Hakuyoucha White Leaf Sencha

Hakuyoucha White Leaf Sencha

Leaves are shaped into traditional oblong needles of light green colour and a delicate sweet creamy, slightly herbal aroma. A light green infusion of soft, smooth, beautifully balanced flavor with wonderful sweet umami, and fresh notes of fresh cucumber, asparagus, and lemon balm. Long, intense, sweet, vibrant, and energetic aftertaste.
Cultivar: Hakusei
Origin: Yame, Fukuoka, Japan
Farmer: Mr Takaki
Harvest: Spring, 2024

How to prepare White Leaf Sencha

Use 5 grams of tea leaves for 0.5 litre of boiling water cooled to 65-70 °C, steep for 60 seconds. Infuse the second infusion for 30 seconds and the third for 60 seconds. Feel free to experiment with steeping time, water temperature, and the amount of tea leaves. You can also read our articles on tea preparation and water quality. These tea leaves are also suitable for Asian-style preparation, which includes multiple infusions: you steep 5 grams of tea leaves per 150 ml of water that has boiled and cooled to 55–60 ᵒC for 20 seconds and in the following three infusions, you steep the leaves for 30, 40, and 50 seconds, respectively. You can also try steeping the leaves in lukewarm water at 37 ᵒC for 7 minutes, or in slowly melting ice.

White tea, Hakuyoucha

(白葉茶, white leaf tea), it’s an uncommon green tea made with leaves that have a color ranging from very pale green to yellow to even white. 

Hakusei is an original white leaf tea shrub that was a result of careful breeding from naturally mutated seedlings that had turned the colour of the leaves into a very pale shade of green. The name “white leaf” refers to the pale colour of the leaves before harvest. It is not white tea as we often see in China (which is more of a production method), but rather a very special type of sencha. 

Similar to how albino-ism exists within humans, it exists within tea as well. Whenever Mr. Takaki would come upon an albino mutated branch he would cut it and replant it, and over 5 years he developed this new cultivar. But even now it is still rare as the production amount is still very low in Japan.  

The combination of this special cultivar and the 3 days of shading before harvest lead to high amounts of L-theanine, which is one of the many amino acids found in tea, and it is the substance responsible for a sense of relaxation when drinking green tea. This tea is also rich in arginine - another essential amino acid that helps with immune system and blood pressure regulation.