- How fresh are your green teas?
- Are your products Chinese green tea or Japanese Green Tea?
- What about Decaf green tea?
- Do you carry organic green tea?
- Why was the green tea I bought at the grocery/health food/internet store not very green?
- Green tea and weight loss - Which green tea will help me lose weight?
- I'm confused between matcha and powdered green tea. What is the difference?
- What is the difference between the various Japanese green teas?
- How to brew green tea - Top 10 reasons why your tea didn't turn out green.
How fresh are your green teas?
<< the actual field in shizuoka where our first-flush & daily sencha is grown.
As fresh green tea is a perishable commodity, we only order what we need to keep the inventory moving. O-Cha.com, obtains it's fresh green tea directly from select growers in Shizuoka, Uji, Aichi, Kagoshima and other areas of Japan on a regular basis, ensuring the freshest green tea available on the internet. The teas are taken out of cold storage, packaged in mylar bags with the oxygen being replace by nitrogen, and are then shipped to us directly as we order them. Because we are based in Japan, the tranit time from when we order them and when they are packaged and received is only one to two days. By the time they reach our customers, they have only been packaged perhaps one to three weeks. Many of our teas come directly from the farmers that actually grow them. All of our matcha and other high grade green teas are stored under refridgeration until shippment to you.
Are your products Chinese green tea or Japanese green tea?
While there are many fine Chinese teas, when it comes to green tea, Japan is known the world over for having especially high quality products. During green tea processing, Chinese green tea is usually pan fired while Japanese green tea is nearly always steamed. Because of this, each type has different tastes and characteristics. Be wary of teas (especially from grocery stores) that claim they are "Japanese Style", but not actually from Japan. Here is some useful information on the various types of Chinese green tea.
Decaf green tea is almost unheard of in Japan. If you want to drink green tea that's actually "drinkable", you will have to deal with caffeine on some level because the process to remove caffeine also ruins the taste, and we refuse to sell anything that tastes bad. You may be happy to learn that sencha only has about 30 mg of caffeine per cup of green tea, compared with 50 mg in black tea, and 110 mg-175 mg in coffee respectively. You can also reduce most of the caffeine by pouring out the first batch and rebrewing again. Here is a primer on how to how to have your Green Tea Caffeine Free (or nearly so.)
"The green tea I purchased at the grocery store wasn't really green, why is that?"
Most of the "green tea" you find at your store actually come from mainland China, not Japan. That's because they are, well, cheaper. Even within Japan, the quality varies considerably so not all Japanese green teas are of high quality. Compared with other types of teas green tea does not stay fresh for long periods of time. Take an apple, cut it in half, put it on the counter and come back 20 minutes later. What do you notice? It's starts to turn brown. A similar thing happens with green tea. Under optimal conditions under refrigeration, an unopened bag of green tea will stay fresh for 6~12 months maximum. Once exposed to oxygen, the shelf life drops to 2~3 months. Next, most of the teas at your local grocery or health food store are not first or even second flush teas, but are from the later harvests. Later harvests can never match the quality of a first harvest green tea. Look for a product that is from an early harvest and at the same time has not spent a lot of time in storage or in transit.
"What's the difference between matcha and powdered green tea?"
The main difference between matcha and powdered green tea lies in the type of leaf used. Whereas regular powdered green tea is made from sun grown sencha leaves, matcha is made instead from the same leaves as shade-grown gyokuro. Matcha is the green tea used in the Japanese tea ceremony. During greeen tea processing, matcha is not rolled like gyokuro, however, but is instead processed so that only the soft, inner parts of the leaf are used. This results in a byproduct is known as tencha. From there the leaves are then ground into powdered form.
There are also two basic types of matcha, the thick variety known as koicha, and the thin type known as usucha. It is often misunderstood that koicha is stronger since it is in the thick category, however the opposite is true. In order to make a thicker consistency of matcha, more powder needs to be used and this calls for a milder, sweeter matcha. Koicha matcha is usually quite a bit more expensive than usucha because older tea plants are used. Regular powdered sencha is the least expensive variety of powdered green tea. The nutrients and antioxidants in all three products are comparable, with matcha leaning towards higher amounts of amino acids such as theanine. O-Cha.com carries both varieties as well as organic matcha.
"What is the difference between the Japanese green teas such as sencha, shincha, kabusecha, fukamushi-cha, and gyokuro?"
Right: Kabusecha growing under 45% shade - The main difference between the various Japanese green teas has to do with the way each is grown and or processed, the growing locality, and with the respective conditions imparting a different taste. In general, the earlier in the season the green tea is harvested, the better the quality. The very first harvest occurs near the end of April to early May, and is known as shincha, or in english as the first harvest or first flush.
Sencha is grown in full sun, while Gyokuro is grown in the shade. Kabusecha is also grown in the shade, but not to the same degree and length of time as gyokuro, giving it a taste somewhere between the two, although in reality it's closer to sencha. Shincha or "new tea" in Japanese, is that green tea which comes from the very first harvest of the of the growing season, and which also is not put into cold storage but instead is immediately packaged and released for sale. Shincha is only available from May ~ July or as supplies permit. It tends to be expensive, as it contains the highest vitamin and polyphenol contents.
Fukamushi Sencha, known in Japan as Fukamushi-cha, it sencha which is steamed for a longer than normal period of time during it's processing. This green tea is often grown at lower elevations. An expert tea grower will steam his tea according to the right conditions for each individual yield, and much knowledge and experience is required in order to adjust it just right. Fukamushi-cha tends to have a thicker, cloudy consistancy and the loose leaf is finer.
Uji-cha, or Uji green tea - While most Japanese green teas are grown in Shizuoka, the small town of Uji, located near Kyoto, is known throughout Japan as producing some of the highest quality Japanese green teas available, and is thus known as "Uji-cha". O-Cha.com is proud to be a supplier of Uji green teas from Japan's oldest tea shop, Tsuen Tea.
