- Tea variety
- 番茶
Bancha
The everyday coarse leaf: hardy, light and low in caffeine.
Flavor profile
The strengths are editorial judgments on a scale within the family, not measurements. They can be compared across the green tea varieties, not directly against another family.
Bancha is green tea made from the leaves left once the fine harvests are taken: larger, coarser leaves from later pickings in summer and fall. The cup turns out light, mild and less complex than sencha, with less caffeine and a lower price. That makes bancha Japan's everyday volume tea rather than fine tea, and the raw material that much hojicha and genmaicha begins as.
Sensory analysis
Pyramid and character
Aroma
dry leaf and freshly brewed
- dry hay
- sun-warmed leaf
- wood
Cup
mid-sip
- mild green freshness
- light astringency
- yellow clarity
Finish
what lingers
- short
- dry
- clean
Character 0-100 per axis, set relative to the other entries in the same family. An editorial judgment of a typical serving, not measurements.
Background
Facts
- Processing
- steamed like sencha, often longer since the leaves are coarser, then rolled and dried
- Harvest
- later pickings, usually the third and fourth, after the sencha, gyokuro and tencha harvests are taken
- Caffeine
- lower than sencha; mature leaves carry less caffeine than spring buds and tender leaves
- Use
- drunk with everyday meals, and is the raw material for roasted hojicha as well as the base of much genmaicha
- Variants
- regional bancha such as kyobancha and awabancha are made by their own methods and taste completely different from ordinary bancha
In the cup
Brewing
- Temperature
- 80-95°C
- Time
- about 1 minute
- Note
- the coarse leaves give off little bitterness, so bancha handles hot water and a large pot; this is a tea to brew generously with food, not to measure out drop by drop
Keep exploring
Related in the Zukan
Shop and journal
At Nekko
Evidence
Sources
- Bancha (Wikipedia) (retrieved 2026-08-11)
- Bancha (番茶), Global Japanese Tea Association (retrieved 2026-08-11)
- Bancha, Sugimoto Tea Company (retrieved 2026-08-11)
- How Much Caffeine is in Green Tea and Matcha? (Ito En) (retrieved 2026-08-11)