Aracha also known as Unrefined or Crude Tea, is a type of green tea

Green tea

Green tea is made solely from the leaves of Camellia sinensis that have undergone minimal oxidation during processing. Green tea originates from China and has become associated with many cultures throughout Asia. It has recently become more widespread in the West, where black tea is traditionally...

 produced in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. Unlike most other teas, aracha green tea is produced using the entire leaf of the tea plant

Camellia sinensis

Camellia sinensis is the species of plant whose leaves and leaf buds are used to produce Chinese tea. It is of the genus Camellia , a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. White tea, green tea, oolong, pu-erh tea and black tea are all harvested from this species, but are processed...

, including the leaf blade, leaf stem, broken particles of the leaf, and the fine leaf hair. This often gives the tea a deep green colour and a bold taste though variations are greatly affected by the cultivation and production processes.

After leaves are harvested by farmers in Japan, they are then processed at either private or often communal processing facilities where they are steamed, rolled, and dried. At this point, the tea is called aracha and is ready to be sold into the tea distribution channel, where wholesale brokers or large tea companies will purchase the aracha. The tea then is "finished"—the parts of the leaves are sorted, sized, graded, and blended to produce sencha

Sencha

Sencha is a Japanese green tea, specifically one made without grinding the tea leaves. The word "sencha" means "decocted tea," referring to the method that the tea beverage is made from the dried tea leaves...

tea with specific flavor profiles.