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What do all these tea terms mean?

Green Tea Glossary

Find pronunciations and brief definitions of the terms on GroundGreenTea.com here.  In order to find more detailed information on the subject or related products, click the links shown in blue.
We are adding more words to the list.  Please email us and let us know about the words you would like to see in the list.
A

Acai (Ah-sah-ee):  A palm berry grown in the Amazon. Provides the highest level of antioxidants among berries.

Antioxidants (an-tee-ok-si-dant, or an-tahy-ok-si-dant):  Neutralize free radicals that damage cell structures and lead to various diseases and aging.  >> Green Tea Health Benefits

C

Carcinogen (kar-si-no-jen):  a substance capable of causing cancer in living tissue.  >> Reduce carcinogens with green tea

Catechins  (cat-eh-chins): The strongest of all known antioxidants.  100 times stronger than Vitamin C, and 25 times stronger than Vitamin E.  Catechins have 4 subcategories:  EG, EGC, ECG, and EGCG.  >> How much Catechins in the tea?  >> Green Tea Health Benefits

Chinese method:  With the Chinese method, green tea leaves are pan-fried after harvested in order to stop the oxidation of enzymes.  Only the Chinese method was used to make green tea in Japan until the Japanese method was invented in Uji, Japan, during the 18th century.

EGCG:  One of the subcategories of Catechins.  EGCG comprises more than 50% of Catechins in green tea and is the most potent among Catechin subcategories.  >> Green Tea Weight Loss  >> Green Tea Health Benefits

Fukamushi (foo-kah-moo-she):  Fukamushi means “deeply steamed.”  Steaming green tea leaves after harvest is the unique Japanese method to stop the oxidation of enzymes in green tea leaves.  Steaming retains more natural beneficial components in tea leaves than the pan-frying method.  Longer steaming time breaks the walls of the cells in tea leaves, and consequently, more of the beneficial components, such as color, flavor, nutrition, and EGCG, come into the tea.  Also the longer steaming process produces shorter, finer tea leaves and the tea particles, which are consumed in the tea.  This is why Fukamushi green tea is considered the “healthier green tea.” >> Fukamushi Sencha 

Genmaicha (g-en-my-cha): Traditional Japanese green tea blended with toasted brown rice.  Traditionally, Genmaicha was prepared as a steeped tea.  Genmaicha powder offers more antioxidants than steeped tea, as the entire green tea leaves and brown rice, both in fine powder form are consumed.  >> Edible Green® Genmaicha

Ginseng (jin-seng)An ancient herb that is claimed to help the body prevent and fight diseases.  The active compounds for ginseng’s efficacy are ginsenosides.

Guarana (gwa-rah-nah)Guarana is derived from the seeds of a South American tree.  Guarana has the highest concentrations of caffeine of any plant.

Gyokuro (g-yo-koo-lo):  Green tea grown in shade.  Gyokuro tea is usually prepared as a steeped tea.  Grown in shade, it is high in amino acid, or L-theanine, and caffeine.   >> Gyokuro

Hoji-cha (ho-jee-cha):   Green tea made with roasted green tea leaves.  Unlike Kamairi-cha, Hoji-cha green tea leaves are roasted after tea leaves are dried.  Some tea shops in Japan roast tea leaves in front of their shops. The roasting process reduces caffeine and adds a cozy toasted flavor.  Hoji-cha is traditionally used as an evening or after-meal tea.  The roasting process reduces Catechins in tea leaves somewhat.  However, recent scientific studies show the toasted flavor in Hoji-cha offers a relaxing effect by increasing alpha waves in the brain. >> Hojicha.

Japanese method:  The main difference between the Japanese and Chinese methods is the post-harvest treatment of green tea leaves in order to stop oxidation of enzymes.  With the Japanese method, tea leaves are steamed.  With the Chinese method, tea leaves are pan-fried.  Steamed green tea leaves are “less processed” and retain more natural components, compared to pan-fried green tea leaves.

Kamairi-cha (kah-mah-ee-lee-cha):  Green tea made with pan-fried green tea leaves.  There are two methods to stop oxidation of green tea leaves after harvest:  steaming method and pan-frying method.  The pan-frying method is the traditional Chinese method.  For a long time after green tea was introduced from China to Japan, green tea was made with the pan-fried method, but the steaming method, Sencha, was invented in Japan later on.  Pan-frying method reduces Catechins in green tea leaves.  The steaming method retains the color and antioxidants of green tea leaves better than the pan-frying method.  Kamairi-cha, pan-fried green tea, is still produced in Japan, mainly in southern Japan.

L-theanine (el-thee*-ah-nyn, or el-thee*ah-nine) ‘thee ‘as in “thesis”:  Natural relaxant found almost exclusively in green tea.  It causes alpha-waves in the brain and creates an effect like meditation does  However, it doesn’t cause drowsiness.  Scientific studies show L-theanine is beneficial for brain health, and is a mood enhancer.  >> L-theanine rich green tea

Matcha (mat-cha):  Green tea powder grown in shade.  With a limited amount of sunlight, the green tea leaves contain more caffeine and L-theanine.  Consuming entire tea leaves in fine powder form, Matcha offers 137 times more antioxidants than steeped green tea.  >> MATCHA, >> MATCHA+   >>Differences between Matcha and Sencha  >>Japanese Tea Ceremony Tea >> Uji Matcha

Maltodextrin:  It is made from starch such as corn, potato, oat, tapioca, wheat, and rice.  Maltodextrin is used to make MATCHA+, Best Friend, Double Dose, and Not Guilty and we use the maltodextrin made of tapioca.  Even though the maltodextrin is added to enhance the solubility of powder products, it must be declared as an added sugar on the label if the maltodextrin amounts to more than 0.5g per serving, according to the FDA regulation.  If the amount is less than 0.5g per serving, it is considered “insignificant” and the product label can list the added sugars as “zero.”   Maltodextrin in MATCHA+, Best Friend, Double Dose, and Not Guilty is much less than 0.5g per serving, and based on the FDA regulations, the added sugar to the products is zero.

Rooibos (roy-boss): Rooibos tea is a popular indigenous South African herbal tea.  It is also called “red tea” for its brownish red color.

Sei Mee Tea (say-me-tea): “Sei” means “pure” and “Mee” means “beauty” in Japanese Kanji characters.  Sei Mee Tea company is dedicated to enhancing our customers’ well-being by providing pure, healthy foods with soothing flavors, powerful nutrition and health benefits.  >> About Us

Sencha (sen-cha):  Sencha green tea has 3 characteristics:  1. It is grown in full sun and contains more antioxidants than shade grown green tea such as Gyokuro and Matcha.  2.  Less caffeine than Gyokuro and Matcha due to exposure to full sun .  3.  In order to stop oxidation after harvest, tea leaves are steamed.   This “steaming method” was invented in Japan and preserves more Catechin antioxidants in tea leaves, compared to “pan-frying method” used in China. “Gun Powder” and “Dragon Well” are Chinese pan-fried green teas. >> Fukamushi Sencha  >> Edible Green® Genmaicha

Steaming method:  Steaming method is used for Japanese green tea to stop oxidation of enzymes in green tea leaves after they are harvested.  Chinese green tea uses the pan-fried method.  The steaming method is less stressful to green tea leaves and retains more natural healthful components, such as EGCG, in green tea leaves than the pan-fried method. [horizontal_line]

synergy (syn-er-jee):  The interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.  For this reason, whole foods are superior to processed foods and supplements that offer isolated nutrition.

Tencha (ten-cha):  Shade grown tea leaves that are steamed and dried after harvest and also are flattened.  Tencha is not usually consumed as a tea.  Instead, Tencha is ground into a powder and becomes Matcha.

Umami (oo-mah-me):  Pleasant, savory, meaty taste.  “Umami” is a Japanese noun made from a Japanese adjective, “Umai (oo-my)”, which means “delicious” or “rich in flavor”.  “Umami” is the taste of amino acid in foods, and Green tea is an Umami rich food.  The other Umami rich foods include mushrooms, tomatoes, cheese, meat, Konbu seaweed, etc.   >> Green Tea Cooking Recipes

Uji (oo-jee):  A small area located in the southern part of Kyoto, Japan.  It is known as one of the areas where quality green tea is produced, although production quantity is relatively small.  Also, Uji is the birthplace of the Japanese method of green tea production.

Water process decaffeinated:  A natural method to remove caffeine from green tea leaves.  Since water solubility of caffeine is higher than Catechins or EGCG, water process decaffeinated green tea leaves eliminate caffeine almost entirely but retains 96% of EGCG.   Edible Green® decaffeinated is water process decaffeinated. By consuming whole tea leaves in powder form, Edible Green® decaffeinated offers far more EGCG than steeped “regular” green tea.  >>Edible Green® decaffeinated