Where to buy/order loose leaf green tea ?

Anyone here knows if this asahi-type is really the name of the tea? To me, it sounds more like a name that uconn's local shop came up with. There are some references for asahi gyokuro on the web, but they don't specify what asahai gyokuro actually is.

Also, here in Japan, I think the only town name that is used for naming teas is Uji. Asahi? Never heard of that. Of course, there's almost certainly a town with the name Asahi in the major tea production areas shizuoka and around Uji, since the name is very common, but if so, it's not famous or something.

so...any Ideas? Really just a name?

uconn: 16$ for 50grams of Gyokuro seems like a normal prize to me, though most shops will charge something around 20$/100grams. But Gyokuro can easily cost a lot more (that is true for all japanese greens), so what you have should be "above average" (that means, coming from only ONE field that produces a lower amount of tea to ensure quality, maybe even organic tea, rather than being a blend from many fields). One way to find out whether you've been tricked or not, is to compare with the products of other vendors.

Also, you should ask your local shop where the tea you purchased came from...if the tea is worth it's prize, there shouldn't be too many resellers between your shop's boss and the head of the field, to ensure the freshness of the tea. Ideally, they buy it directly from the field...but that, of course, depends on the size of the shop.

Anyway: If you like it, the deal was okay ^-^

ciao Patrick

Ah...I don't know what local US-shops will charge for their Gyokuro, I only checked some of the US-online vendors. In Germany you'll pay just the same, usually 16 Euro (which is about $20) for 100grams, and the prizes in Japan are about the same (2000-3000yen per 100grams for a decent quality (not from the supermarket))...but of course it's no problem to spend a lot more ^-^

Anyone has the actual exchange rates? Feeh...money... ^-^

I just wrote on another trhead about their great japan gyokuro extra fancy.