Do You See Tiny Silver Hairs in Your Cup of Green Tea?

Do you sometimes see tiny silver hairs on the surface of green tea in a cup?
This hair is called “毛茸 Mouji” in Japanese. It is trichome in English.

The other day, I watched tea leaves under a microscope.
These are the photos taken with the microscope and share in this blog.

The tea leaves were picked in the spring, then steamed and frozen. Rolling and drying has not be done. (Tea leaves for making green tea)

毛茸 Mouji (trichome )

There are mouji on the underside of the tea leaves. Young (soft) leaves have more of mouji. As the leaves grow, mouji harden and fall off the leaves.

This mouji may float on the surface of tea in a cup. If there are many mouji seen in your cup, it can be said that the tea leaves are made from young and soft tea leaves.

It is said that Tea Plant (Camellia sinensis var. sinensis) has more mouji than Assam Tea Plant（Camellia sinensis var. assamica).

Japanese Green Tea is made from “Camellia sinensis var. sinensis”.