What is Kukicha? The Twig Tea Most Indians Have Never Heard Of!
You've heard of green tea. You've probably heard of oolong. Maybe even white tea. But twig tea? That one tends to get a raised eyebrow.
Kukicha (pronounced koo-kee-cha) is a Japanese tea made not from the leaves of the tea plant, but from its stems, stalks, and twigs. Yes, the parts that most producers discard.
And before you write it off — it is genuinely one of the most interesting cups you'll ever brew.
It's mellow. It's slightly nutty. It has this soft, almost creamy quality that's hard to describe until you taste it.
And it's virtually unknown in India, which honestly feels like a missed opportunity.
A little backstory (and it's a good one)
Tea has always had a hierarchy. The young, tender leaves at the top of the plant — those are the crown jewels. They go into your senchas, your first flush Darjeelings, your fancy gyokuros.
The stems and twigs? Those were leftovers. Literally discarded during processing.
But tea farmers in Japan are resourceful people.
At some point, someone thought: if the leaves make such good tea, surely the stems must have something going for them too.
And so kukicha was born — originally as the everyday tea of farmers and workers who couldn't afford the premium stuff they were growing.
It turned out to be delicious. Which, honestly, should surprise no one. The best things often come from necessity.
So what does it actually taste like?
Here's the thing about kukicha — it doesn't taste like what you'd expect from a 'green tea'. There's almost no bitterness. No grassiness. No astringency.
Instead, you get something rounder. Slightly sweet. With a warm, nutty undertone that some people describe as almost toasty.
The liquor is a pale golden-yellow, and it has a lightness that makes it very easy to drink.
If you've ever found regular green teas a little too sharp or vegetal, kukicha is worth trying.
It's gentle in a way that feels deliberate, not watered-down.
The caffeine thing (this matters)
Caffeine in tea lives primarily in the leaves. The stems and twigs — which make up most of kukicha — contain significantly less of it.
That makes kukicha one of the lowest-caffeine teas you can drink. We're talking roughly 0.5–1% caffeine compared to regular green tea.
Which means you can brew a cup in the evening without it wrecking your sleep.
You can have a second cup without the jitteriness.
It's the kind of tea you can actually drink all day.
It still has L-theanine though — the amino acid responsible for that calm, focused feeling that makes tea different from coffee.
So you get the mental ease without the caffeine spike.
A genuinely useful combination.
And then there's the nutrition angle
The stems of the tea plant are surprisingly mineral-rich. Kukicha contains calcium, vitamins A, B, and C, and various antioxidants and polyphenols.
It's also considered an alkalising drink — thought to help neutralise acidity in the stomach, which is why it features prominently in macrobiotic diets in Japan.
We'll stop short of calling it a superfood (that word has been abused enough).
But for a cup of tea brewed from discarded twigs, it's holding its own.
How to brew it
Kukicha is actually quite forgiving to brew — more so than most green teas.
The stems are less sensitive to heat than leaves, so you don't have to fuss as much about precise temperatures.
That said, here's what works well:
Water temperature: 70–80°C (don't boil it)
Amount: about 1 teaspoon per cup
Steep time: 1–3 minutes, depending on how strong you like it
The real bonus? You can re-steep it.
Kukicha holds up to two or three infusions, each a little different from the last. It's a slow, pleasant kind of tea to sit with.
It's also excellent cold-brewed.
Add a spoonful to cold water, leave it in the fridge for a few hours, and you get something smooth and almost fruity. Perfect for Bangalore summers.
Why is it so hard to find in India?
Honestly? Probably because the tea conversation in India has been dominated by CTC "chai" for decades, with Darjeeling as the aspirational alternative. Specialty teas — oolongs, whites, Japanese styles — are still finding their audience here.
Most specialty tea brands that do operate in India focus on Chinese or Indian varieties. Japanese teas remain niche.
And within Japanese teas, kukicha sits in an even quieter corner.
Which is a shame.
Because for someone who wants something genuinely different — low caffeine, unusual, delicious — kukicha is a pretty compelling answer.
Wait — isn't kukicha Japanese?
It is, in origin. Kukicha as a category comes from Japan, where it's been made for centuries.
But the technique of using stems and twigs from the tea plant isn't exclusive to Japanese varieties — it's a processing style that can be applied to any camellia sinensis plant.
The kukicha we stock at Xah is grown and made in India.
Same idea, same method — twig tea crafted from the stems of Indian tea plants by small independent growers.
It's a genuinely rare thing: a Japanese-style tea with an entirely Indian provenance.
Which also means it's fresher than most imported options, and the story behind it is one worth knowing.
Try it for yourself
At Xah, we stock whole-leaf kukicha sourced directly from small independent growers — no additives, no fillers, just the tea as it was meant to be.
If you're curious, explore our kukicha on xah.co.in.
Brew a cup in the evening. Go slow with it. It's that kind of tea.