11.26.04
Posted in Green Tea in General at 1:14 am by site admin
This month alone, I’ve received several emails and one un-requested sample in the mail from companies offering Japanese green tea. This would not be so unusual I guess, except that the offers came from China, not Japan. The sample I received had “Japanese Green Tea” written right on it, yet I know it isn’t the real deal because it came in the mail from Hong Kong. It seems that there are a number of Chinese companies out there now that are growing their tea in China, packaging and labeling it in China, and yet offering it as “Japanese green tea.” What’s wrong with this picture? I don’t get what’s Japanese about it at all. I have seen “Japanese style” green tea that was grown in China before, but now it seems some of them are getting rid of the word “style” completely. I’ve also come to realize that Japan imports a lot of green tea from China. So a word to the wise - if it’s real “Japanese” green tea that you are wanting, make sure you know what you are getting.
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11.24.04
Posted in Green Tea in General, Brewing Green Tea at 10:51 pm by site admin
Recently I received a question regarding teapots for green tea, so I thought this might be a good time to explain why it’s a good idea to have one that’s made for green tea. It seems that a lot of people are not quite sure how to brew green tea correctly, I understand why. It’s not that it’s hard to brew green tea, you just have to put a little more thought into it than you would with those Lipton teabags. This thread will focus on the teapots.
The first thing to consider is that Japanese green tea tends to have a much finer consistency than other types of teas. For that reason, it’s best to have a teapot with a fine mesh screen built into the side. The standard teapots with small holes inside of the spout really don’t cut it, although you can get by with it if you have to. In Japan you will often find teapots that have a little infusor basket that sits down into the teapot, but the trend these days is towards the type that have the screen built into the side. There’s a good reason for this - Japanese green tea is tightly compacted. The leaves are dried and rolled into needle-like splinters. Once heated, they really expand. Because of this expansion, it’s better to have a lot of room in there. Like, you really want those leaves to float around inside of the teapot freely. This rules out tea balls and the like. It also pretty much rules out those Yixing teapots made in China. In case you haven’t seen one, they’re tiny, maybe the size of a tangerine. They’re made for oolong teas, of which the leaves are larger when they expand.
Another thing that doesn’t work too well is your standard English teapot. First, it’s huge. Well, at least by Japanese standards. They typical Japanese teapot holds about 10 to 12 ounces of water. They’re just the right size for 2 small cups of tea. As in, you make it, and then drain it completely between infusions - another very important thing to do when you brew green tea.
All that being said, I would say that it’s still possible to make a good cup of green tea in a regular ol’ teapot, or perhaps a cup and strainer, provided that you know exactly what your doing. We haven’t gone into brewing temperatures or times, so that will be next. I’ll just say that a good teapot designed especially for green tea will only set you back about $30 or so, and will make your life much easier in the long run.
As I said earlier, brewing green tea is not hard, it just takes more consideration and a bit of practice. Once you get the hang of it, the ritual becomes almost as fun as drinking it!
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11.23.04
Posted in Green Tea in General, Health Benefits of Green Tea at 2:37 am by site admin
Hardly a day goes by without someone asking me , Will green tea help me lose weight? Since I run my own online green tea shop, it might be surprising that I would answer “no” to this, but I must. If you take a good gander at our site, you’ll notice that we do not tout this. The reason for that is, it’s simply not my style to make money off of other peoples misfortunes, especially when I’ve yet to be convinced that it will really help a person lose weight. What do I base my answer on? Personal experience mostly, but also from the fact that I’ve yet to run across one good study from anyplace I consider legitime that shows weight loss attributed to green tea. Not saying it isn’t out there, mind you, just that I haven’t seen it yet.
The green tea and weightloss questions started coming in full bore about a year ago, and haven’t let up. Gosh, I wish it were only true - no one would be thinner than me. Believe me, I drink the good stuff, and a lot of it. It seems green tea is the new way to make a fast buck in the weightloss industry. Green tea patches, green tea extract, crappy green tea from China. I only bring this up because I’m the guy who ends up having to answer the emails and dash peoples hopes. And let me tell you, some people don’t appreciate it when I won’t tell them what they want to hear.
Here’s what I can tell you about green tea and weightloss. First, there is about 30mg of caffeine in a cup of green tea, which is slightly less than a regular cup of tea, and much less than a cup of drip coffee. So, technically, the caffeine in green tea will raise ones metabolism to a certain extent, and *might* have a tiny effect for weightloss. Because of this, I guess some can claim it will help with weightloss and not be held liable.
Okay, so it doesn’t do much for weightloss - the stuff is still awesome. Green tea has extremely well documented and researched health benefits, health benefits that are noticeable as soon as you start drinking it. Soon, I’ll explain why green tea is so special…
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11.22.04
Posted in Green Tea in General at 3:38 am by site admin
Fukushima, Japan This is the first post on my little blog all about green tea. Japanese green tea, Chinese green tea, brewing it, what I think about it, or whatever. I’ll try to keep it to green tea, but no promises - there’s a very real chance that I’ll throw something else in here.
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