A Beginner's Guide to Green Tea

Wondering how to get started properly?

Here is our guide for choose the best green tea for the absolute beginner. First, you will need two basic items - The right kind of teapot, and a high quality Japanese green tea.

The right kind of teapot...

Many people attempt to make their tea in a western style teapot. Although you can do this if you know exactly what you are doing, you will find it a lot easier if you use a teapot that was designed with green tea in mind. Whatever type you use, the most important thing to keep in mind is that this tea needs room to EXPAND. For that reason, tea balls or paper filters do not work well. Investing in the right type of teapot will save you a lot of trouble down the road, and they will practically last forever. See our selection of green tea teapots. Here is some more information of tokoname teapots in general.

A Fresh, High Quality Green Tea

Because of the way it is processed, green tea does not have a long shelf life, much less than other types of tea. Freshness is a very important factor - you do not want a tea which has spent long periods of time on the shelf, in ocean transit, or in a warehouse. Simply put, old green tea does not stay green and does not taste good. The typical shelf life, from date of packaging, is about 6 months on unopened packages and immediately drops to 2-3 months once opened. This basically rules out the grocery store and "flavored" green teas (peach, strawberry, etc.) All O-Cha.com teas are packaged in Japan within a very short time (1-2 weeks) from when you order them.

The Best Green Tea for Beginners - We Recommend Any of the Following...

• S300 - "Daily Sencha" This is our most economical tea and is from the second harvest. While not quite on the level of our first harvest teas, the quality is still above average to what you typically find at the store and on the internet. A good economical introduction. The 100 gram packaged will yield 22 first infusions, each of which may be repeated 2-4 times.
  
  
• S200 Kabusecha - From the first harvest, it remains a favorite with many of our customers. With a nice grassy aroma, this is an all around great green tea for the money. The 100 gram packaged will yield 22 first infusions, each of which may be repeated 2-4 times.
  
  
• Deep Steamed Green Tea - For those who would like to try something bold. It has a thick consistency and looks cloudy green when brewed. A 100 gram packaged will yield 22 first infusions, each of which may be repeated 2-4 times.

What you should know about the product you are buying...

• Where does it comes from?
• When was it packaged?
• How long has it been sitting on the shelf?
• Which harvest did it come from? (First harvest is the best, with quality going down with each successive harvest)
• Is it packaged in an oxygen free packaging? (Good quality teas are usually packaged with nitrogen gas replacing the oxygen)

Other things to consider.....

Brewing - Green tea is brewed differently than other types of tea. While it's not rocket science, you do need to pay attention to what you are doing or it will not turn out right. If you had bitter green tea before, there's a good chance it wasn't brewed correctly. Generally speaking, it is brewed at a lower temperature for about two minutes. Before brewing your first infusion, be sure read up on brewing green tea.

See where our teas are grown - Detailed information about Shizuoka green tea, Uji green tea, Matcha and Powdered Green Tea.

Also: excellent information on : green tea benefits as well as a Discovery Channel Green Tea Video Documentary featuring our very own O-Cha.com crew!