Japanese loose leaf green tea · Shizuoka
Steamed, rolled, dried and fired. The tea Japan drinks every day, and the one a grader learns to judge first. Teafy sells two, from two Shizuoka farms we buy from direct: a light steamed asamushi from the mountains at Haruno and a deep steamed fukamushi from Kikugawa. This page is how we cup them, grade them and brew them.
Fresh leaf comes off the bush in spring and is steamed within hours to stop oxidation. How long it sits in that steam is the biggest single choice in sencha. Short, and the leaf stays whole and needle like, the cup pours clear and the flavour is bright and lifted. Long, and the leaf breaks down into fine particles, the cup pours cloudy and the flavour turns full, round and deep. Drag the gauge.
Clear, pale gold green cup. Bright, crisp, a light astringency that wakes the mouth, mountain aroma. This is the Teafy Asamushi from Haruno.
Why Kikugawa steams deep. The flatland tea areas of central Shizuoka get strong sun and grow a thicker, more bitter leaf than the mountains. Deep steaming was developed there in the 1960s to soften that leaf. The mountain farms at Haruno never needed it, so they kept the short steam. Same prefecture, two answers to two different leaves.
Before anyone at Teafy tastes a sencha lot, we spread it on white paper and read it dry. The leaf tells you where it is from, when it was picked and how carefully it was finished, before water touches it. The stem ratio is the part most buyers never look at.
Teafy practice. Both senchas are finished from aracha, the rough tea our growers make, at a partner facility where the lots are sorted, stem and dust removed, blended to our own leaf ratio and given their final firing. The blend ratio is ours and stays ours. The stem count on the finished leaf is checked here in Clayton South on every arrival.
Japanese tea appraisal is the opposite of a nice cup. The grader brews sencha far hotter and stronger than anyone would drink it, because heat pulls every flaw to the surface: bitterness, mustiness, an over fired edge, a steam that went too long. A tea that still tastes clean under boiling water is a tea you can trust at 70 degrees.
Identical white bowls so liquor colour can be compared side by side. Lots are cupped blind, in a row, never one at a time.
Open leaf should smell of fresh steamed green, even in colour, with no red edges. Red edges mean the leaf bruised before steaming, usually from a long wait between picking and the factory.
Clear gold green is a short steam. Opaque jade is a deep steam. Dull, brownish or khaki is an old lot or an over fired one, whatever the label says.
Umami arrives first and should hold. Sweetness sits under it. Astringency is scored last and is only a fault when it dries the mouth rather than lifting it.
Hi ire, the final firing, leaves a soft toasted sweetness on the finish. Too light and the tea smells grassy and raw. Too heavy and it tastes like hojicha.
Steeped leaf should be soft, uniform and bright. Hard stems and uneven colour mean a mixed lot. We photograph this for every batch we accept.
Steam testing at Teafy. Every sencha lot is cupped at four depths before it is bought, so the asamushi is confirmed light and the fukamushi confirmed deep by the cup, not by the paperwork. The results are logged against the batch code on your can.
Everything we score, side by side. Same water, same bowl, same day.
| Light steamedAsamushi Sencha | Deep steamedFukamushi Sencha | |
|---|---|---|
| Farm | Haruno, high mountain Hamamatsu, Shizuoka. One grower, sourced direct | Kikugawa, central Shizuoka. One grower, sourced direct |
| Steam | Short, about 20 to 40 seconds. Leaf stays whole and needle shaped | Long, roughly twice a standard sencha. Leaf breaks to fine particles |
| Liquor | Clear, pale gold green | Cloudy, dark jade, almost opaque |
| Dry leaf | Long dark needles, glossy, low stem count | Short broken leaf with fine powder, which is correct for the style |
| Aroma | Fresh mountain air, cut green, a light fired sweetness | Steamed green, seaweed, a soft roasted note |
| Umami | Clear and clean, builds slowly | Fills the mouth and holds |
| Sweetness | Light, under the brightness | Round, sits behind the body |
| Astringency | Light, lifts the mouth rather than drying it | Present and bold, stays round, never harsh |
| Final fire | Level eight firing, lifts the aroma | Level six roast, soft roasted scent |
| Caffeine | Medium. Below a bowl of ceremonial matcha, well below coffee | Low. Well under both |
| Teapot | Any kyusu, infuser or plunger. The whole leaf is easy | A kyusu with a fine mesh. Coarse infusers let the fine leaf through |
| Best as | Morning, with food, the first cup of the day | Hot or cold brew. The one to put in the fridge all summer |
| Reviews | 4.85 from 505 verified buyers | 4.88 from 465 verified buyers |
| Price | $29.99 can · $27.99 pouch · 100 g about 70 cents a cup | $28.99 can · $26.99 pouch · 100 g about 70 cents a cup |
| See Asamushi Sencha | See Fukamushi Sencha |
The method printed on the can works every time: one teaspoon, 180 ml, 80 degrees, one to three minutes, two or three brews from the same leaf. Below it is the way a tea master brews sencha at home, in three short steeps that each taste different. Both have a timer.
Good to know. If the cup is bitter, the water was too hot or the steep too long, in that order. If it is thin, use more leaf, not more time.
Why it works. Umami compounds dissolve at low temperatures, catechins need heat. Starting cool and climbing lets you taste them separately. Asamushi rewards this most. Fukamushi gives everything up fast, so shorten every steep by a third.
Why cold. Cold water pulls almost no caffeine or catechin, so cold brew sencha is sweet, smooth and gentle enough for the whole household. It is the summer cup at the farm.
The one number. 80 degrees for the everyday cup, 70 for the first of three steeps, boiling only when you are grading and want to see the faults.
Verified by Reviews.io
The Asamushi Sencha has such a delicate, refreshing flavor profile.
Yugesh · verified buyer · Asamushi Sencha
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Certified organic in Japan, the EU, the UK, the USA and Canada. Lab tested in Victoria. Cool room in Clayton South, same day dispatch before 2 pm Melbourne time.
Clean and bright, crisp, with a fresh mountain aroma.
Best forMorningHot
Light steamed · 100 g · about 40 cups
4.85(505)
Lab tested · Agrifood, April 2026
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Airtight can for the bench. Fully recyclable.
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Bold and round, a cloudy jade cup with a soft roasted note.
Best forHotCold brew
Deep steamed · 100 g · about 40 cups
4.88(465)
Lab tested · Agrifood, April 2026
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Airtight can for the bench. Fully recyclable.
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All four loose leaf cans: asamushi, fukamushi, genmaicha, hojicha.
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4 × 100 g cans · save $10
Teas inside4.85(1,976)
| Product | Arsenic | Cadmium | Lead | Mercury |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asamushi Sencha | 0.012 | below 0.010 | 0.051 | below 0.010 |
| Fukamushi Sencha | 0.027 | 0.012 | 0.093 | below 0.010 |
| mg/kg of dry leaf. Agrifood Technology, Werribee, Victoria. ISO/IEC 17025, NATA accreditation 2726. Report 485468, tested 26 to 31 March 2026, issued 7 April 2026. Below 0.010 is the laboratory limit of detection. Retested at least every six months. | ||||
Why the fukamushi number is higher
Lead in tea comes from soil and from air borne dust settling on the leaf. Flatland farms near roads and towns run higher than mountain farms, which is exactly what these two numbers show, and both sit far under any food standard. We publish them because a number you can compare is worth more than the word tested. Read the full report and all eight teas.
Steam time. Asamushi is steamed briefly, so the leaf stays whole and the cup pours clear, bright and lifted. Fukamushi is steamed roughly twice as long, so the leaf breaks down fine and the cup pours cloudy, full and round. Same plant, same spring harvest, two different Shizuoka farms.
Both are correct. Deep steaming breaks the leaf into fine particles that stay suspended in the cup and carry most of the flavour. Use a kyusu with a fine mesh, pour every drop, and do not filter the cloud out. That is the tea.
Less than matcha, because you brew the leaf rather than drink it. Teafy asamushi is medium, fukamushi is low, and both sit below a 2 g bowl of ceremonial matcha at 60 to 70 mg and well below a cup of coffee. Cold brewing pulls very little caffeine at all.
Spreading ten grams of dry leaf on white paper and separating the stems to see what share of the weight is stem rather than leaf. A low count means careful picking and sorting. A little stem sweetens the cup; a lot means you are paying leaf prices for stem. Every Teafy arrival is checked this way in Clayton South.
Because heat exposes faults. A grader wants to find bitterness, mustiness or an over fired edge before buying, not after. A sencha that stays clean under boiling water will be excellent at 70 to 80 degrees.
Yes. Certified JAS, EU, USDA, Canada and UK Organic from the farm through to packing, and every batch is tested for lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury by an ISO 17025 laboratory in Victoria. The latest numbers are on this page.
Sealed, cool, dark, away from the stove and anything that smells. Sencha picks up aromas and loses its own faster than roasted tea. Best within 30 days of opening. Unopened, keep it in the fridge in summer.
Asamushi if you drink coffee black and like a clean, bright cup. Fukamushi if you take milk in coffee and like body, or if you want a cold brew for the fridge. The loose leaf can bundle has both with the genmaicha and hojicha.
Teafy sells two organic loose leaf senchas in Australia, both spring first flush and both sourced direct from single growers in Shizuoka. Asamushi Sencha is light steamed in the high mountains at Haruno for a clear, bright cup with a fresh mountain aroma. Fukamushi Sencha is deep steamed at Kikugawa for a cloudy jade cup that is bold, round and full, and the best sencha in the range for cold brew.
Both are blended to a leaf ratio of our own, finished with a final firing, certified JAS, EU, USDA, Canada and UK Organic, tested for heavy metals by an ISO 17025 laboratory in Victoria with the results above, and packed to order from a cool room in Clayton South. Orders before 2 pm Melbourne time on a weekday ship the same day. Each 100 g can or refill pouch makes about 40 cups.
Also on this site: genmaicha, sencha with roasted rice, and hojicha, the roasted, low caffeine cup for the evening.
Tomorrow morning