Newbie needs help with Green tea - PLEASE!

Hello all,

I am new to tea (other than Lipton) and especially green tea.

My father (a diabetic) has recently discovered the benefits of green tea and has asked me to research it. I must admit I have found this quite daunting. I too am interested in green tea but where to start? I figured this would be the best place.

Though I have found several places that sell green tea I have found nothing about qulities and quantities. For instance:

- What about quality? Are the green teas in bags at the supermarket beneficial? If not, where to start with price in mind? I see many teas selling for $30 for a few grams. This seems impossible practically speaking for 2 people to maintain.

- Quantity? How many cups does an ounce of green tea powder or leaves make/ I am trying to see how inexpensively this can be done.

I am interested firstly in the health benefits and secondly in the taste/pleasure aspect.

Cheers.

Reply to
Abouna
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I don't know about the quality of bag teas where you live, but I would go for loose tea instead in the mid-price segment. Again, I don't know if there are tea stores in your area. But there are always internet shops of course.

When I first tried green tea and just went to a teaasked for two green teas, 2 ounces each. She gave me a Chinese Lung Ching (has hints of peaches) and a Japanese Sencha (tastes a bit grassy and has an "oily" quality to it).

I can also recommend Oolong teas which are half-fermented, being nott exactly green teas but not yet black teas either (I guess green on the inside, black on the outside (?)).

Taste - ranges from plain yucky to absolutely delicious.

Green tea is said to have positive health effects. I can't confirm this by personal experience. What I find is, that it has a better effect on me than coffee, which has an overpowering taste and affects causes heart rate and blood pressure to increase a little. Tea usually has a refreshing effect on me.

Regards, Nils

Reply to
Nils Schoener

I don't see why the green tea bags in the supermarket would not have similar health benefits to tea from other sources. But then again, I haven't seen any studies.

There is no way you need to spend $30 for a few grams of tea to get good green tea. I buy many teas - greens included - for something in the neighborhood of $0.05 (5 cents) per gram, or about $25 per pound (1 pound is about 455 grams). This isn't all that much more than what standard grocery store bags cost, and it tastes a lot better.

I like the online vendor Upton teas

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Huge selection, and a good selection of greens, many of which are modestly priced. They also let you by samples for $1 or $1.50 each, which is very nice.

A general rule of thumb is about 2.25 grams per 6 oz. cup of tea.

2.25 grams is roughly one teaspoon in volume, depending on how dense the leaves are. I drink tea in 12 oz. mugs and infuse about 2 teaspoons of leaf for that much.

More important rule: NEVER INFUSE GREEN TEA IN BOILING WATER!!! This will result in a very harsh infusion. Most greens infuse best below 180 degrees F; some as low as 150 degrees F or even lower. An easy way to do this is to boil the water, pour it into the pot or mug, let it stand for 3-4 minutes, and then infuse. Don't infuse too long - most greens infuse well around 2-3 minutes but some are better even shorter.

OK. Know that many studies have found health benefits from all kinds of tea (black, oolong, green, etc.) as long as it is made from the tea plant.

Randy

Reply to
RJP

Hi,

I can't attest to the health benefits, but I do enjoy green tea. My advice is to avoid the tea-bag varieties and stick with loose tea. If you have any Asian markets in your vicinity, you can find decent green tea at reasonable prices. You can also find green teas by online mail order (I'd recommend

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and
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in that order.)

Some suggestions:

Gen-mai cha (brown rice tea): Japanese green tea mixed with roasted rice, which gives a nice flavor. It's also one I recommend to friends who find that other green teas don't have quite enough flavor for them...

Lung-ching (or Longjing): A Chinese green, which some people find a bit less "grassy" tasting than some of the Japanese green teas. Special teas has a basic Lung-ching tea that sells for $4.65 for 1/4 lb. (catalog #533). It's quite good, and 1/4 lb makes a lot of tea.

One key is preparation -- don't use water that's boiling, just heat the water up to the point at which it seems about to boil (that is, watch the surface to see when it's steaming but not bubbling). It tastes a lot better that way... I use a small tea pot with a strainer, or just one of the paper tea filters you can order in packs from vendors like specialteas or upton. Very easy to do...

Sally

Reply to
Sally P.

Wow, that made sense. What I wanted to say:

When I first tried green tea , I just went to a tea-store and asked for two green teas. [...]

Disregard "affects".

Nils

Reply to
Nils Schoener

Nils,

Thanks for the follow-up.

Being new to the green tea thing I am looking for good information. So far I have found many teas in the $30 per ounce range! For this price I would like to know how many cups I'm going to get out of it.

I would prefer to go with loose tea but can;t find any data as to what consitutes good tea and bad.

Basically I am trying the find the cheapest good tea.

Reply to
Abouna

Abouna wrote: > Basically I am trying the find the cheapest good tea.

I've had good luck with

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Someone here referred me there a while back... They have a decent selection and are pretty affordable.

Steve

Reply to
Steve Hay

the first poster stated that he was looking for tea for a diabetic, there for the tea with brown rice is out. too many carbs. I am diabetic and have wondered what it tasted like. rice is a no no for type two diabetics because a satisfying amount has too many carbs. the brown rice tea has too many carbs to drink more than one cup ,as a snake. that would be a mighty thin snack.

Reply to
Tom Koeppl

Thanks to all of you.

This is what I wanted to get off on the right foot. Now at least I have some information, better than none.

Basically, you told me what I wanted to hear, green tea need not be expensive!

Reply to
Abouna

Now this is interesting to me. I have found a jasmine tea that I like, but my water temp doesn't appear to affect the way it tastes. IE boiling water and a 3-minute steep is just fine. Little astringency (sp?) and only the slightest bitterness (which actually reminds me of the way life is most times, sorry to digress) but fairly full body (which is what I find most pleasing). I tried steeping for 5 minutes with water that had boiled and then sat to cool for five minutes, and it was quite bitter and very astringent. 3 minutes would probably not have been so astringent or bitter, but I already have that with *boiling* water, so what's the diff? Am I doing something wrong? Also, someone said that green teas run the gamut from bad-tasting to delicious, and while I enjoy this tea (Chung Feng Jasmine Tea) or Foojoy Yin-Hao, I would not call either of them delicious by any stretch of the imagination. How can any (unsweetened) tea be "delicious"? I can only imagine "pleasant" and "satisfying." Thanks for any help.

Ignorantly yours,

Dave

Reply to
Dave

Although some in this newsgroup may sneer and jeer, try adding a bit of sugar to your oolongs and greens. For many of them, I find this makes them "delicious" in addition to "pleasant" and "satisfying".

Now adding milk, THAT would be horrid and would justify sneers and jeers.

Randy

Reply to
RJP

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com (Abouna) wrote in news:c75e6f31.0410111543.5911d025 @posting.google.com:

I have gotten sample packs from funalliance.com. The details:

"Here, you get to pick 3 kinds of Chinese tea for $7, including s&h. You will get:

1) for Oolong class tea, enough for 1-2 serves with a 6oz teapot; 2) for other classes, enough for 1-2 serves with an 8oz glass."

I've ordered two packs, and found a couple of teas I really like. I can't say whether it's the best place to buy from, but at least you can sample different things.

Also, it takes a while (for me; I'm in Florida, they are in Hong Kong), but on the other paw, the proprietor seems like a nice guy.

Just food for thought.

Reply to
fLameDogg

RJP wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@NOSPAMcomcast.net:

I don't, myself, have much problem with a *little* sugar. It's kind of like, oh, a seasoning. It's still a far cry from the creamy syrup so many of us enjoy with black tea (disclaimer--I usually enjoy three cups when I make (black) tea-- one with sweetener and milk, one with just milk, and the final one straight. I can't say which one I enjoy the most).

"Sweetener"? Yes; I use Splenda. Sneers and jeers, anyone? :O)

Reply to
fLameDogg

There are many good greens out there that don't need amelioration with sugar or milk, and would suffer from it. For a newbie I would advise staying away from a couple of staples of ye corner tea shoppe such as Young Hyson and Gunpowder and Sow Mee, which tend to be quite bitter or lackluster.

You should be able to find a green that suits you within five to 10 samples from a reliable seller. After all, there are hundreds of different ones, though they fall into fairly distinct categories. Also remember that greens are fragile and lose freshness rapidly...part of the reason for finding a good retailer.

I hesitate to recommend specific teas, but since the OP said price was a factor

-- two greens that I have found remarkably good, consistent and inexpensive are Everyday Green from Imperial Tea Court (via internet) and Stir Fried Greens from Silk Road (via phone/mail order). For something with a headier sweet aroma, Lin Yun White Down from SpecialTeas (my memory from a year ago).

Best, Joe Kubera

Reply to
Joseph Kubera

This is a religious issue. IMHO - if you like it - do it that way. After I drank Tibetan mushroom puerh homogenized with yak milk, nothing surprises me.

Sasha.

Reply to
Alex Chaihorsky

Okay I watch all the nature shows about Tibet. I've never seen a yak. I did watch Julia Roberts get more giggly on fermented mares milk. You couldn't tell if she was drunk or sober.

Jim

Reply to
Space Cowboy

Ahh. Sweetener. Now *that* I can understand.

Am just now having a cup of Yin Hao from the Chinese grocery which is

*really* good. Too bad I threw the box away, as it had the product code on it. And it was the last one they had...

Thanks,

Dave

Reply to
Dave

Wow. Yak milk. Where can I buy that? :)

Dave

Reply to
Dave

Jesus. Now I have *got* to make it to Tibet some day. Too much.

Dave

Reply to
Dave

Tibetans who live here use half-and-half. If you want the tea - its below. They use very cheap tea in this one, believe me you will be much better with better black and puerhs teas. For churn I use a thermos and shake it vigorously for several minutes. High-speed blender won't work - it will beat it into a thicker form (worth trying once).

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Sasha.

P.S. To watch anything about Tibet and not see a yak one has to try real hard. :)

Reply to
Alex Chaihorsky

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