Japanese Green Tea

Japanese Green tea (緑茶 Ryokucha?) is ubiquitous in Japan and therefore is more commonly known simply as "tea" (お茶 ocha?). It is even referred to as "Japanese tea" (日本茶 nihoncha?), though it was first used in China during the Song Dynasty, and brought to Japan by Myōan Eisai, a Japanese Buddhist priest who also introduced the Rinzai school of Zen Buddhism.

Types of tea are commonly graded depending on the quality and the parts of the plant used as well as how they are processed. There are large variations in both price and quality within these broad categories, and there are many specialty green teas that fall outside this spectrum. The best Japanese green tea is said to be that from the Yame (八女 yame?) region of Fukuoka Prefecture and the Uji region of Kyoto. The so-called Uji area has been producing Ujicha (Uji tea) for four hundred years and predates the prefectural system. It is now a combination of the border regions of Shiga, Nara, Kyoto, and Mie prefectures. Sōraku District, Kyoto is among many of the tea producing districts. Shizuoka Prefecture produces 40% of raw tea leaf.

Japanese Green tea was featured in every Japanese restaurant.