Do you ever find yourself with extra sencha tea leaves after you’re done brewing and enjoying the lovely emerald green color liquid?
Our guess is yes, unless you eat them… which is quite delicious by the way! But we will go into that another time.
Today we will share a green tea recipe that hopefully many of you will be fond of. We will share how to use green tea leaves for the face.
If you end up having already brewed sencha green tea leaves — use them to make a Japanese green tea face mask!
Benefits of Green Tea
It is no secret that sencha, together with other Japanese green teas, has plenty of antioxidants. You’ve probably already seen green tea in every product out there — face creams, toners, body lotion, lip balm, shampoo… and the list goes on! The health benefits of green tea for skin are pretty clear.
And unlike matcha teas, which get mixed in the water and completely consumed by us — allowing us to enjoy all the matcha benefits without any waste, sencha green tea still retains many of its nutrients in its leaves even after we’ve brewed them.
So why not give the leftover benefits to other parts of us?
Japanese Face Mask Recipe Using Leftover Sencha Leaves
What you will need:
- Already brewed sencha leaves
- About a teaspoon of honey (for extra moisture!)
Mix the two together and spread over your face. That’s it!
Wear the mask for 5-10 minutes before gently washing it off your face. Reapply twice a week for smooth, fresh and glowing skin. *This mask is great for sensitive skin, too!
The honey is completely optional, but it does add some extra nutrients of its own and helps in application.
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Alternatively, you can keep your brewed sencha leaves in an empty glass, covered with water and stored in the fridge. Let sit for at least 8 hours and then use daily as a toner.
No tea leaves are wasted and extra benefit for our skin. Everyone’s happy!
Oh, and you can also use both genmaicha and gyokuro leaves for this recipe. We even recommend you do. The brown rice in genmaicha adds some extra nutrients of its own, while gyokuro has much more amino acids than both sencha and genmaicha!
For more ideas on how to use your brewed tea leaves check out our articles The Many Uses of Japanese Green Tea and What to do With Used Tea Leaves: Chagra and the Concept of Mottainai.