Japan Kukicha Green Tea

Description

🇯🇵 Japanese🌿 Twig Tea☕ Lower Caffeine🌿 Loose Leaf

The Japanese twig cup — gentle, slightly nutty, naturally lower in caffeine than a leaf-only green tea.

Kukicha is the green tea brewed from the parts most ranges throw away: the stems and twigs that come off the plant alongside the leaves. The Japanese have been drinking it for centuries — what looks like an offcut is actually a softer, sweeter, lower-caffeine cup. The stems hold less caffeine than the leaves, but plenty of the sweet amino acids.

The brew is pale, with a soft, slightly nutty character and a gentle umami sweetness. A perfect afternoon tea — light enough to drink late, full enough to feel like a real cup.

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Stems & Twigs

What most ranges discard — the soft sweet part

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Lower Caffeine

Stems hold less caffeine than leaves

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Naturally Sweet

Soft umami body — no sugar required

✨The Sampson Promise

We only put ingredients in our products that we would use on our own family. Every ingredient has a purpose. If it doesn’t need to be there, it isn’t.

Type

Green Tea (Kukicha)

Caffeine

Lower

Origin

Japan

Format

Loose Leaf

Steep Time

1–2 min

Servings

~25 cups (50g)

Tasting Notes

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Soft Nutty Top

Aroma

Gentle, slightly woody, slightly nutty — the smell of stems rather than leaves. Closer to fresh hay than to cooked vegetable.

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Light Umami

Body

Soft savoury middle from the amino acids in the stems — gentler than a sencha but unmistakably Japanese green. The cup tastes round rather than thin.

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Sweet Quiet Finish

Aftertaste

Naturally sweet, with no astringency — the cup ends quietly. Easy to drink three of in a row without ever feeling weighted.

How to Brew

01

Measure

One heaped teaspoon (about 2g) per 8oz cup. Stems are bulky — fill the spoon properly.

02

Heat the Water

70–80°C / 160–175°F. Cooler than for most teas — boiling water turns the cup grassy. Bring water to a boil and let it stand 2–3 minutes before pouring.

03

Steep 1–2 Minutes

Shorter than most teas — kukicha extracts fast. One minute for a lighter, brighter cup. Two for a fuller umami body.

Water

70–80°C

Time

1–2 min

Per Cup

1 heaped tsp

Re-steeps beautifully two or three times — kukicha gives more on the second pour than most green teas. The lower caffeine makes it the right cup for late afternoon, when a sencha would still be too bright.

About the Tea

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Tea Stems

The Cut

The stalks and small twigs that come off the same plants used for sencha and matcha — kept aside, sorted, and brewed in their own right rather than discarded.

♨️

Steam-Processed

The Process

Like all Japanese green tea, kukicha is steamed within hours of cutting — the steam stops oxidation and locks in the green. Even from stems, the resulting cup tastes unmistakably Japanese.

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Single Ingredient

The Honesty

Just stems and twigs. No flavours, no blending, no additions. The cup is the plant — the part of it most ranges throw away.

In the tin

Japanese kukicha (green tea stems and twigs).

Origin & Sourcing

Japanese kukicha — single-origin, steam-processed, sorted into the stem-and-twig cut. The afternoon cup that the Japanese tea drawer has always held alongside the sencha.