You finish a bag, throw it out, and want the same tea again. But the name will not come back. Bōcha? Kukicha? Karigane? A search brings up other products from other shops. Prices and shapes are alike, and the thread back to your last cup runs off the edge of the screen.
When choosing a stem tea, which part of the label can be read?
Three things can be read with certainty: the name field, the ingredients, and the statement of origin. Everything else is on some products and not on others.
The name field does not say stems alone
What goes in the name field is the name of a tea type, either a part of the plant or a way of making. The labelling standard defines "kukicha or bōcha" as tea containing a high proportion of the stems and leaf stalks of the tea plant, and does not say stems alone. The kukicha analysed in 1993 was in fact about 50% stems by weight — one commercial product from 1991, showing the width of "a high proportion" as the wording stands.