Japanese Tea Harvest: Seasons and Picking

"First harvest" appears on a Japanese tea, but does it tell you when the leaves were picked and how they were processed? Not completely. Harvest follows new shoots, with no date shared by every region. Ichibancha is the first picking of the season; nibancha comes from the next shoots on the same tea plants.

We read harvest order alongside the region and production method, because "first" alone doesn't describe the taste. If you already choose by tasting, this detail carries less weight. After picking, processing the leaves into matcha takes over from cultivation.

First and second harvest: what do these terms mean?

A tea plant can produce several flushes of new shoots in a year. The harvest order tells you which was picked first. Region, cultivar (the tea plant variety), and weather, however, shift the calendar.

To give a concrete idea, here is a typical calendar for Makinohara, a major tea plateau in Shizuoka Prefecture, according to the prefecture's professional tea council.

In the prefecture, the second harvest comes about fifty days after the first, and many gardens are harvested only three times, in spring, early summer and autumn. These dates shift from year to year, and the rank still doesn't tell you how the cup will taste.

What is ichibancha?

Ichibancha comes from the first new leaves picked in the season. You may also hear shincha, or "new tea," for tea sold when a recent harvest arrives. Japan's tea harvest cycle describes that first flush and later pickings without imposing the same date everywhere.

We'd taste this tea before assuming it will automatically be mild. Shade, processing, and brewing have a say too. A fresh aroma should be judged in the cup that's actually prepared.

What is nibancha?

Nibancha uses new shoots that grow after the first picking. Its timing changes with the region and the tea plant's growth. The name describes harvest order, not a single recipe or quality level.

We'd compare two teas in the cup rather than rank their value by this order alone. You also need to know how they're prepared. If you've already found the taste you want, that comparison is less useful.

Is Japanese tea always picked by hand?

No. Picking can be manual or mechanical. By hand, shoots are selected one by one; a machine covers a larger area. The terrain, the tea being sought, and the producer's organization influence that choice.

Before repeating a claim that a tea is hand-picked, we'd check the method stated for the particular batch. A photograph of sorted leaves doesn't show how the entire harvest was picked. If no picking claim appears, this check matters less.

What role does shade play before a matcha harvest?

For tencha, the leaf milled into matcha, tea plants are shaded before picking. Harvest comes next, before steaming and drying.

"First harvest" and "shaded" therefore answer two different questions. We'd keep them separate on a product listing; if it's too brief, ask what type of leaf it contains and how it was processed.

Does the number of harvests explain a shortage?

No, not on its own. The area cultivated, the share destined for tencha, demand, and stocks matter too. A second picking doesn't automatically become matcha. Dated market figures can help assess a possible matcha shortage, without inferring stock levels from the tea plant's calendar alone.