha should only refer to Japanese teas.

There is a specific process the leaves go through.

I am not an expert on the subject, but I have heard that the process was then used on gyokuro as well.

Think of the tea bushes arriving from China to Japan. Then, it takes a while for the processes to progress over time.

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I much prefer chinese.
Japanese tend to be more or less the same. Green, vegetal and bold. You do get different after tastes, mouths feels, umami and so on, but those three words tend to sum them all up.
Chinese teas on the other hand have a much bigger variety of flavors. A Hou Kui is much different than a Bi Luo Chun which is much different than a Huang Shan.

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