Kabusecha
Other names	Covered tea
Origin	Japan
Quick description	A tea leaf from a tea plant that has been covered for some period of time.

Kabuse tea, or kabusecha (かぶせ茶) is a class of Japanese tea leaf. Kabuseru (かぶせる) literally means to cover or place on top, as a hat on a head, therefore kabuse tea is a tea leaf harvested from a tea plant that, for some period of time ranging from 2–25 days,^[1] has had a porous material draped over the plant while the young leaves are being produced.^[2] Kabuse tea is almost exclusively a first flush tea. Though kabuse tea is usually processed into a green tea after picking, kabuse tea denotes a pre-picking process and the freshly picked leaf can be used to produce any kind of tea, fromgreen tea tooolong tea toblack tea,^[3] or other types.

Kabuse tea leaves are used to produce one of the three most expensive Japanese green teas (the others aregyokuro andmatcha).^[4] These teas are made from leaves that are hand-plucked and grown in the shade.^[5] Shade grown leaves produce superior quality green tea -ooika is the Japanese term for the "covered aroma" of these teas, which are high intheanine and otheramino acids that contribute to their distinctive flavor.^[6] Kabuse is shaded for a shorter time thangyokuro it is sometimes called a shade grownsencha.^[7] Studies have found considerable difference between theessential oils of kabuse-cha and normalsencha made from leaves grown unshaded in an open field. Kawakami and Yamanishi found that kabuse-cha contained large quantities ofionone series compounds.^[8]

The kabuse tea process was created to mimic the shading effect of thetanakake tea process used in the cultivation of tencha which is in turn the base formatcha. The term kabuse tea is used for marketing purposes for an above average quality green tea. The covering process is distressing for the plant and can result in damage or disease if not applied and maintained with proper care.^{[citation needed]}

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