Value Village ／ Everyday know-how
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The tea ceremony gets the attention; the tea that Japanese households actually drink is a different subject. It changes with the season, it is mostly not matcha, and much of it has no caffeine at all.
| Tea | What it is | When | Caffeine |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mugicha (麦茶) | Roasted barley — not a tea plant | Summer, cold, all day, children included | None |
| Hōjicha (ほうじ茶) | Roasted green tea | After meals, evening, with elderly and children | Low (roasting reduces it) |
| Genmaicha (玄米茶) | Green tea with roasted rice | With meals | Low–moderate |
| Sencha (煎茶) | Standard steamed green tea | Guests, afternoons | Moderate (~20 mg/100 mL) |
| Bancha (番茶) | Coarse late-harvest green tea | Everyday, cheap | Low |
| Kombucha (昆布茶) | Kelp "tea" — savoury, salty; not the fermented Western drink | Winter, as a broth-like drink | None |
| Sobacha, kuromame-cha | Buckwheat, black soybean | Alternatives | None |
| Matcha | Powdered tencha | Occasions, cafés, sweets | High (see the matcha article) |
[Verify] Consumption trends with MAFF tea statistics and the Household Expenditure Survey; caffeine values with the Standard Tables of Food Composition.
Summer is barley tea; evenings are roasted teas. Sencha is the guest tea. A household may go days without a proper green tea.
Barley tea has none; hōjicha little. Children drink mugicha from infancy. Sencha has about a third of coffee's caffeine per cup.
In Japan it is kelp tea — hot water on powdered kelp, salty and savoury. The fermented drink is called by its English name.
A kyūsu (side-handled pot), a kettle and a fridge jug. Water at the right temperature matters more than any equipment (see the green-tea brewing article).
Unsweetened bottled tea is a ¥400-billion market and the standard drink with a convenience-store lunch. Nobody looks down on it; it is what the vending machine is for.
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https://www.maff.go.jp/j/seisan/tokusan/cha/ocha.html
https://www.stat.go.jp/data/kakei/
https://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/syokuhinseibun/mext_00001.html
⚠️ Editorial note: the source URLs above were identified by search. Our working environment cannot reach go.jp domains, so the contents have not been checked against the text. Verify every source before publication and record who checked it and when.
What we share here are ideas and everyday practices passed down among people living in Japan, together with general information drawn from public sources. They are not official recommendations, and they are not professional instruction. Practices vary between households and regions.
This is general information. Results vary from person to person and depend on your own conditions and surroundings.
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