Chef Takumi
Bancha (番茶)
Bancha is the honest daily cup: late-season leaves, hot water, a short steep, and a clean amber-green liquor that asks for no ceremony to be good.
Culinary Explorer
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Konacha (粉茶, sushi-shop tea dust)
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Konacha is the sushi-shop cup: fine green tea dust, boiling water, and a short steep. Brew it quickly and it turns bright, bracing, and clean.
Beverages
Japanese
Weeknight
Quick Meal
Budget Friendly
2 min
Active Time
1 min cook•3 min total
Yield2 small cups
Konacha looks like sweepings until you understand it. These fine particles of green tea leaf are separated during processing, and because they are so small, they give themselves up almost at once. That is why sushi shops love it. The cup is strong, green, inexpensive, and quick enough to keep pace with the counter.
The first secret is water temperature. Sencha often asks for gentler water, but konacha is not asking to be pampered. Use water just off the boil, then keep the steep short. Too cool and the tea tastes flat. Too long and the bitterness walks in with its shoes on.
The second secret is restraint with the dose. A little konacha has the surface area of a great deal of leaf, so measure it as if it has opinions. Thirty seconds is often enough. The result should be vivid green, cloudy, and pleasantly sharp, clearing the mouth between bites of rice, fish, soy, and wasabi. Nothing hidden. Just leaf, water, and timing.
Konacha, literally "powder tea," is not matcha but the fine leaf particles and tea dust sorted out during the processing of sencha and gyokuro. It became closely associated with sushi shops because it brews quickly, stands up to hot water, and clears oil and rice sweetness from the palate between pieces. At many sushi counters the served tea is called agari, a hospitality term for the cup offered at the counter, while konacha names the tea material itself.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
konacha
Quantity
2 teaspoons
freshly boiled water
Quantity
300ml
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| konacha | 2 teaspoons |
| freshly boiled water | 300ml |
Equipment Needed
- •Kyusu with fine filter, or a small teapot with a fine-mesh strainer
- •Kettle
- •Timer
- •Yunomi cups
Instructions
- 1
Warm the pot
Pour a little boiling water into a kyusu, a Japanese side-handled teapot, then swirl and discard it. Warming the pot keeps the brewing water from losing its force the moment it touches the clay, and konacha needs that heat to wake quickly.
- 2
Measure the tea
Add 2 teaspoons konacha to the warm pot. This looks modest, but the fine particles have more exposed surface than whole leaves, so they brew much stronger than the spoon suggests.
- 3
Brew hot
Pour in 300ml freshly boiled water, cover, and steep for 30 seconds. Do not wander off. Konacha releases color, flavor, and bitterness fast, and the short steep is what keeps the cup clean instead of harsh.
For a softer cup, wait 20 seconds after boiling before pouring. For the sushi-shop style, use the water as hot as your kettle gives it and shorten the steep. - 4
Pour completely
Pour through the kyusu filter into two yunomi, tipping the pot until the last drops come out. Those last drops are the strongest, so dividing them evenly keeps one cup from tasting thin and the other like punishment.
- 5
Serve at once
Serve the tea while the color is bright and the edge is clean. Konacha is not a tea to hold for later. Left sitting, the fine leaf keeps giving and the cup turns muddy and bitter.
Chef Tips
- •Buy konacha from a tea shop that labels the source clearly. Sencha konacha is brisk and everyday. Gyokuro konacha is richer and softer, but still not matcha, and it should be brewed as leaf tea, not whisked.
- •Use a kyusu with a fine sasame filter if you have one. A small French press or fine-mesh strainer works, but pour promptly so the leaf is not sitting in hot water.
- •Konacha goes stale quickly because the particles are small. Keep it sealed, cool, and away from light, then use it within a month or two after opening.
Advance Preparation
- •There is almost nothing to make ahead, which is part of the virtue here. Heat the cups and pot just before brewing.
- •Store opened konacha in an airtight tin in a cool, dark place. Do not keep it near spices, coffee, or the stove, because the tea takes on stray aromas easily.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 150g)
Calories
0 calories
Total Fat
0 g
Saturated Fat
0 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
0 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
2 mg
Total Carbohydrates
0 g
Dietary Fiber
0 g
Sugars
0 g
Protein
0 g
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