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Tea and Zen Introduction

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The tea is rolled and then dried, if the finished product is to be sold as leaf tea. The dry leaves may also be ground to a fine powder.

A straw tray like those used to winnow rice holds three white sheets of paper. On each sheet is a pile of tea. One pile is dark and coarse. It is roasted tea. Another pile is greener. It consists of rolled leaves which have not been roasted. The final pile is vibrant green. It is powdered tea.

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Lecture Notes

There are two kinds of tea schools in Japan. The sencha schools use the whole tea leaf. The better known and more historically significant matcha schools use powdered tea.