Artisan Black & Sencha Green Tea

Are you a tea lover that wants to become a tea connoisseur? Lipton is here to help you delve deeper into what you already know you like within the wonderful world of tea. If you’d appreciate a finer more complex black tea, then Orthodox is your best bet. If you’re an avid green tea drinker, Sencha will be a great next step to explore.

Meet black tea’s more artisanal cousin. The traditional version of our everyday blend, Orthodox teas are what you get when regular tea leaves undergo a bit more pampering during their preparation. Up until the creation of CTC machines (the clever gizmos that help mass produce most types of tea) all tea leaves were Orthodox.

So, in essence you can think of modern Orthodox tea leaves as a more authentic and classical tea flavor—the sort of tea taste that your great-great-grandparents might have enjoyed. So what makes Orthodox teas so special? Well, it all comes down to the way their processed. Through gentle rolling, these larger tea leaves acquire a delicate flavor of incredible depth.

When navigating the green tea landscape it’s helpful to know that China has a lot of love for green tea and Japan is all about Sencha. This variant on the classic emerald colored tea we all know and love is the most popular variant of green tea drunk in Japan today and accounts for 80% of the green tea that is processed in Japan! Sencha green tea and regular green tea actually come from the leaves of the same plant and differ based on processing methods.

Regular green tea leaves get pan-fried, but Sencha… oh, Sencha tea leaves receive a gentler treatment. After being picked they’re carefully dried and hand rolled, which produces a leaf with more complex character. Though not too dissimilar to its green cousin, Sencha’s delicate umami rich grassy flavors are more reserved and refined.