ITO EN Sencha Shot Review (and the Oolong Shot)

Updated October 2026.

ITO EN Sencha Shot is a small 6.4 fl oz can of unsweetened Japanese green tea, made in Japan from purified water, green tea and vitamin C, with zero calories and roughly 40 mg of caffeine. It tastes like strong, clean brewed sencha. I tried it in 2011 and still think it is one of the better canned teas because nothing is added.

The other day, I went to visit a friend of a friend of mine. This friend: Hisao Hanafusa, is a Japanese artist and has his atelier on 26th Street. You can actually read this NY Times article about shoji screens and also like his Facebook page, he really is the sweetest man. Anyway, we went there with a friend, and they greeted us with this drink, I hope Zui reads this and appreciate the credit I gave him back in this post 🙂 ☛

What is an ITO EN Sencha Shot?

Well, I have seen the drink in Whole Foods Stores and in Asian stores in K-Town. But never really bought.

Actually the company: ITO EN, had three versions of its shots at the time:

☛The Maté Sencha Shot

☛The Oolong Shot

☛Sencha Shot

What does it taste like?

The last one, is the only one I tried. And honestly it’s pretty good. It’s not sweetened which is GREAT! Especially if you’re a real tea lover, you’re happy to finally find a production without sugar. Tea does not need sugar at all. Just a reminder…because here in the U.S they put sugar on everything, everywhere and most importantly anywhere where you don’t need it at all!

What is in it?

The nice thing on this drink is its short list of ingredients:

☛Purified Water

☛Tea

☛Ascorbic acid*

Their products are made in Japan, so it’s pretty cool.

Here also the link to their Sencha Shot page.

I personally want to try the Oolong one, will probably review it later, and find some background information as well.

* Another name of Ascorbic Acid is Vitamin C

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