Bancha: Japan’s Everyday Green Tea — Flavor, Culture & Brewing
Bancha (番茶) is the tea that most of Japan actually drinks. Not the ceremonial gyokuro, not the prized first-flush sencha — bancha, the late-harvest everyday tea that sits on every kitchen counter from Hokkaido to Okinawa. It’s inexpensive, forgiving to brew, mellow in the cup, and woven into daily Japanese life more deeply than almost…