Sencha is one of those teas that you just have to have in your tea cupboard so why not make the most out of sencha leaves? Sencha is the most popular Japanese tea in the world. Around 70% of all green teas produced in Japan are sencha types, which makes it even more popular than matcha. While matcha is considered ceremonial and culinary tea, sencha is an essential part of every day life in Japan. There are special tea ceremonies that include sencha and you can buy it already prepared in supermarkets or vending machines. Sencha is very easy to brew, saves your teeth from decaying, has just the right amount of caffeine, has a positive influence on immune system and much more catechin in loose leaf form than matcha. Besides, sencha can be used in many different ways. Even after you think your tea leaves are all used up, you can still recycle them in numerous ways. Read our guide and try it yourself.
Drink it first
Sencha is very easy to brew is you follow some basic recommendations. Always use freshly boiled water and let it cool down to 73-75 degrees Celsius. Put 1 gram of leaves on every 50-100 ml of water. Steep for a minute. Next steeping should last only for a few seconds, and third one can be longer. Sencha has a delicate fresh and lightly astringent flavor followed by sweet aftertaste. Drink it hot.
Use the last brew to soak your oats or rice
If you are an oats lover, you can soak your oats overnight in sencha tea. Prepare it the same way as you would for drinking. If you are using left-over leaves, you can use higer temperature. The famous Japanese dish ochazuke is made with sencha leaves. Sencha tea is poured over cooked rice with (usually) salmon on top and few traditional toppings.
Make eye patches
Use paper tea filters and fill them with left-over sencha tea leaves. You don’t need to use a lot, 2-3 grams per tea will be an adequate amount. Make sure they are still warm but not hot, just pleasantly warm on the skin. Lie down, close your eyes and place them on dark circles under your eyes for 15 minutes.
Use tea sachets for bathing
Try collecting used dried sencha leaves in a tin can. When your sencha pouch is empty and you made your last cup, you can reward yourself with one more enjoyment – sencha bath. Fill a few tea paper filters with sencha leaves and close them with a stapler to make sure none of the leaves will find their way out. Fill the bathtub with hot water and add 10 home-made sencha tea sachets. Used tea leaves will still have enough scent and benefits to make your skin feel great. You can use new tea leaves as well, but you might want to reduce the number of sachets.
Feed plants with left-over leaves
And finally, if you tried all our suggestions and still have some left-over used tea leaves, you can give your house plants a nice surprise. You can use them as a fertilizer. If you forgot about your brewed cup of sencha for a couple of hours, you don’t need to pour it out the drain. Instead, water your plants with it. Always be sure that you are not using hot water for watering (teaing) plants. In no time they will reward you with beautiful healthy appearance.
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