Sencha Plum and Cinnamon Loose Leaf Green Tea

🍵 The Leaf — Fine Sencha green tea, steamed and needle-rolled in the traditional Japanese style, blended with dried plum pieces and cinnamon for a fragrant, considered finish

🍵 The Colour — A clear, pale golden-green infusion, bright and clean in the cup, with a warm, fruity aroma that rises gently as it brews

🍵 The Character — Softly sweet and lightly spiced, with the natural freshness of Sencha meeting the mellow depth of plum and a gentle cinnamon warmth that lingers without overpowering

🍵 The Occasion — Equally good hot, cold, or over ice — a versatile loose leaf green tea for morning calm, afternoon refreshment, or a long summer glass

Sencha plum and cinnamon is a flavoured loose leaf green tea that manages to feel both gently adventurous and quietly familiar — a fragrant blend in which fruit and spice enhance the clean character of fine Japanese Sencha without pulling it out of shape.

Sencha is Japan's most beloved green tea, accounting for around eighty per cent of the country's tea production. Its modern form was developed in 1738 by a tea maker named Nagatani Soen near Kyoto, who refined the now-famous process of steaming freshly harvested leaves to halt oxidation before rolling and drying them into their characteristic needle shape. This steaming method — unlike the pan-firing used for many Chinese green teas — gives Sencha its distinctive fresh, clean character: a bright, lightly vegetal quality with a natural softness and subtle sweetness that makes it one of the most approachable of all green teas.

In this blend, that clean Sencha foundation is paired with dried plum pieces, which add a gentle, rounded fruitiness, and cinnamon, which brings a quiet warmth to the finish. Neither ingredient dominates — they sit alongside the green tea rather than over it, giving the cup a soft complexity that develops as it cools. Hot, it is comforting and fragrant. Served cold or over ice, the plum notes come forward and the whole thing brightens considerably, making this a particularly rewarding option for cold brewing or iced tea in warmer months.

Green tea, cinnamon, and plum is a combination that many people find easy to enjoy across different moods and seasons. For those newer to Sencha, the fruitiness and spice offer a reassuring familiarity; for those who already love Japanese green tea, this blend adds another dimension without losing what makes Sencha worth drinking in the first place.

Since 2008, High Teas London has been one of the country's leading independent tea specialists — home to over 350 teas and infusions, one of the largest collections anywhere in the UK. Finding teas with this kind of balance and character is exactly what we have been doing for over fifteen years.

Ingredients: Green tea, cinnamon, dried plum pieces.

Brewing Note: Sencha is sensitive to water temperature, and this blend is no exception. Heat fresh water to around 75 to 80°C — hot but not boiling — and steep one heaped teaspoon per cup for two to three minutes. Boiling water can flatten the delicate flavour of the Sencha and sharpen the cinnamon more than intended, so it is worth the small extra step of letting the kettle rest for a minute before pouring. For a cold brew, add a generous measure of leaves to cool filtered water and leave in the fridge for four to six hours. The result is noticeably smooth, with the plum coming through particularly well in a cold steep.