- Tea variety
- 芽茶
Mecha
The buds that were sorted out, and taste the most of all.
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.
Mecha is the buds and leaf tips that come loose during rolling and are sorted out when sencha, kabusecha or gyokuro is refined. It is the most tender part of the shoot, and so the part that carries the most umami, curled into small hard pellets. The price follows the logic of the by-product and the flavor follows the raw material, so mecha gives an unusual amount of cup for the money: dense umami and clear green sharpness at the same time.
Sensory analysis
Pyramid and character
Aroma
dry leaf and freshly brewed
- dark greenery
- steam
Cup
mid-sip
- dense umami
- green sharpness
Finish
what lingers
- long
- astringent
- green
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
- buds and leaf tips separated in the refining step (shiage) and dried on their own
- Kinship
- one of the demono, the by-products, together with kukicha (the stems) and konacha (dust and fine fraction)
- Raw material
- comes from sencha, kabusecha and gyokuro, and carries the character of the tea the buds were sorted from
- Quality
- rated in flavor between sencha and gyokuro, but priced as a by-product
- Amount
- produced in small quantities, since the buds make up only a small share of the harvest
In the cup
Brewing
- Temperature
- 70-80°C for finer mecha, hotter water works for simpler grades
- Time
- about 40 seconds with hot water, up to a minute at lower temperature
- Note
- the tightly curled buds open slowly and handle several infusions; measure out less than for sencha, since the pellets weigh more per scoop
Evidence
Sources
- Mecha (tea) (Wikipedia) (retrieved 2026-08-11)
- Mecha (Bud Tea), Tealife Japanese Tea Pedia (retrieved 2026-08-11)
- How Sencha is Made, Part 3: Shiage (Refining) (Tezumi) (retrieved 2026-08-11)