Kabusecha
Kabusecha is Japanese green tea shaded for about one to two weeks before harvest, between sencha and gyokuro in sweetness, umami and price.
Definition
Kabusecha, "covered tea", comes from bushes shaded for a shorter period than gyokuro, typically around 7-14 days before harvest. The cloth is often laid directly over the bushes rather than on a tall frame. The shorter shade period raises L-theanine and chlorophyll compared to sencha, but less than in gyokuro, and keeps some of sencha's freshness and astringency. After picking, the leaf is processed like sencha: steamed, rolled into needles and dried. The finished leaf is a deeper green than sencha and has a sweeter aroma, sometimes with the seaweed-like note called ooika (covering aroma) typical of shaded teas. Mie prefecture, especially the Ise area, is the best-known kabusecha region, with production also in Kyoto, Shizuoka, Fukuoka and Kagoshima. There is no single legal definition of shading time, so products labeled kabusecha vary. Many high-grade senchas also have a short shading period without carrying the name. In Japanese tea competitions, kabusecha is judged as its own class, separate from sencha and gyokuro.
In Depth
Brew at 60-70°C (140-158°F): 5 g to 150 ml for 60-90 seconds. Lower temperatures bring it closer to gyokuro, with more umami and sweetness; higher temperatures, around 75-80°C, give more sencha-like brightness and astringency. Use 10-20 seconds for the second infusion.
Kabusecha is a good test of shading effects: brew it side by side with a full-sun sencha and a gyokuro at the same temperature to taste how shading builds sweetness and savoriness.
Caffeine is moderately high because shading increases caffeine in the leaf; expect somewhat more than in sencha for the same brew. Storage is the same as sencha: refrigerate unopened, use within weeks once open.
Kabusecha often costs about half as much as gyokuro from the same region, which makes it a practical daily tea for drinkers who want shaded-tea sweetness without gyokuro prices or its small-serving brewing routine.
See Also
- Shade-Grown Tea
- Japanese Green Tea