Drink green tea daily and you may live a longer life, according to this study. This isn't surprising, considering it's just nutrient-rich green leaves steeped in water. This article by a Registered Dietitian covers high-antioxidant Sencha Japanese green tea, its health benefits, and how to prepare it. Find out more about the health benefits.
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🍵 What is Sencha Green Tea?
Sencha Green Tea is a popular Japanese green tea made from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant. Unlike black tea, it isn't fermented, so it keeps its green color and natural antioxidants. The leaves are steamed, rolled, and dried, giving the tea a bright green color and fresh, grassy taste. Japanese green tea, like Sencha, has high levels of antioxidants called catechins, which are linked to preventing and treating chronic diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
You can brew Sencha tea leaves two to three times before they lose their grassy flavor, so don't throw them away after the first cup.
🫖 Lead Contamination in Tea
Where tea is grown plays a big role in lead levels. Sencha, sourced from Japan, has lower lead exposure. Lead is harmful and can affect almost every organ in the body, with higher soil lead levels leading to more in the tea leaves. China, a major tea exporter, has seen concerns rise about lead in their tea due to rapid industrial growth. Studies show that Chinese and Indian green teas have the highest levels of toxic heavy metals.
Sencha green tea is made from young leaves picked early in the season. These younger leaves have much less lead than the mature leaves used for black and oolong teas. Green and white teas, which also use younger leaves, contain less lead and release even less of it when brewed. As a result, the health risk from lead in green tea is up to 100 times lower than in oolong and black teas.
👩🏽⚕️ What Are the Health Benefits?
Green tea has been shown to help fight cancer, improve insulin sensitivity, and lower the risk of death from heart disease by improving arterial function within hours of drinking it.
Drinking five cups (about one pot) daily is linked to lower death rates from all causes, especially heart disease. While green tea extract pills might seem convenient, a study in the journal Liver Transplantation warns that these pills can cause severe liver damage.
A review of 96 studies suggests that drinking three more cups (720 ml) of tea daily could lower the risk of early death by 24%, potentially extending your lifespan by about two years.
I drink my Sencha green tea plain. If you add milk, avoid cow's milk, as its proteins can block the beneficial phytonutrients. Plant-based milks like soy, rice, or nut milk don't have this effect.
Learn more about the health benefits in my article at Real Simple.
🌿 Fukamushi Sencha vs. Sencha
Sencha's flavor depends on how it's steamed. Short-steamed sencha has a milder taste, while Fukamushi sencha, steamed longer, has stronger, cooked vegetable flavors. Regular sencha, also called 'chu mushi sencha', falls in between, with a mix of fresh and cooked flavors.
The key difference is in nutrients. Fukamushi sencha's longer steaming breaks down the leaves more, releasing more nutrients into your cup. This also gives it a richer flavor and brighter color compared to regular sencha.
My Hibiscus Tea and Chamomile Tea recipes inspired this recipe. If you have trouble sleeping throughout the night, try my Cranberry Water. See this healthier filtered coffee recipe to find out if your coffee is raising your cholesterol!
👩🏼🌾 Ingredients
- Use organic Sencha loose-leaf green tea (Fukamushi or regular Sencha).
- For a budget-friendly option, use tea bags tested for their Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) content, the main antioxidant in green tea.
- Avoid using tea bags those silky pyramid-shaped tea bags are often made of nylon, a type of plastic. A study found that just one plastic tea bag can release a billion microplastic particles into your drink.
SHOP MY FAVORITE PRODUCTS BELOW. See the recipe card for quantities.
🍃 Substitutions
- For a budget-friendly alternative, use green tea bags tested by Consumer Labs for their EGCG (a key antioxidant) content.
- For Sencha green tea, choose Fukamushi or organic Sencha loose-leaf tea.
All products are linked below. For more healthy beverages, visit my Health Drinks recipes page.
📖 How to Make Sencha Green Tea
For the full recipe with quantities, scroll down to the bottom of the post. This is an overview.
Step 1: Place the tea leaves into a tea infuser.
Step 2. Pour water heated to around 170º F over the tea leaves.
Step 3. Let the tea steep for 2 to 3 minutes, adjusting the time based on how strong you like your tea.
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✔️ Expert Tips
- Enjoying green tea at least an hour before or after a meal is best, as it may interfere with iron absorption.
- I use a personal tea maker to brew single-serve cups of tea. The tea maker includes an insulated heatproof glass cup, a loose tea infuser, and a lid that doubles as a coaster.
- I use Sencha loose-leaf tea. It arrives in a compact vacuum seal pack. It has a delicate fresh floral grass flavor. I reuse the tea leaves up to three times to make three cups, which is the minimum amount recommended in this umbrella study on the longevity benefits of green tea.
- I recommend a kettle with adjustable temperature controls, making it easy to brew the perfect cup of tea or coffee at just the right temperature.
- The ideal temperature to brew sencha is typically between 160°F and 170°F (70°C to 77°C). This helps preserve the delicate flavors and prevents the tea from becoming too bitter.
- It's beneficial to have some tea leaf particulates in the tea, so there's no need to worry if you see them.
- Re-steeping: It is generally recommended to re-steep tea within an hour of the first brew to maintain flavor and freshness while avoiding oxidation and bacteria growth.
- Storage: The vacuum-sealed bag I received is dated for a year out and arrived fresh.
🙋🏽♀️ Recipe FAQs
Green tea does not inhibit iron absorption. However, this study found that drinking black tea while eating a meal with iron-rich porridge can reduce the amount of nonheme iron your body absorbs. However, waiting one hour after eating before drinking the tea lessens this effect, and your body can absorb more non-heme iron. Alternatively, you can add a squeeze of fresh lemon to your meal to counteract this effect.
The ideal temperature to brew sencha is typically between 160°F and 170°F (70°C to 77°C). This helps preserve the delicate flavors and prevents the tea from becoming too bitter.
To brew a pot of loose-leaf Japanese green tea, use 1 teaspoon of tea per 3.4 ounces of water heated to about 170º F. Place the leaves in the teapot, pour the water over them, and let it steep for about 3 minutes.
For the first steeping, you can use a lower water temperature, around 160ºF, and steep it for about 1 minute. Do this for the first two brews. Then increase the temperature by just a couple of degrees and add 30 seconds to the steeping time to help keep the tea strong and flavorful. The third brew has a bit more complexity but is milder than the first two, and each subsequent brew gets noticeably milder.
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Sencha Green Tea
Ingredients
- ¾ to 1 teaspoon green tea leaves organic Sencha or Fukamushi
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Instructions
- Place the tea leaves into a tea infuser.
- Pour water heated to around 170º F over the tea leaves.
- Let the tea steep for 2 to 3 minutes, adjusting the time based on how strong you like your tea.
- Remove the infuser and set it aside with the leaves. You can reuse it for at least two more brews.
Notes
- Use about 1 teaspoon of Sencha per cup of tea. Heat the water to 160º to 170º F (70-77°C). If your kettle doesn't have temperature settings, pour near-boiling water into a heatproof container like a Pyrex and let it cool for about 2 minutes to reach the desired temperature.
- I use this personal tea maker for single-serve cups. It includes an insulated heatproof glass cup, a loose tea infuser, and a lid that doubles as a coaster.
- I recommend using a kettle with adjustable temperature controls, which makes it easy to brew the perfect cup of tea or coffee at the ideal temperature.
Nutrition
This information is provided as a courtesy and is only an estimate. Nutritional values may vary depending on factors such as product types and brands used.
KB says
Weekday mornings it's much easier for me to make a cup of Matcha tea, how does that compare to loose leaf green tea?
(On weekends I brew a pot of loose leaf green tea with hibiscus)
Nisha Melvani, RDN says
The milk you add to matcha can blunt the benefits slightly. However, sticking to your matcha is just fine, but pick a top quality one.
Mara says
Hi, thank you for all this info. Can you recommend a safe (ie low lead, organic, no plastic in tea bag) DECAF green tea? I can’t seem to find one. Thanks!
Nisha Melvani, RDN says
There is a section in the post with a link to all my favorite tested brands https://amzn.to/3TjHCng
Lori says
The link for the personal tea maker isn’t working…
Nisha Melvani, RDN says
All links are updated now.
Judy Turner says
Can I use a pot instead of a kettle for the water?
Nisha Melvani, RDN says
Yes! But be mindful when pouring.
Peter Madonna says
Nisha Nisha Nisha!!!
You’re an amazing person and I enjoy your content immensely!!
I admire appreciate and respect your vast knowledge and expertise in nutrition and health pairing the best recipes and ingredients for a tasty meal and on longevity aspects which boost the appeal big time!! Thank you thank you etc etc!!
Can you tell me where you found the tea strainer/infuser you use; which seem to fit perfectly on the cup and/or the teapot you used when posting recently where the Hibiscus Tea I believe, had the teapot and infuser combo.?? It was a clear glass teapot with the infuser built into the middle of the glass pot and looks amazingly practical!!
Where I can find one?? Can you share the details? Do you sell them? I sure would like to have resources for both the teapot and the individual strainer type infuser that fits on top of the cup.
There really aren’t words to express my gratitude for the quality of your recipes as this is the way I want to eat to live well! It’s sure working well for You!!
Thanks again!
Nisha Melvani, RDN says
Thank you for your kind comment.The purchase links are in the blog post! Email me from my ABOUT ME page if you cannot find them. Thanks
Sarah Manley says
*add ice
Sarah Manley says
The purchase link for the tea infuser is not in the blog post. Please add. Also is it just as healthy if after it brews I add and drink it cold?
Nisha Melvani, RDN says
Yes it is perfect cold too! Links are all here: https://cookingforpeanuts.com/links/ Look under Teas & Health Drinks
Ruth Mc Donnell says
Great recipe
Nisha Melvani, RDN says
Thank you so much.