high quality green tea?

[nonlinear]

i've been drinking green tea at restaurants for years and years, but never made it myself cause I really just wasn't THAT into it. but at the end of last semester, one of my students gave me some she brought back from China with her and i've been drinking it like crazy. i've been reading and learning about how to properly brew green tea, etc. and now I want to start trying some better and/or different types of green tea. what do you guys think are the best types/brands? does anyone know where to get full leaf tea? does this even matter, in terms of quality?

[dj_rice]

I dunno where to get it, try Chinatown or those Chinese Herbal Remedy/Herb stores maybe?


My parents always bring back bag fulls from Vietnam so I don't know where to get. For brewing, I've seen people pour bowling water into the brewing vessel first to "prime" it, and then put the leafs in and put tea leaves in and then it didn't sit for very long and is served.

[PsychNerd]

Try the Oolong Tea House in Kensington. They have a pretty good selection of different types of teas and they can give you some pretty good advice about how to brew it properly.

[nonlinear]

yea, i've found out that brewing more than about 2 minutes results in a bitter tea... therefore, i've been playing around with very short brewing times (1 or 2 minutes), and it does taste better than the 5+ minutes i started out using.

however, I recall looking into some pots at various restaurants in the past, and seeing the tea leaves still sitting in the bottom of the pot. what's up with that?

also, i've read that you can re-use high quality leaves a few times. i haven't actually tried it yet, since i still have a pretty good sized bag here, but would definitely start doing that cause i've been drinking a lot of this stuff and would like to reuse it if it's spendy.

[n1zm0]

i drink loads of green and jasmine tea (mixed 3:2 of either usually), chilled in a big bottle. my alternative to drinking pop or w/e. but if i run out of my parent's supply from Malaysia i usually just end up getting the generic communist china style brand from T&T or Lambda, full leaf and/or shredded.

I find shredded stems/leaves to be more 'fulfilling' than throwing the whole leaf in there, idk just imo

[chengj]

There's a tea house at the chinese mall, southwest corner of 16th and centre on the main floor. There's also Ten Ren's at both T&T locations. Go in ask for some green tea (Jasmine, Oolong), ask to see/smell it (don't stick your whole face in, as it's rude, just bring it close enough to your face). There'll be various grades of tea. Ask them what the difference is. Don't buy anything that's pre-pacakged.

The people at Ten Ren's speak english. The other one might not.

Other than that... They say that green tea should not be made with completely boiling water (stop the boi, when bubbles start to appear). Steeping time is 1-3 minutes for green tea. a little more for black tea.

You should be able to get 2-4 uses out of any decent leaves.

[tango101]

The naked leaf in Kensington is a great place to go if your looking for different types of green tea. The guy who owns it is very friendly and knowledgeable on brewing techniques and tea ceremonies. Check out his website if you wanna see what he carries (www.thenakedleaf.ca) and don't be afraid to ask for a sample before you buy.

If you go there, I would recommend his Fukamushi Sencha. Soooo good imo :drool:

[Sugarphreak]

....

[clem24]

My favorite stuff to make at home is Kirkland Signature Green Tea. It is actually made by Ito En in Japan and sold at Costco. Cheap as hell and 100 tea bags last forever.

http://www.amazon.com/Kirkland-Signature-Matcha-Japanese-Leaves/dp/B000WB1YSE

The only problem is I've yet to see this in Canadian Costcos. You should be able to find the Ito En bags but expect to pay at least 4 times as much for what is essentially the same thing.

The best selection of Japanese green tea that I've seen in Calgary is down at the Korean supermarket beside what used to be the Royal Seoul restaurant (now Dae Jang Geum):

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=dae+geum+calgary&sll=51.044126,-114.091392&sspn=0.002934,0.006207&ie=UTF8&hq=dae+geum&hnear=Calgary,+AB&ll=51.044301,-114.091376&spn=0.002934,0.006207&t=h&z=18&iwloc=A

Most of it will be loose tea. Just but yourself one of these (mesh tea infuser):

http://www.violetea.com/images/accessories/high/Mesh_Infuser_Spoon_V6110.jpg

They are cheap in the Chinese kitchen appliances place on Centre (Hahaha I just noticed it's called B&J restaurant equipment and supplies):

http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Calgary,+Division+No.+6,+Alberta&ll=51.061494,-114.062312&spn=0,359.996897&t=h&z=19&layer=c&cbll=51.061668,-114.062523&panoid=KDv1gtHjo_YZwvsh1QP2MQ&cbp=12,308.71,,0,7.57

(And skip the Chinese green tea. That stuff is shit. China is better known for much different teas).

[ExtraSlow]

I'm kind of hooked on the butterfly brand white tea. But it at superstore in a box of 50 bags.
I've tried probably a dozen other kinds of green and white tea, and I like this the best.
I usually do a pretty short steeping time, about one minute. I've heard that longer can bring more complex flavours out. Don't know about that.
I also steep my black tea for a short time. Bags of red rose for about 45 second or so in my cup.

[clem24]

^^^ Depends on the tea. Some need 30 seconds, others need 10 minutes.