Tamaryokucha

The same tea leaf used for sencha, but the final rolling step called seijyu — which straightens the leaf — is said to be skipped. Left uncurled into needles, the leaf ends up curled into a shape likened to a magatama bead, giving the tea its nickname guricha. It's said to come in two lines: steamed, and pan-fired in an iron kettle. Its liquor tends toward a slightly yellow-tinged green, with steamed versions carrying a grassy aroma and pan-fired versions the toasty kamaka aroma.

Steamed tamaryokucha stops oxidation with steam, just like sencha, while pan-fired tamaryokucha stops it by roasting the raw leaf directly in a hot iron kettle. Both skip the final straightening and dry with the curl intact. Steamed versions are said to carry a fresh aroma and rich umami, while pan-fired versions carry a toasty aroma from the kettle known as kamaka. Pan-fired versions are roasted quickly in a kettle heated to around 300°C as a guide, and overdoing the heat is said to burn off the aroma, so timing matters.

The pan-firing method is said to have originally arrived from China, and to have been carried on for a long time in parts of Kyushu. Skipping the straightening step is also said to save some finishing labor compared to sencha, and specific producing areas such as Ureshino in Saga Prefecture are said to have kept making this curled style as their main product. In misty mountain terrain like Ureshino's, the humid air is sometimes said to bring out the pan-fired aroma even more.