Lewis Perin wrote:
"kuri" writes:


[...what each category of Japnese tea means...]


You can buy in shops blends of twigs and leaves and even
matcha. Blends have no standard names, the sellers decides.
The Japanese package tends to explain clearly what it
contains, or if they are lazy, they only write "ryokucha"
(green tea). I think Lewis found leaves in a "kukicha blend".

It was sold as "kukicha" without any modifier. I bought it at
Ito En in New York. I've had the same experience buying
kukicha from Wild Lily in New York. I would hope Ito En, at
least, knew what they were talking about, no?

Leaves in kukicha (just plain "kukicha") were commonplace where I
resided in Japan as well. This was in the Nagasaki region.

By the way, I've mentioned in the past my grandmother-in-law's
homemade tea from plants in her garden. It very closely resembles
the Kyoto-style kyobancha at the bottom of this page, the major
difference being that the whole tea leaves in hers are more
tightly curled:

http://happy.woman.excite.co.jp/garb...3/hojicha.html

--crymad