Sushi and Sencha: Quick and Easy Sencha Powder

Kaitenzushi, known as conveyor belt sushi in English, is a fun way to experience eating sushi that’s a bit more exciting than just sitting at a table and ordering from a menu. When you sit down at kaitenzushi, the sushi comes to you. If you’ve never been before, the set-up is simple. Small portions of sushi at various price points travel around on a conveyor belt for restaurant-goers to examine and decide what they’re in the mood for. There’s also usually another conveyor belt that delivers specially ordered sushi and appetizers to customers.

It’s a fun and different way to dine out and the small portions make it a great way to try out several different kinds of sushi. Many people go out to kaitenzushi restaurants with friends just for the experience and variety of food available meaning that there’s something for everyone. There’s even sushi restaurants like this in America for those wanting to try it out without traveling all the way to Japan.

However, visiting kaitenzushi restaurants outside of Japan means one vital part of the experience is often missing: the tea. In Japan, every booth connected to the conveyor belt comes with a small faucet that dispenses hot water and a round container full of sencha powder. Customers can use this sencha powder to make themselves tea to drink with their sushi.

Sencha powder is the tea of choice for kaitenzushi due to its high cost-performance and ease of use. Of course sencha is the most popular Japanese tea for daily drinking, and the powdered form makes it convenient for both customers and kitchen staff. Customers just add one little spoonful of sencha powder to the cup and fill it with hot water—there isn’t even a need to stir or mix it in. This means less work for the kitchen staff, since they don’t need to prepare tea for each guest, and it helps keep kaitenzushi affordable.

There’s also no tea leaves to dispose of, meaning clean up is easy and quick. Plus sencha’s umami flavor pairs well with sushi, making the tea an integral part of the experience to many Japanese people.

Because it’s powdered, sencha powder also comes with the added benefit of being made from the whole tea leaf. This means it’s more flavorful, since the entire essence is extracted, and there’s more nutrients in tea made with sencha powder too. Even if you can’t experience sencha tea made from powder at your local kaitenzushi restaurant, we recommend trying sencha powder out. It’s great for applications like cold brew in Hario bottles and any other time you want the quickest and easiest cup of tea you’ve ever made.