GABA Sencha Green Organic
This is a Japanese sencha, a loose-leaf green tea, but an unusually smooth and buttery one. Where a traditional sencha is bright and grassy, this is rounder and mellower: still full of that classic sencha character, the notes of spinach, umami and a whisper of the sea, but with a buttery smoothness that makes it remarkably easy to drink. One reviewer put it well: it doesn't leave your taste buds dry the way some green teas can. It is organic, grown in Shizuoka, Japan's great tea region, from the classic Yabukita leaf.
First, a quick word on sencha, if it is new to you. Sencha is Japan's everyday green tea. What separates any green tea from a black one is not the leaf but what happens just after picking: green leaves are heated quickly to halt oxidation and lock in their fresh character. In Japan that heating is done by steaming, and it is what gives sencha its bright, savoury, vegetal taste.
Now, the GABA part, since it is in the name. GABA, or gamma-aminobutyric acid, is a compound that occurs naturally in tea leaves, and one your body makes on its own too. It is usually present only in small amounts, but back in the 1980s a Japanese researcher, Dr Tsushida, found that working the leaves in an oxygen-free, nitrogen-rich environment raises their natural GABA considerably, to the level a tea has to reach before it can be called a GABA tea. That same processing is also what lends this sencha its distinctive buttery smoothness.
I will be honest with you about the rest. This is a tea, not a supplement; a cup contains far less GABA than a capsule, and questions remain about how much of it your body actually takes up from a drink. So I will not make you promises about what it will do; I am a tea seller, not a doctor. There is a great deal written about GABA if you would like to read up and make your own mind up. What I will happily stand behind is the flavour of the cup itself.
It is a proper tea, so there is caffeine in it, and it is best without milk. Being a green tea, it likes cooler water; brew at 75°C for two minutes, and you will get three good infusions from the leaves.
Ingredients || Organic Green Tea
Warning, packed in an environment that contains nuts
Caffeine || Yes
Tasting Notes || Smooth and buttery, with spinach, umami and a savoury, marine note
Brewing Notes || 1 tsp per cup and brew at 75°C for 2 minutes.