Karigane Kukicha Mountain

Kukicha (茎茶) is a Japanese green tea made from the stems and twigs of the tea bush. Its name translates as "twig tea".

It is also called "Bocha" (棒茶) — "tea of sticks".

For premium grades like Gyokuro, sencha or matcha, only the young top leaves are used, and the tender stems beneath them go into Kukicha.

These slender stems contain plenty of amino acids, with lower caffeine and catechin content than leaf tea.