Benifuuki, Sunrouge and GABA - three functional teas

Benifuuki, Sunrouge and GABA are functional teas. This blog post deals with the following questions: What are functional teas? How are they produced? What effects do they have?

Laura Tea encyclopedia & Japan fan
Zuletzt aktualisiert: 27. Juli 2026 Lesezeit ca. 6 Min.

Checked against sources

Laura is our "tea encyclopedia" and a true Japan fan. There's hardly a tea question she can't answer. On our blog, she shares that knowledge. Alle Beiträge ansehen

Benifuuki, Sunrouge and GABA are the three best-known Japanese functional teas: green teas that, through targeted breeding or processing, contain a particularly high amount of a specific compound. This article explains what sets them apart, how they are made and how to brew them properly.

Key points at a glance

Functional tea means: a green tea in which one compound is strongly enriched through the cultivar or the processing – not a regular sencha.
Benifuuki (registered in 1993, a cross of Benihomare × Makura Cd86) is rich in the methylated catechin EGCG3″Me, which has been examined in allergy studies.
Sunrouge (registration in 2009, Camellia taliensis × C. sinensis) contains about 8 times more anthocyanins than the standard cultivar Yabukita – its leaves turn red.
GABA tea is created through oxygen-free processing: this raises the amino acid GABA to more than 1.5 mg/g (the Japanese threshold), discovered in 1987 by Tojiro Tsushida.
You brew all three with around 6 g to 200–300 ml – but at 60–75 °C and with different steeping times.

What is a functional tea?

With a functional tea, the focus is on the effect of a single compound. A special tea cultivar or a particular production method enriches this compound in a targeted way – significantly more than in an ordinary green tea.

Besides Benifuuki, Sunrouge and GABA, the group also includes cold-brewed mizudashi. This article covers the first three, because they are made functional through the plant or the processing.

Good to know: “Functional” here describes the production approach, not an approved health claim. Statements about health effects are strictly regulated in the EU (Health Claims Regulation 1924/2006).

Japanese green tea being poured into a glass bowl

How are Benifuuki, Sunrouge and GABA made?

The three teas are made in very different ways: two through the tea cultivar itself, one through the processing.

Benifuuki

Benifuuki was bred in 1965 in Makurazaki (Kagoshima Prefecture) from the cross Benihomare × Makura Cd86 and officially registered in 1993. The cultivar carries assamica genes and was originally intended for black tea. It was only in 1999 that researchers discovered its high content of methylated catechins. For these compounds, Benifuuki is now processed as a steamed green tea – they are lost during black tea oxidation.

Sunrouge

Sunrouge goes back to a natural cross of the cultivar “Cha Chuukanbohon Nou 6” (Camellia taliensis × C. sinensis) and was submitted for registration in 2009. Its reddish young leaves are striking – a sign of the high anthocyanin content. The cultivar is grown mainly in the subtropical south of Japan, for example on the island of Tokunoshima.

GABA

GABA tea (Japanese Gabaron) is not a plant of its own but a processing technique. The fresh leaves mature for several hours in an oxygen-free nitrogen atmosphere. This activates the enzyme glutamate decarboxylase, which converts glutamic acid into gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). The method was developed in 1987 by Tojiro Tsushida and his team at the Japanese tea research institute.

Tea	Principle	Key compound	First
Benifuuki	Cultivar (Benihomare × Makura Cd86)	Methylated catechin EGCG3″Me	1993
Sunrouge	Cultivar (C. taliensis × C. sinensis)	Anthocyanins (approx. 8× Yabukita)	2009
GABA	Oxygen-free processing	GABA (> 1.5 mg/g)	1987

How do you prepare the three functional teas?

The amounts are similar, but temperature and steeping time differ significantly. As a rule of thumb: around 6 g of tea to 200–300 ml of water.

Tea	Amount	Water	Temperature	Steeping time
Benifuuki	approx. 6 g	200–300 ml	60 °C	2 min
Sunrouge	approx. 6 g	200–300 ml	70–75 °C	2–5 min
GABA	approx. 6 g	200–300 ml	70 °C	70 sec – 3 min

You adjust the steeping time to the result you want: shorter for a milder infusion, longer for a stronger one. We explain this in more detail in our article on steeping times for green tea.

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Laura's tip: With Sunrouge, a squeeze of lemon in the finished infusion is worth it. The anthocyanins react to the lower pH and the tea visibly changes color – a pretty effect that also stabilizes the pigments.

Hand holding a Japanese green tea pot and steadying the lid while pouring

Which compounds do the teas contain?

Each of the three teas is bred or processed for a different compound. The following points describe the compounds and the state of research – explicitly without any health claim.

Benifuuki: methylated catechins

Benifuuki is considered particularly rich in catechins. Its hallmark is the methylated catechin EGCG3″Me (a form of EGCG), which is practically absent in the standard cultivar Yabukita. In a randomized double-blind study from Japan, Benifuuki green tea was examined in connection with the symptoms of Japanese cedar pollen allergy.

Sunrouge: anthocyanins

Sunrouge has the highest anthocyanin content among the Japanese tea cultivars studied – around 8 times as much as Yabukita in laboratory analysis. Anthocyanins are the water-soluble plant pigments that appear red, purple or blue depending on the pH. The cultivar also contains methylated catechins.

GABA: gamma-aminobutyric acid

GABA tea contains the amino acid gamma-aminobutyric acid in a significantly increased amount. For a tea to count as GABA tea in Japan, it must contain more than 1.5 mg of GABA per gram – ordinary green tea is far below that. The first Japanese publications in the late 1980s reported a blood-pressure-lowering effect in animal studies.

Legal notice: Further health claims circulate about all three teas. Because of the EU Health Claims Regulation (Regulation 1924/2006), we make no definitive promises about their effects. The linked studies describe research findings, not approved health claims.

Who is each tea for?

Benifuuki is the strong, astringent one of the three – interesting for anyone who appreciates its catechin-rich character. Sunrouge is more of a functional, visually exciting tea with a mild profile. Thanks to its oxygen-free maturing, GABA tea tastes slightly tangy and malty and is often enjoyed in the evening.

All three are specialties and only available to a limited extent in Europe. If you'd like to get to know Japanese green tea in its classic form first, a good sencha is the best place to start – the variety against which the functional teas are scientifically measured.

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Conclusion

Benifuuki, Sunrouge and GABA show how diverse Japanese green tea can be: one cultivar for methylated catechins, one for anthocyanins, one processing technique for GABA. If you pay attention to the right temperature and steeping time, you'll get the best out of each.

Frequently asked questions

Was ist ein Funktionstee?

Ein Funktionstee ist ein Grüntee, bei dem ein bestimmter Inhaltsstoff durch die Teesorte oder das Herstellungsverfahren gezielt angereichert wird. Benifuuki (methylierte Catechine), Sunrouge (Anthocyane) und GABA (Gamma-Aminobuttersäure) sind die drei bekanntesten japanischen Beispiele.

Worin unterscheiden sich Benifuuki, Sunrouge und GABA?

Benifuuki und Sunrouge sind eigene Teesorten: Benifuuki (registriert 1993) ist reich an methyliertem Catechin EGCG3″Me, Sunrouge (2009) an Anthocyanen und färbt sich rot. GABA-Tee dagegen ist keine Sorte, sondern eine Verarbeitungstechnik, bei der die Blätter unter Sauerstoffausschluss reifen und dabei die Aminosäure GABA anreichern.

Wie bereitet man GABA-Tee richtig zu?

Für GABA-Tee nimmst du etwa 6 g Tee auf 200–300 ml Wasser bei rund 70 °C. Die Ziehzeit reicht von 70 Sekunden bis 3 Minuten – kürzer für einen milderen, länger für einen kräftigeren Aufguss.

Warum wechselt Sunrouge-Tee mit Zitrone die Farbe?

Sunrouge enthält viele Anthocyane – wasserlösliche Pflanzenfarbstoffe, deren Farbe vom pH-Wert abhängt. Gibst du einen Spritzer Zitrone hinzu, sinkt der pH-Wert und der Aufguss wechselt sichtbar ins Rötliche. Das stabilisiert zugleich die Farbstoffe.

Wo kann man Benifuuki, Sunrouge und GABA kaufen?

Alle drei sind Spezialitäten und in Europa nur begrenzt erhältlich, oft nur über spezialisierte Teehändler. Wer japanischen Grüntee zuerst in klassischer Form kennenlernen möchte, startet am besten mit einem hochwertigen Sencha – der Standardsorte, an der die Funktionstees wissenschaftlich gemessen werden.

Sources

Maeda-Yamamoto M. et al. (2012): Epicatechin-3-O-(3″-O-methyl)-gallate Content in Various Tea Cultivars…, J. Agric. Food Chem. – pubs.acs.org
Masuda S. et al. (2014): 'Benifuuki' green tea containing o-methylated catechin reduces symptoms of Japanese cedar pollinosis (randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial) – PubMed
Kohata K. / NARO: Properties of 'Benifuuki' green tea (breeding line Benihomare × Makura Cd86, EGCG3″Me) – naro.go.jp
Maeda-Yamamoto M. et al. (2011): Anthocyanins from New Red Leaf Tea 'Sunrouge' (approx. 8× Yabukita), J. Agric. Food Chem. – pubs.acs.org
Tsushida T., Murai T. et al. (1987): Production of a new type tea containing a high level of γ-aminobutyric acid, Nippon Nōgeikagaku Kaishi 61(7):817–822 – doi.org