Understanding the Differences Between Matcha and Sencha

When you think of Japanese tea, what comes to mind?
Matcha has become popular around the world. With its vivid green color and distinctive flavor, it is now enjoyed in many forms, from traditional tea to matcha lattes and desserts.Sencha, on the other hand, is one of the teas most deeply rooted in everyday life in Japan.

Tea drinking began to spread in Japan from the late 1100s. At the time, there was no modern technology for keeping fresh tea leaves in good condition for long periods, so tea was typically steamed, dried, stored, then ground finely and mixed with hot water before drinking. This practice eventually developed into the culture of matcha and the Japanese tea ceremony.
By the 1700s, methods of steaming, rolling, and drying tea leaves had developed into the foundations of modern sencha production. This helped establish a culture of brewing loose tea leaves in a teapot and enjoying the extracted flavors.
While matcha became closely associated with the Japanese tea ceremony and traditional culture, sencha became deeply integrated into everyday life — at home, in the workplace, and around the dining table.
Here, we explore the differences between matcha and sencha, as well as what we at RAKUDA find especially fascinating about sencha.

What Are Matcha and Sencha?

Both matcha and sencha are green teas made from tea leaves.The main differences lie in how the leaves are grown, processed, and ultimately enjoyed.

Matcha: Drinking the Tea Leaf Itself
Matcha is made from Tencha, a type of tea leaf that is generally shaded from sunlight for around two to three weeks before harvest.
After harvesting, the leaves are steamed and dried without being rolled as sencha leaves are. Stems and veins are then removed to produce tencha, which is finely ground, traditionally using a stone mill, to create matcha.
The traditional way to prepare matcha is to combine the powder with hot water in a tea bowl and whisk it using a chasen, or bamboo tea whisk.
Because the powdered leaf itself is consumed, matcha allows you to take in the tea leaf as a whole rather than only the components that dissolve into water.

Sencha: Drawing Flavor from the Tea Leaves
Sencha is Japan's most commonly consumed type of green tea.Fresh tea leaves are steamed, rolled, and dried. To prepare the tea, the leaves are placed in a kyusu teapot and infused with hot water, drawing out their umami, aroma, sweetness, and astringency.Japanese green tea also includes many other styles. Gyokuro, for example, is grown under shade before harvesting, while Tamaryokucha is characterized by its gently curled leaves.Differences in cultivation and processing create a wide range of flavors and aromas within Japanese tea.

The Main Differences Between Matcha and Sencha

Differences in Flavor and Texture

Matcha is known for its concentrated umami and smooth, full-bodied texture.
Because the powdered leaf is consumed directly, its flavor is dense and pronounced.
Sencha offers a different experience. Its lighter body can contain layers of umami, sweetness, astringency, and aroma.
One of the most interesting things about sencha is that the same tea leaves can taste different depending on how you brew them.
Using cooler water generally reduces bitterness and astringency while allowing sweetness and umami to become more noticeable. At higher temperatures, compounds such as caffeine and catechins are extracted more readily, often producing a stronger impression of bitterness and astringency.The amount of tea leaves, water temperature, volume of water, steeping time, and even the characteristics of the water itself can all influence the final cup.Sencha can also be infused several times.By changing the temperature or steeping time between the first and second infusion, the same leaves can reveal completely different characteristics.Rather than drinking one fixed expression of a tea, you can explore and adjust it according to your own preferences.

That sense of discovery is one of the pleasures of sencha.

Caffeine, Theanine, and Catching

Both matcha and sencha contain compounds commonly associated with tea, including caffeine, theanine, and catechins.However, because matcha involves consuming the powdered leaf itself while sencha is prepared by extracting compounds into water, the actual amounts consumed vary depending on the tea, serving size, and brewing method.

Caffeine
Because the whole powdered leaf is consumed, a serving of matcha can contain more caffeine than a typical cup of brewed sencha.
With sencha, the amount of caffeine extracted varies according to factors such as water temperature and steeping time. In general, higher temperatures tend to extract caffeine more readily.However, it would be misleading to simply say that sencha always contains less caffeine.Gyokuro, for example, has a different composition from standard sencha and can contain relatively high levels of caffeine.

Theanine
Theanine is an amino acid closely associated with the umami taste of tea.Matcha and certain Japanese green teas are particularly known for their rich umami character.In brewed tea, amino acids such as theanine can be extracted even at relatively low temperatures. This means brewing at a lower temperature can help emphasize umami while reducing the impression of bitterness and astringency.

Catching
Catechins are compounds associated with the bitterness and astringency of tea.In sencha, major catechins tend to be extracted more readily as water temperature rises.Changing the brewing temperature is therefore one way to adjust the balance of bitterness and astringency in the cup.Matcha offers an intense experience almost like an espresso of Japanese tea, with the whole tea leaf consumed at once.Sencha offers a different kind of pleasure: the ability to change the balance of flavor and extracted compounds through the way you brew it.

Neither is better than the other. They are simply two different ways of experiencing Japanese tea.

Enjoying Sencha in Everyday Life

What attracts us to sencha at RAKUDA is the balance between simplicity and depth.You only need tea leaves, a kyusu, and a cup to get started. There are no complicated rules you need to learn.At the same time, the act of waiting for the leaves to open and the tea to infuse becomes part of the experience.
For a standard sencha, you might begin with water at around 70°C. For gyokuro or teas with a particularly rich umami character, you can try brewing more slowly at around 50–60°C, or even lower.
The first infusion might be prepared at a lower temperature to bring out sweetness and umami. For the second, you can raise the temperature slightly to discover a different aroma or level of astringency.Small changes can create surprisingly different cups from the same tea leaves.That is what makes sencha so interesting to us.

Discover More Through a Single Cup
Matcha and sencha are both part of Japan's rich tea culture.
Each has its own history, flavor, and way of being enjoyed.
At RAKUDA, we are particularly drawn to the idea of enjoying the process of brewing sencha itself.The tea leaves, water temperature, steeping time, volume of water, and the teaware you choose can all change the experience.
A small adjustment can reveal an entirely new side of the same tea.

Why not begin by brewing a cup for yourself?
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References
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan (MAFF)
Reference for the history of Japanese tea culture, tea production methods, shade cultivation, gyokuro, tencha, and brewing temperatures.

University of Shizuoka Tea Science Center
Reference for caffeine, theanine, catechins, and how brewing temperature and extraction conditions affect Japanese green tea.