[Nicolas2305]

I never tried this one but I'd like to. Considering it "needs" the bamboo whip (chasen) and I don't have it I'm considering on trying it later. I heard it's a really good tea and really good for your health since you drink the powdered leaves too. It might worth a try for green iced tea with a tiny bit of lemon juice but since I never tasted it I can't say if it would work out. I also heard that it is good with some sweet taste on the side(cake or something like it).

I'm happy that you found yourself a tea that you like. I'm doing the best I can to try as many tea as possible. The different tastes you can get from every tea is really impressive since it all come from the same type of plant(camellia sinensis). With cofee, it's black all the way.

 

[Nicolas2305]

You might want to have a look at this site : Blog entry on Matcha

 

[WittyzTH]

thanks again.

It tastes really really good with soft cake.

and yes, I need Chasen (didn't know how they called

) probably will check this out tomorrow.

 

[ronin74]

Wow, I cannot believe this green tea matcha thing. I kind-a took green for granted, I thought no big thing, been drinking it all my adult life. Anyway, went on-line to to find a picture or link of this matcha maker I have. It looks like a medium turkish coffee/pepper grinder with a longer handle. On the inside it has a set of ceramic grinding disks that pulverizes the leaf tea to powder (sorry but I'm definitely not a tech writer). But no luck, too many green tea sites to look through.

Bottom line, I'm having matcha right now at my desk, no whisk, just a teaspoon of tea in the cup with hot water over. The tea is Sayama-cha, from Saitama-Ken, you can't (seem to) get it here in the States. Everytime I go to Japan I bring home a "sizeable" amount in freezable vacuum-sealed pouches.

And no you can't have any!

 

[Nicolas2305]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ronin74 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Wow, I cannot believe this green tea matcha thing. I kind-a took green for granted, I thought no big thing, been drinking it all my adult life. Anyway, went on-line to to find a picture or link of this matcha maker I have. It looks like a medium turkish coffee/pepper grinder with a longer handle. On the inside it has a set of ceramic grinding disks that pulverizes the leaf tea to powder (sorry but I'm definitely not a tech writer). But no luck, too many green tea sites to look through. Bottom line, I'm having matcha right now at my desk, no whisk, just a teaspoon of tea in the cup with hot water over. The tea is Sayama-cha, from Saitama-Ken, you can't (seem to) get it here in the States. Everytime I go to Japan I bring home a "sizeable" amount in freezable vacuum-sealed pouches. And no you can't have any!

Arg

I'd love soooo much to go in asia and visit some tea estates. My dream... I'd prefer that a dozen time over a wine estate in France of a whiskey distillery in Scotland.

It is surely the next trip I'll be doing.

 

[WittyzTH]

I'm having Matcha now, too. just got the Chasen from the store as well.

 

[Superpredator]

Quote:

Originally Posted by WittyzTH /img/forum/go_quote.gif what's the good Japanese green tea you guys have? I just start to like tea recently, but no idea which tea tastes good. Matcha, Sencha, Bancha or anything else? and which brand?

If you're interested in sencha/matcha or guricha (tamaryokucha) I recently sampled a couple of particularly good ones: Sencha with Matcha and Top Leaf.

 

[WittyzTH]

awesome! thanks a lot, I'll check that out soon.

 

[MusicallySilent]

I had a teabag earlier, I forget who made it but it was "English Breakfast Blend" it was black tea, I had a little sugar and milk in it and it was rather good tasting and almost intriguing in a way. I also seem to like Chai Tea, this thread will probably cause me to drink a bunch of tea in our 6 month winter here in the midwest. Right now I don't think I would get into all of the leaves and 200 dollar water heaters you guys use, but I do enjoy a cup of tea and might buy some green tea a little later.

 

[Superpredator]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MusicallySilent /img/forum/go_quote.gif I also seem to like Chai Tea, this thread will probably cause me to drink a bunch of tea in our 6 month winter here in the midwest.

Definitely the best time for tea.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MusicallySilent /img/forum/go_quote.gif Right now I don't think I would get into all of the leaves and 200 dollar water heaters you guys use, but I do enjoy a cup of tea and might buy some green tea a little later.

You can get along pretty well without the $200 water heaters. I use a stainless steel pan, and spend the rest on the leaves that really aren't much more expensive than bags.

 

[MusicallySilent]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Superpredator /img/forum/go_quote.gif You can get along pretty well without the $200 water heaters. I use a stainless steel pan, and spend the rest on the leaves that really aren't much more expensive than bags.

Yea, I just got a kick out of the $150-200 water heaters which were linked to several times.

Normally I just warm up a single cup of water to near boiling in the microwave, it works well for me. I may consider buying some tea leaves later this year, maybe some black or green and perhaps some oolong (isn't it sort of a mix of green and black)

Also so I can get an idea, when I buy a packet of 50g of green tea leaves, about how many cups is that, or more or less about how many grams per cup is needed?

 

[mbriant]

Quote:

You can get along pretty well without the $200 water heaters.

You can get along without a lot of things, but like a lot of things, the water heater makes life a little easier ... in this case by making preparation a lot faster for those who drink tea all day long.

 

[Nicolas2305]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MusicallySilent /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yea, I just got a kick out of the $150-200 water heaters which were linked to several times. Normally I just warm up a single cup of water to near boiling in the microwave, it works well for me. I may consider buying some tea leaves later this year, maybe some black or green and perhaps some oolong (isn't it sort of a mix of green and black) Also so I can get an idea, when I buy a packet of 50g of green tea leaves, about how many cups is that, or more or less about how many grams per cup is needed?

For Oolong, in strenght it's about between green and black but you won't find a mix of black and green tea leaves. It's a whole category of tea by itself.

As for the amount of tea per cup, let's say it's about 1 to 2g per cup (250 mL) depending on how you make it. I prefer to put a bit more so I won't be tempted to leave it in longer. Infusing tea beyond the suggested time is a big no-no to get the best taste out of it.

At first it might seem expensive but when you're geared-up (wich is not much), you'll be able to enjoy premium tea for less than a dollar per cup! When I say premium, it's compared to tea bags and of course tea can become more expensive than a dollar per cup but that's another story!

Welcome to tea-fi...

 

[Nicolas2305]

And I almost forgot... Most of the time, NO SUGAR in your tea. You can put a bit of milk or lemon in black teas but please, don't put sugar.

The reason why I said "most of the time" is because in chai tea you are allowed to do so because of it's strong taste.

Above all, everything that is not made exclusively of tea leaves shouldn't be called tea. We should call those infusions (including chai). The "tea" name is wrongly used by too much people. When I say tea leaves, it's leaves collected from any plant of the "camellia sinensis" family.

 

[MusicallySilent]

Based on your statistic of 1-2g per cup, and given that some of the medium tea prices on Upton tea imports is about 50g for 10dollars or so, that equates to about 25-50 cents per cup ignoring costs of teapots and such (I will probably stick to infusing in a plain 250mL coffee cup.

And yes Oolong by a mix of Black and Green I meant strength.

I have a infuser already (I believe) it looks like this Tea Infuser anything else I should possibly consider. I liked the black tea the other day so I might try some Oolong since is is supposedly between green and black tea and I enjoy some green tea varieties.