Bancha

Bancha (番茶) - A Japanese Green Tea

Bancha (番茶) is a type of Japanese green tea that comes from the second harvest from the trees that yield sencha. Bancha is a more common variety and is used to make an everyday beverage. Its flavor is variously described as straw-like, and pleasantly sweet and nutty. Because the leaves are relatively older, the caffeine content of bancha is lower compared to sencha, and the beverage has less bitterness. Bancha can be gathered from lower-lying leaves, or from leaves later in the season. As such, in the former case the tea will contain less catechin since those lower leaves received less sunlight, while the catechin content will be higher in the latter case because they have received sunlight for a longer period of time.