Green tea guide

Green tea is the oldest form of tea consumed. The earliest written references date from the Tang dynasty (618-907), a period during which Lu Yu recorded in the Classic of Tea the gestures and tools that codified its use. Since then, processing has remained remarkably stable: the leaf is quickly heated after picking to halt oxidation, then rolled and dried. This heat - in a wok in China, with steam in Japan - determines the character of the tea. Two schools, two landscapes: a Chinese green tea with toasted and vegetal notes, a Japanese green tea that is more briny, more concentrated.

Green tea is grown mainly in China and Japan, but also in Korea, Taiwan and, to a lesser extent, Vietnam and India. In China, renowned terroirs are concentrated in the provinces of Zhejiang (Long Jing), Anhui (Huangshan Mao Feng), Jiangsu (Bi Luo Chun) and Fujian. In Japan, production is dominated by Shizuoka, Kagoshima and the Uji region, near Kyoto, the historic birthplace of sencha and matcha. Each terroir leaves its signature on the tea: altitude, humidity, soils, but also harvesting rhythms and workshop expertise.

The liquor of a green tea is clear, ranging from pale yellow to soft green. The most common notes are vegetal - freshly cut grass, young shoots - and sometimes toasted, fruity or floral, depending on the cultivars and terroir. Chinese green teas lean towards dry, toasted and chestnut notes; Japanese green teas towards iodine, seaweed and umami. The mouthfeel ranges from silky roundness to an almost crystalline liveliness. Bitterness is never necessary: it is most often a sign of water that is too hot or an infusion that is too long.

Water: low in minerals. Temperature: 70 to 80 °C (75 °C for most Japanese teas, 80 °C for Chinese teas). Dosage: 2 to 3 g per 200 ml. Time: 1 to 2 minutes in a teapot, or several infusions of 20 to 40 seconds in a gaiwan. Green tea does not tolerate waiting between heating the water and infusion. It is prepared in the present, with a quick, precise gesture. A second, shorter infusion often extends the reading of the tea without diminishing it.