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Any advice on how to chose loose leaves tea, especially green tea? I'm scared to be taken advantage of going to one of those fancy tea shop; they seem tailored

Any advice on how to chose loose leaves tea, especially green tea? I'm scared to be taken advantage of going to one of those fancy tea shop; they seem tailored for people who prefer pretty over quality, when I just want basic green tea, not laced with cadmium, and not 20% twigs and dust. Brands maybe irrelevant, as I'm not in North America.

jpatokal 8y ago
Well, there is no "basic green tea", there are many different variants which are all quite different. Start by comparing a solid Chinese tea (eg. longjing) with a Japanese one (eg. sencha), brew them exactly as instructed (Japanese tea in particular turns bitter and soupy if you let it steep too long), see which one you like more and go from there. And instead of fancy tea stores, go to an Asian grocery and pick up any random mid-priced package. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_tea#Green_tea_by_country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_tea#Green_tea_by_country
peterwwillis 8y ago
Tea gets complicated quickly. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a basic green tea. There is basic crappy bagged dust green tea, but you're saying you don't want to buy that. Start here: https://www.artoftea.com/what-is-tea/what-is-green-tea https://www.artoftea.com/what-is-tea/what-is-green-tea Then google around for some guides of online sellers, such as this one https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/02/best-tea-where-to-buy.html https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/02/best-tea-where-to-buy.ht... Though to be perfecly honest you can get respectable green tea from the fancy tea shops, or even Wegman's. You can also find decent loose leaf teas in Asian grocery stores, but good luck reading the labels.
romwell 8y ago
FYI, Ahmad and Zarrin aren't American brands (I get them in Middle-Eastern stores here). Don't be scared going into a tea shop: the point of going there is to try teas before you buy them. A proper tea shop will let you sample the teas. Start tasting from the cheapest ones, find the kind you like, and then try the more expensive versions of that kind until you no longer can taste the difference. With loose leaf tea, just brew it to instructions (again, tea shops will provide timing/temperature for multiple infusions) - and you can see and taste the quality with your eyes. I've never experienced anything remotely close to "20% twigs and dust" even in store-bought cheapest loose leaf teas - anything that's not in teabags usually unwraps beautifully. Of course, get a ceramic teapot if you don't already own one. For temperature control, if you don't want to get a kettle with a thermostat, add a splash of cold water to the kettle before brewing green teas: if the water is colder than necessary, green tea will take longer to brew, but usually will turn out OK, but overly hot water can make it taste badly/bitterly (black teas are brewed with boiling water). If you know people from China or Taiwan, ask them! Not everyone there is a tea aficionado, but those who are will be a great source of information (..and possibly samples, especially if they get to travel there regularly). And in any case, best way to find out about tea is having tea with someone who knows a bit about it. To my taste, one can rarely go wrong with a Taiwanese tea (the ones that make it to the US at least). High-mountain oolongs are my favorite kind of tea currently, but it's just one kind. But the only way to get into tea - just like into anything - is try, try, try. If you need ratings/reviews, there is RateTea[1] - you can go to any Asian store, grab a can, and see if you can find the description (although that website can be a bit snobby at times). I second the advice others have given (go to any Asian store, grab any middle-priced package). I've found some great tea that way (and if it doesn't taste good - try another one!). Also, I had good luck with using Google Translate / OCR apps to decipher the labels. Where are you located? [1]https://ratetea.com/ https://ratetea.com/
petre 8y ago
The bigger, the better and usually higher quality. You will see that after the leaves open, under hot water. Oolng teas usually have the biggest leaves - they are normally rolled into balls and also quite expensive. If you want something cheaper (under 5 euros/100 g) but still very good, try Gunpowder (also rolled) or Chun Mee. These have a strong taste characteristic to pan oxidized Chinese tea. If you don't like the strong taste, then you're either infusing it too much (infuse for two minutes or less) or should try some of the Yunnan varieties, specifically Mao Feng. https://worldoftea.org/is-chinese-tea-safe-to-drink/ https://worldoftea.org/is-chinese-tea-safe-to-drink/ If you don't like pan oxidized Chinese tea at all, try Formosa (Taiwan), Korean or Japanese steam oxidized tea: Sencha, Bancha. Speaking of twigs, there's also a variety of Japanese twig tea which actually tastes very good - it's called Kukicha. Theese tend to have a milder taste. https://japanesegreenteashops.com/pages/japanese-tea-types https://japanesegreenteashops.com/pages/japanese-tea-types If you're located anywhere in the EU, I used to buy from Teegschwendner before a Demmers franchise was establised in my country.
- RugnirViking 8y ago
  I can second the idea of trying to get kukicha for a milder taste. I tried it a while ago and have been buying it since then because I rather enjoyed it.

jpatokal 8y ago

Well, there is no "basic green tea", there are many different variants which are all quite different. Start by comparing a solid Chinese tea (eg. longjing) with a Japanese one (eg. sencha), brew them exactly as instructed (Japanese tea in particular turns bitter and soupy if you let it steep too long), see which one you like more and go from there. And instead of fancy tea stores, go to an Asian grocery and pick up any random mid-priced package. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_tea#Green_tea_by_country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_tea#Green_tea_by_country

peterwwillis 8y ago

Tea gets complicated quickly. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a basic green tea. There is basic crappy bagged dust green tea, but you're saying you don't want to buy that. Start here: https://www.artoftea.com/what-is-tea/what-is-green-tea https://www.artoftea.com/what-is-tea/what-is-green-tea Then google around for some guides of online sellers, such as this one https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/02/best-tea-where-to-buy.html https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/02/best-tea-where-to-buy.ht... Though to be perfecly honest you can get respectable green tea from the fancy tea shops, or even Wegman's. You can also find decent loose leaf teas in Asian grocery stores, but good luck reading the labels.

romwell 8y ago

FYI, Ahmad and Zarrin aren't American brands (I get them in Middle-Eastern stores here). Don't be scared going into a tea shop: the point of going there is to try teas before you buy them. A proper tea shop will let you sample the teas. Start tasting from the cheapest ones, find the kind you like, and then try the more expensive versions of that kind until you no longer can taste the difference. With loose leaf tea, just brew it to instructions (again, tea shops will provide timing/temperature for multiple infusions) - and you can see and taste the quality with your eyes. I've never experienced anything remotely close to "20% twigs and dust" even in store-bought cheapest loose leaf teas - anything that's not in teabags usually unwraps beautifully. Of course, get a ceramic teapot if you don't already own one. For temperature control, if you don't want to get a kettle with a thermostat, add a splash of cold water to the kettle before brewing green teas: if the water is colder than necessary, green tea will take longer to brew, but usually will turn out OK, but overly hot water can make it taste badly/bitterly (black teas are brewed with boiling water). If you know people from China or Taiwan, ask them! Not everyone there is a tea aficionado, but those who are will be a great source of information (..and possibly samples, especially if they get to travel there regularly). And in any case, best way to find out about tea is having tea with someone who knows a bit about it. To my taste, one can rarely go wrong with a Taiwanese tea (the ones that make it to the US at least). High-mountain oolongs are my favorite kind of tea currently, but it's just one kind. But the only way to get into tea - just like into anything - is try, try, try. If you need ratings/reviews, there is RateTea[1] - you can go to any Asian store, grab a can, and see if you can find the description (although that website can be a bit snobby at times). I second the advice others have given (go to any Asian store, grab any middle-priced package). I've found some great tea that way (and if it doesn't taste good - try another one!). Also, I had good luck with using Google Translate / OCR apps to decipher the labels. Where are you located? [1]https://ratetea.com/ https://ratetea.com/

petre 8y ago

The bigger, the better and usually higher quality. You will see that after the leaves open, under hot water. Oolng teas usually have the biggest leaves - they are normally rolled into balls and also quite expensive. If you want something cheaper (under 5 euros/100 g) but still very good, try Gunpowder (also rolled) or Chun Mee. These have a strong taste characteristic to pan oxidized Chinese tea. If you don't like the strong taste, then you're either infusing it too much (infuse for two minutes or less) or should try some of the Yunnan varieties, specifically Mao Feng. https://worldoftea.org/is-chinese-tea-safe-to-drink/ https://worldoftea.org/is-chinese-tea-safe-to-drink/ If you don't like pan oxidized Chinese tea at all, try Formosa (Taiwan), Korean or Japanese steam oxidized tea: Sencha, Bancha. Speaking of twigs, there's also a variety of Japanese twig tea which actually tastes very good - it's called Kukicha. Theese tend to have a milder taste. https://japanesegreenteashops.com/pages/japanese-tea-types https://japanesegreenteashops.com/pages/japanese-tea-types If you're located anywhere in the EU, I used to buy from Teegschwendner before a Demmers franchise was establised in my country.

RugnirViking 8y ago
I can second the idea of trying to get kukicha for a milder taste. I tried it a while ago and have been buying it since then because I rather enjoyed it.