July.1998 / GROWING,DRINKING, AND EATING TEA IN JAPAN
Introduction: 　If you head north out of Kyushu - a city that lies at the southern tip of Japan - a journey of 45 minutes or so will bring you into the tea country of Hoshino. As the road carries you through the concentration of closely packed factories, hotels, golf practice nets, houses, offices, and overhead criss-crossing of electric and telephone wires and cables so typical of Japanese towns, it is hard to imagine that after a short drive you will find yourself climbing through hills where bamboo trees densely cover the higher ground and in spring the cherry blossom splashes color among the green, and curving banks of tea bushes grow in profusion on all sides. 　As we travel, my Japanese companions explain the six main categories of Japanese green tea and tell me that the research centers are also experimenting with blacks and oolomgs. Green tea is made by immediately applying heat to freshly picked leaves and then drying them. Leaves that are used for producing 'Tencha' (the green leaves that are ground up to produce the fine powder called ﾔMatchaﾕ that is used in the Japanese tea ceremony), and 'Gyokura' (Jewel Dew), are plucked from shaded tea fields. Leaves that are used to make 'Sencha' (infused tea), Tamaryoku-cha (Jewel Green Tea, with rounded leaf shape), Bancha (lower grade, coarser tea that is also mixed with roasted and popped rice to make Genmaicha, or roasted to make Houjicha), and three lower grade teas that are made from imperfect leaves and buds are picked from fields that are left to the open air and light.
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