Traditionally the reception of a guest in a home or office in Japan often begins with a cup of green tea. It is a similar story in many countries around the globe with varying varieties of tea but the distinctive flavour that Sencha green tea from Japan has differs greatly from other types of green tea.

Green tea was first introduced to Japan from China in the nineth century and was initially recognised for its medicinal properties. 800 years ago the Zen monk Eisai credited tea with strengthening the internal organs and prolonging life.

In the fourteenth century tea gradually spread from the monks and monasteries into samurai culture, and then finally into the lives of common people where it was to take root in daily life as a recreational beverage. Thus green tea, initially a medicine, developed into the common drink it is today.

The Japanese tea ceremony or 'Chanoyu' which is still practiced in Japan, retains many aspects connected to its roots as a development of Zen ritual, and still holds a certain aura of mystery even in today's modern culture.

The drinking of 'Matcha' (powdered gyokuro green tea) in the tea ceremony was used as an aesthetic aid in Zen training, hence the inseparable link between tea and Zen. The ceremony itself does not however have a religious doctrine as such.