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As I think about and get excited for the new teas of 2018, I started to think about sencha.

From what I’ve read, it seems that sencha uses the most fertilizer from any other tea, even in the higher end sencha. Is that bad? I am not sure what is in the fertilizer. Is it just poop or is it chemicals? I am assuming the latter.

Should I avoid most sencha and only go for the naturally grown no fertilizer kind?

Is chemical fertilizer common in other teas as well, and if so in what kinds? I would like to know more.

You can always go organic.

I drink mostly conventionally grown sencha from reputable sources in Japan. But I also drink some organic.

Personally, I would be much more concerned about teas grown in other countries that lack regulations ...

i don't think fertilizer is bad. it pumps up the umami taste.
most organic tea is fertilized, too. but i'm never worried about drinking anything that comes out of japan, organic or not.

but if you want to try something different, check out hojo tea for example:
http://hojotea.com/en/posts-47/
http://hojotea.com/item_e/g25e.htm
http://hojotea.com/item_e/g24e.htm
http://hojotea.com/item_e/g32e.htm

pedant, that is exactly who I was thinking of when I made this post.
I am planning to place a large Hojo order this summer! I have yet to try one of the "natural" kind of senchas.

I don’t normally worry about organic vs non-organic for Japanese tea but focus instead on dealing with reputable vendors like o-cha. But after reading through Hojo’s description of sukigase Zairai Sencha where he claims that it promotes sleepiness I’m ready to try these unfertilized teas.

I’d love to be able to drink Japanese greens in the evening.

Fertiliser, no matter the type, isn't bad for you. However, it can be quite bad for the soil and environment in general, depending on the type and how it's used.

Nis wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 10, 2018 3:14 am

Fertiliser, no matter the type, isn't bad for you. However, it can be quite bad for the soil and environment in general, depending on the type and how it's used.

That's of course true in general but with respect to tea leaves the usual theory is that fertilized plants grow faster which leads to less minerals in the leaves and more umami.