Learning how and where to buy bancha tea can be a crucial step in your Japanese green tea journey.
In this article, we are going to talk about what bancha tea is, why you may want to start drinking it and where to buy bancha tea. We’ll also compare it to other common types of Japanese green tea to see what makes it unique.
Without further hesitation, let's get started. 🍃
Before answering the question "where to buy bancha", let's cover the fundamentals
Before we talk about how and where to buy bancha tea, let’s first discuss what it is. Bancha is the second most common type of green tea in Japan after sencha. While sencha is made from the younger sprouts of the tea plant, bancha is made from the older leaves or from later harvests.
Because the older leaves of the tea plant are lower in caffeine, teas made from these leaves like bancha, hojicha and genmaicha will be lower in caffeine compared to those teas made from younger leaves like matcha, gyokuro and sencha. If you're keen on discovering other types of low caffeine Japanese green teas, you can consult this article on 👉 8 Lowest Caffeine Teas
What are some of the benefits of bancha tea
For a complete guide on the benefits of bancha tea, you can learn all about it in our 👉 Bancha Tea Benefits Guide.
1. Low in caffeine
One of the great bancha tea benefits is that it is one of the lowest caffeine tea. This makes it suitable for younger people, people with caffeine sensitivity or those who experience insomnia.
2. High in minerals
Compared to other green teas, bancha tea contains a high amount of calcium, fluoride and magnesium. It can be a good idea to drink bancha tea in coordination to a healthy diet, in order to make sure you are getting your daily intake of minerals.
3. Metabolism
It has been shown that green tea can help to boost metabolism, and this has to be included in one of the many Bancha tea benefits.
4. Blood pressure
According to a study out of Cambridge, the long term consumption of green tea and black tea (3 months or more) has a positive impact on both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Green tea was even found to have a stronger effect compared to black tea.
5. Help with digestion
Because bancha tea is high in minerals, it can also be good for digestion. It is common in Japan for people to drink a cup of bancha tea after a meal. This is for a number of different reasons. The tea has a pleasant, mild flavor, a low caffeine content and it can be a great digestif.
How and where to buy Bancha tea
Now that we’ve covered why to buy bancha tea, let’s talk about how and where to buy bancha tea.
Bancha tea is quite inexpensive, but that doesn’t mean that quality doesn’t matter. It is important to get your bancha tea from a reputable source.
The best way to buy Japanese green tea like bancha is online, as most local tea shops do not carry teas unless they are super popular. Because bancha is a relatively obscure tea outside of Japan, it may be difficult to find.
Having the right mindset when buying Bancha online
Investigate where is the tea produced
When you do buy bancha tea online, whether it be through this website or another, it is important that you can easily find information about how and where the tea was produced. We like to give people as much transparency as possible, that’s why we’ll tell you exactly where the bancha was produced. We even met the farmer in person!
Go for sustainable business that support farmers
After traveling around Japan for the past few years, Nio Teas has met with dozens of farmers and sampled many different types of bancha tea. Our vision is to support these small farmers and artisans.
Ultimately, we decided on one that we thought was the best, and that was the bancha masudaen produced by Mr. Masuda in Shizuoka. If you are interested in trying it, you can find more information down below.
Where to Buy Bancha Twig Tea
Some people also ask where to buy bancha twig tea, but this might be confusing two different types of teas. Bancha tea refers to a tea made from the older leaves and stems of the tea plant, whereas twig tea or kukicha refers to a Japanese green tea made from the stems and leaves of the tea plant.
These teas both have a lot in common, but they are quite different when it comes to taste. Both of the teas are inexpensive and low in caffeine. The kukicha tea trades more on these late summer grass, hay and floral notes, setting it apart from the more woody or cereal notes of the bancha.
What is the best Bancha tea brand?
We believe that asking for the best bancha brand is the wrong question. This is because brands don’t produce green tea, farmers do. At Nio, we are proud to do things a bit differently!
Bancha Masudaen
If you are interested in trying some bancha tea for yourself, you can try our Bancha Masudaen.
This tea is produced by Mr. Masuda, a talented farmer in Shizuoka that is committed to growing green tea without the use of pesticides or chemicals.
This tea is inexpensive and it has a very pleasant flavor that makes the perfect pairing for an afternoon snack. Try it out and let us know what you think!
Conclusion
Thank you all so much for taking the time to read this article on how and where to buy bancha tea.
If you have any questions or you need any recommendations of what tea to try, please feel free to leave us a comment down below. ✍️👇
