Japanese Tea Vocabulary: Sencha, Matcha, Hōjicha and More

Ocha, ryokucha and kōcha

The first thing to know is that ocha usually means green tea. If you ask for ocha in a Japanese restaurant, you will get Japanese green tea, not black tea with milk.

Ryokucha is the more formal word for green tea, and kōcha, literally red tea, is black tea. Ocha can also mean taking a tea break, which is common in invitations.

The everyday types of green tea

A handful of tea types cover most of what you will see in shops, cafés and homes. Each has its own flavour and typical use.

Hot, iced and bottled

In cafés, the loanwords hotto and aisu are used for hot and iced drinks. In everyday speech, atatakai and tsumetai work just as well.

Vending machines sell both hot and cold tea in winter, and the price labels are colour-coded: red usually means hot and blue means cold.

Ordering in cafés and restaurants

Ordering tea is simple. In cafés, give the drink, hot or iced, and a size if asked. In restaurants, ask for tea or a refill with a short polite phrase.

At sushi restaurants you may hear agari, a traditional word for the tea served at the end of the meal.

Offering and receiving tea

When visiting someone's home or an office, you are often offered tea. The host offers with a simple dōzo, sometimes with a caution that it is hot. The guest thanks them and can say itadakimasu before drinking.

Older, humbler set phrases exist, such as calling it coarse tea, but you will mainly hear these from older speakers or in formal settings.

Tea ceremony words in brief

The tea ceremony, sadō or chadō, has a large specialist vocabulary for utensils, movements and guest etiquette. For a first visit, a few words are enough, and your host will guide you through the rest.

If you plan to take a class, the traditional arts guide covers the lesson language and guest phrases in more detail.