The fukamushi sencha caffeine content is something a lot of tea drinkers are wondering about, so we thought we’d make this article to explain the topic.
In this article, we are going to be talking about what fukamushi sencha is, how it’s made and how much caffeine it has.
We’ll also be comparing the fukamushi sencha caffeine to other common types of Japanese green teas.
Let’s get started! 🍃💚
Before jumping into Fukamushi Sencha Caffeine content, what is Fukamushi Sencha?
Before we talk about the fukamushi sencha caffeine content, let’s first define what fukamushi sencha is. Sencha is the most popular type of green tea in Japan, but it’s also the broadest category. It refers to tea leaves that have been steamed, rolled and dried. A farmer can adapt different phases of that production process to produce different types of sencha tea.
Producing different types of sencha tea
For example, if a farmer wants to produce a sweeter tea, they can cut the tea plant off from sunlight for a few days before the harvest. If the sencha is covered for between 10-20 days, it is called a kabusecha.
Through the steaming process, the farmer can also change the type of sencha tea they produce. If a farmer steams the tea leaves for 30-60 seconds, he produces a light steamed or asamushi sencha.
If he steams the tea for 60-90 seconds, it would become a normal steamed or chumushi sencha. Finally, if the tea leaves are steamed for over 90 seconds, the end result would be a deep steamed or fukamushi sencha.
How is Fukamushi Sencha made
First, the farmer will harvest the top 3 leaves of the tea plant. These leaves are youngest, the highest in nutrients and the smoothest and sweetest in flavor. They are reserved for teas like Gyokuro, matcha, kabusecha and sencha.
If you want to know how much caffeine is in a high caffeine green tea like gyokuro, you can read the article to answer the question 👉 What is the Gyokuro Caffeine Content
Once the leaves are harvested, they are gathered up to be processed. They need to be steamed shortly after harvest, otherwise they will oxidize over time and turn into a black tea. The farmer will put the leaves through a steam bath for between 90-200 seconds. After the leaves are steamed, they are later dried and rolled into their final shape.
The impact of the longer steaming process
The longer steaming process renders the leaves more brittle, and they often break into these smaller leaf fragments. You can often tell a fukamushi sencha by looking for these smaller leaf particles. As we will discuss later, this has an impact on the fukamushi sencha caffeine.
If you are interested in the green tea production process, you may enjoy this article on 👉 How is Tea Made
Why does tea have caffeine?
The tea plant produces caffeine as a defense mechanism to protect itself against insects. Caffeine is very bitter and even poisonous to small insects, so it is used to form a protective layer around the leaves.
The younger, more tender tea leaves are more vulnerable to insects, so requires the most protection and the most caffeine.
The older tea leaves are much thicker, and don’t need to produce as much caffeine to defend themselves.
This is why teas made from the younger leaves of the tea plant tend to be the highest in caffeine and the teas made from the older leaves tend to be the lowest.
The fukamushi sencha caffeine content falls on the higher end of the spectrum because like other types of sencha it is made from the younger tea leaves.
Fukamushi Sencha Caffeine content
In a regular serving of fukamushi sencha, you can expect to find about 60mg of caffeine. This makes the fukamushi sencha caffeine content fall somewhere in the middle of other Japanese green teas.
For context, a strong cup of matcha (4 grams of powder) can have 136mg of caffeine and so can a serving of Gyokuro. These are the two highest caffeine green teas you can find.
Fukamushi Sencha Caffeine compared to Low Caffeine Teas
Bancha, hojicha and genmaicha can have as little as 10mg of caffeine per cup. If you are sensitive to caffeine, or you like to drink green tea in the afternoon, you should stick to these lower caffeine teas. If you are okay with getting a higher dose of caffeine in the morning, you can try matcha and gyokuro!
If you’re interested in seeing a complete ranking of teas by their caffeine content, you can read the article to learn 👉 Which Tea Has the Most Caffeine
Fukamushi Sencha Caffeine compared to regular sencha caffeine
The normal range of caffeine in sencha tea can be anywhere from 40-60mg per serving. The reason why the fukamushi sencha caffeine tends to be higher compared to a normal sencha is because more of the tea leaf is released into the infusion.
Because the tea leaves are more brittle, they break into smaller particles. These smaller particles make their way into the infusion, meaning that you get a higher does of everything contained inside the leaves, including the caffeine.
If you're interested in learning about caffeine content of a normal sencha, you can read our article on 👉 Sencha Caffeine
Which Fukamushi Sencha to Start With
If you’re interested in trying some fukamushi sencha for yourself, we recommend the Murasaki Sencha from Mr. Kawaji. Mr. Kawaji is a talented farmer in Southern Japan, and he specializes in the use of deep steamed teas. He produces his teas on a small farm in the countryside, without the use of pesticides or chemicals.
If you want to learn how to prepare your sencha tea, you can read this article on 👉 How to Brew Sencha
