ama cha green tea

Are you sure it's not "fo shou" or "ma zhu"...could you give us more information on where you got it or something? Many green teas from around China just give it a name relative to the area it came from or to make the tea have a more interesting name, but in fact it's just a common green tea. Ma Zhu is an example of that.

thanks. but do not have any more information. apparently this Buddha ama cha comes from Japan.

Ah, sorry about that. I thought it was perhaps Chinese tea.

I obtained some Ami Chi from Simpson and Vail (

) a few years ago, but I do not see it listed in their current catalog. The best I remember from the S&V description, this is indeed a Japanese green tea. The leaves are rather large compared with most normal teas. I suspect that it comes from a different family than ordinary tea. I believe the write-up said it was served once a year at Buddha's birthday. It has a strange sweetness as if sugar had been added, but the tea is not sugared. Something in the plant causes this sweetness. The sweetness lingers in the mouth for many minutes after the last sip. This made it unsatisfactory for drinking with food for me. I would not go out of my way to find it again, but it is worth tasting at least once because it is so different. For me, Gyokuro is the best Japanese tea by far. It can be quite expensive, but I believe Simpson and Vail will sell a 1 oz sample for about $US 8.35 rather than forcing you to buy the standard 1 pound package at about $ 128.75. Suggested brewing conditions for Gyokuro are 122 - 140 degrees F for 1.5 - 2 minutes.This tea can be infused a second time without much loss in quality. Brewing with water near the boiling point will give a very inferior brew.