Kabusecha

Japanese Characters: 冠茶

Meaning – ‘Covered Tea’, appropriately named as it is shaded for one week before harvesting.

“Kabusecha” or figuratively known as “Covered Tea” is classified as a form of  “Sencha”.

What is Kabusecha?

Kabusecha is broadly classified as sencha.  The price is slightly cheaper than gyokuro.
Like gyokuro, these tea leaves are grown up under the shade of straw, but the shading period is shorter than that of gyokuro.

The name “kabuse” is said to be derived from such “kabuse”, the material covering the plant during growth.

Appearance

Kabusecha has a similar appearance to Sencha, a light-medium grass green.

Kabusecha tea leaves are deep, glossy green and when packaged, contains a moderate amount of stems.
They have little sediment when poured because the large leaves are resistant to steam processing.

Cultivation

A characteristic feature of kabusecha is the growing method.
Like the leaves of Gyokuro, kabusecha leaves grow under a shield made by loosely woven cotton cloth or straw, but the shading period is about 1/3 shorter than gyokuro, only 3-10 days as apposed to 20-30 days.
This avoids direct sunlight, causing the plant to increase the nutrient content of the leaves.

Another difference between kabusecha and gyokuro lies in the type of shield.
Contrary to gyokuro which is indirectly protected by a roof-like shield, kabusecha leaves wear blankets.
To grow gyokuro leaves, the curtain covers the whole tea field, but to raise kabusecha, cloths cover each tea-plant, respectively.

What is more, cutting off sunlight reduces catechin (a chemical cause
of bitterness) and extracts L-Theanine – an essense of good flavor in tea leaves.

The colour of the leaves is a deeper green than leaves grown for traditional sencha.

Taste

This tea has a wide variety of tastes according to the preparation method.

The taste of Kabusecha holds the invigorating freshness of sencha and the high grade taste of gyokuro.
Kabusecha has a mellower taste than sencha and has a refreshing and sweet aftertaste.

The most popular brewing methods are similar to sencha or gyokuro, but iced-tea brewing is also popular.
When brewed as gyokuro, it produces a pleasant, sweet taste, with a bright green colour and a noble aroma.
Brewed as sencha it can become a little cloudy, with a deep green colour that brings out a richer bitterness than sencha.

Some people prefer to use boiling water for the first brewing, but heat sometimes breaks the odour and sweetness.  It would be better to use boiling water for the second or third brewing.

Preparation

Please see our How to prepare Kabusecha guidelines.