Pour to the very last drop.
There, everything the leaf has held is gathered.
Sencha is the foundation of Japanese tea, and its depth.
Sencha — the essential form of Japanese tea.
What is Sencha
Sencha is the most widely drunk tea in Japan, and its essential form. Freshly picked leaves are steamed to halt oxidation, then rolled as they dry. It sounds like a single simple process, but the depth of the steaming, the strength of the rolling, and the degree of the final firing shift the taste without limit.
The rolling has a purpose. Bruising the cells while drawing the leaf into a fine needle seals fragrance and umami inside it. Pour hot water, and it begins to unwind. To brew sencha is to spend a little time coaxing back out what the leaf has kept.
The Last Drop
Sencha has an idea sometimes called the golden drop. The very last drop left in the pot holds the most concentrated umami — which is why you pour until nothing remains. MIOKA's sencha, HITOSHIZUKU, takes its name from that moment of concentration; hitoshizuku means a single drop.
Organically grown Yabukita from Wazuka, Kyoto, certified under Organic JAS. Behind a fresh astringency, a quiet sweetness lingers — a cup that belongs in the middle of an ordinary day, at the start of a morning or alongside the work of a table.
How to Brew
| Leaves | 4–5 g (for two) |
| Water | approx. 200 ml at 70–80℃ (pouring it once into a cup first brings it to about the right temperature) |
| Steeping | approx. 60 seconds |
| Pouring | A little at a time, alternating, to the last drop |
Cooler water draws out umami; hotter water brings forward fragrance and freshness. Take umami in the first infusion, then use slightly hotter water for the second and let the freshness come through — two expressions from the same leaves.
Teapots and cups: Kyusu (HISHIMA, Mino ware)・Kyusu (KOKUGEN, Shigaraki ware)・Yunomi sets. To see where sencha sits within Japanese tea as a whole, read A Map of Japanese Tea.
What the leaf sealed away, a drop at a time.
We named the tea after that last drop.
Fragrance Beyond Time and Borders.
