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NeKKo
  • Tea variety
  • 粉茶

Konacha

The sushi bar's tea: everything dissolves in thirty seconds.

Flavor profile

Bitternessastringency 70%
Grassdense greenness 65%
Umamiumami 55%
Texturecloudy fullness 55%

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.

Konacha is the dust, bud fragments and small bits of leaf sorted out when sencha or gyokuro is refined. It is not ground tea but sifted, and the difference shows: the enormous surface area releases everything at once, so the cup turns deep green, cloudy and astringent within thirty seconds. This is the tea that stands free of charge on the sushi counter in Japan, under the name agari, because the astringency cuts through fish and fat better than a softer tea does.

Sensory analysis

Pyramid and character

Aroma

dry leaf and freshly brewed

  • dry greens
  • steam

Cup

mid-sip

  • quick astringency
  • dense greenness

Finish

what lingers

  • dry
  • clean
  • short
UMAMISWEETNESSBITTERNESSROASTBODYFRESHNESS

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
sorted out of aracha in the refining step (shiage) together with the other by-products; nothing is ground
Kinship
sibling of kukicha (the stems) and mecha (the buds), separated in the same sifting
Proportion
about a tenth of the aracha is sorted away in refining, and konacha is one of the fractions
Use
served with sushi in Japan under the name agari, and used in tea bags and in cooking
Hue
deep green, cloudy cup

In the cup

Brewing

Temperature
about 80°C, lower for konacha made from gyokuro
Time
at most 30 seconds
Note
the pot needs a fine-mesh strainer, or the fine particles follow into the cup; steeping longer gives no more flavor, only pure astringency

Keep exploring

Related in the Zukan

Shop and journal

At Nekko

Konacha is not the same thing as Nekko's sencha powder or hojicha powder. The powders are whole leaves ground to a powder and whisked into the liquid, while konacha is sifted fragments that are brewed and strained off like ordinary leaf tea. Nekko sells no konacha.