Additional Details ------------------------------ Product description: SIROCCO TEA Switzerland - JAPANESE SENCHA - 20 tea bags - This fine Sirocco's green tea originates from the prefecture of Shizuoka on the island of Honsh?. The region is famed for being the center of the Japanese tea trade. The special quality of the soil coupled with unusual climatic conditions sets the region apart and ensures thriving crops. The result is a mild but highly aromatic tea with a light, delicate sweetness. Sencha is a green tea characterized by a distinctive and fresh flavor. It has very evenly shaped leaves that are emerald in color. A typical feature of Japanese green teas is that they are pre-dried with hot air before being treated with hot steam, usually briefly, to interrupt the fermentation process. More than three-quarters of the tea grown in Japanese tea gardens is of the sencha variety. Most regions produces a number of different types, each named according to the manner in which it is processed. Various methods of cultivation are used for green tea in Japan. Sencha comes from open fields ("roten-en" in Japanese) which are exposed to full sun. It differs in this from other varieties, such as Gyokuro, which are grown in reduced sunlight (on "oishita-en"). Green teas should be brewed with water at a temperature of 80?85C (leave the water in the kettle for about one minute after it has stopped boiling).