tea cultivation
茶栽培 cha-saibai
In Japan, tea (cha) is synonymous with green tea, which is drunk on many occasions. “New tea” (shincha) is made from young leaves picked at the beginning of the season. “Green leaf tea” (sencha) is harvested from April, then boiled, dried and flaked by machine or by hand (temomi-cha). “Simple green tea” (bancha) is made from the larger leaves left over after the first harvesting phase. Hôjicha is lightly roasted sencha or bancha. Sweet gyokuro is tea made from sun-protected leaves. Macha, the tea for the tea ceremony (chadô), is produced from dried, powdered young tea leaves.
