Aracha is a Japanese green tea made from the whole tea leaf, including stem and leaf hairs. It is an early stage in the production of other green teas, and has a strong flavor. Different varieties of Japanese green tea are produced by sorting and processing the leaves, with the best grades commanding high prices. The tea harvest occurs in early May, and after steaming, rolling, and drying, the leaves are sorted to produce different grades of tea. Gyokuro is a highly prized tea that grows in the shade before harvest, while sencha is a lower grade of tea.
Aracha is a type of Japanese green tea made from the leaves of Camellia sinensis. The name comes from a Japanese phrase meaning “raw tea” or “rough tea” and refers to the fact that aracha is itself an early stage in the production of other types of green tea. Unlike many other types of tea, it contains all parts of the tea leaf, including the stem and leaf hairs. In addition to its role in creating other types of tea, aracha is drinkable; it has a very strong flavour.
Aracha is just one of many different varieties of Japanese green tea. The qualities of each variety depend on the growing conditions of the tea, as well as the sorting and processing of the tea leaves after harvest. Japanese tea connoisseurs prize the best grades of tea, which can result in high prices.
The Japanese tea harvest occurs 88 days after the onset of spring, usually in early May. Steaming occurs shortly after harvesting, usually within a day. Steaming the leaves preserves their color and scent. The next stage of the process, rolling and drying, softens the leaves and gives them their characteristic rolled shape.
After the steaming, rolling and drying process is complete, the stems and leaves are still blended together. Consequently, the tea produced by this process is aracha or unprocessed tea. The next step is to sort the tea leaves.
Sorting the tea leaves into different grades produces different varieties of green tea. Sorting the stems of the tea leaves produces kukicha or “stem tea”, while other teas consist mostly of the leaves themselves. Other tea varieties come from different processing methods. Tencha or “heaven tea” is made from tea with the leaf veins removed, while maccha or “paint tea” is made from grinding tencha into a fine powder. All of these types of teas come from further refinement of the initial aracha.
Other tea varieties are derived from the growing conditions of the tea. Gyokuro or “jade dew” is a highly prized tea that results from a complicated growing process where tea plants grow in the shade for the last four to six weeks before harvest. After the leaves have been steamed, rolled and dried, the resulting tea is called gyokuro aracha. Sorting the leaves from the stems produces the finished gyokuro tea. Sencha or “steep tea” is a lower grade of tea than gyokuro, and the unprocessed form is similarly called sencha aracha.
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