The palatability of green tea is mainly due to its odor characteristic. The odor of green tea abounds in diverse. Its attractive odor is different depended on the cultivar, harvested region, cultivation, and processing. This manuscript presents the odor characteristics of Chinese green tea, Japanese Sen-cha, Kamairi-cha, as well as cultivar, harvested region, fresh tea leaves, and roasting of green tea. The odor characteristics of green tea have been found out by making full use of the analytical method by many researchers until 2015. But the obtained results are just a few of the odor characteristics of green tea, which is rich in odor diversity. We will find out the attractive of green tea in odor analysis in the future. Then people would be able to feel affinity towards the green tea.

Matcha (powdered green tea), which originated in China, was introduced to Japan approximately 800 years ago. It has developed in Japan in a unique manner, and the Japanese tea ceremony gave it cultural significance and made it more than just a drink. Improvement in production methods has also been made to achieve perfection, two such innovations being the use of covering culture and the tencha dryer. The characteristic aroma of matcha is due to the covering culture process, which increases the amount of amino acids and carotenoids in the leaves. These substances then become the precursors for ionone series compounds as well as dimethyl sulfide that make up the characteristic odor profile. Matcha has a pleasant aromatic flavor, and in recent times, it has become more in demand both within and outside Japan as an ingredient in processed food.

Tea cultivated in Saitama, where it is said to be the far north of main production of tea ─ the economical northern limit, is called SAYAMA-CHA (tea). Tea cultivar with cold resistance has been cultivated because Saitama is too cold for tea plants. Recently, a cultivar ‘Okuharuka’ having cherry-leaves-like aroma was bred. Not only tea experts but also consumers can notice its aroma. In addition, there are many other cultivars, such as ‘Yumewakaba’ having osmanthus-like sweet aroma, and ‘Fukumidori’ having graceful aroma, and ’Musashikaori’ having brisk aroma.

The roasted stem tea, Boucha, is interesting to have rich savory and sweet flavor. This is traditionally drunk in Kanazawa, Japan, and various products with different flavor were manufactured by several ten tea houses. Boucha was obtained by roasting high quality tea stem from high quality green tea, although the general roasted tea is made from cheap and low quality tea leaves. The characteristics, such as history, manufacturing process and flavor, of Boucha were explained in this review.

Isecha is the brand name of the tea, produced in Mie Prefecture and its production is the third highest in Japan. Isecha is produced in several areas in Mie, has an old history. The record which the first tea trees were transplanted in Mie around the beginning of Christian era 900’s (the Engi era year) is found in an old document. As Isecha,there are several kinds of tea “sencha (green tea)” “kabusecha (shaded tea)” and “Hukamushicha (heavily steamed tea)” and each of them has a characteristic “aroma” and “taste”. The researches on the “aroma” of Isecha are also introduced.

There are several tea cultivars which have various flavor respectively. But there are few technical term in flavor of Japanese green tea. So we tried to construct aroma profile of tea cultivars to understand its difference of flavor. We described tea flavor of ten cultivars by mean of the sensory evaluation. It is useful to familiarize tea cultivars.