Can you recommend a good variety of loose leaf green tea?

September 20, 2006 8:19 PM

Can someone recommend a good variety of loose leaf green tea?

I am looking for a good variety of loose-leaf green tea that is both high in caffeine and tends to be more mild in taste rather than bitter.

The two loose-leaf green teas that I drink now - Sencha and Temple of Heaven Gunpowder - seem to not give me a boost that I expect from caffeinated drinks. Both of them tend to taste rather bitter so much so that it seems that they are a bit acidic.

So, fellow green-tea drinkers, do you know of a variety that's both high in caffeine and low on bitterness? I'd appreciate your suggestions.

posted by gregb1007 to food & drink (14 comments total)

well you may know this already but just in case: to make oishii non-bitter green tea, heat water just below boiling and then steep the tea no longer than 2-3 minutes.

it is not so much about the specific tea leaves as the preparation. time and temperature are essential.

lately I use chinese 9371 'cos it is cheap yet decent. japanese genmaicha is also quite tasty, e.g. yamamotoyama not terribly expensive.
posted by dorian at 8:28 PM on September 20, 2006

dorian, i am familiar with the tip of steeping the tea no longer than 2-3 minutes, but since I want to get the maximum caffeine content, I prefer to let it steep for about 5 minutes. Maybe if I could get a green tea that had more caffeine than Sencha and Temple of Heaven Powder, I could let it steep less than 3 minutes.
posted by gregb1007 at 8:40 PM on September 20, 2006

My understanding is that green tea is the second least caffeinated types of tea.

I love Jasmine Pearl green tea (particularly from Rishi). If you're looking for mild, it doesn't get any milder than white teas (again, I'd recommend the snow bud variety from Rishi).

I've tried a number of different greens from Adagio, but I wouldn't recommend them at all. They all tasted roughly the same and that was like freshly-cut lawn.
posted by bbrown at 8:52 PM on September 20, 2006

Oh, and tangentially related, I can't recommend the IngenuiTEA from Adagio highly enough. It is the best steep I've had and is perfect for work.
posted by bbrown at 8:54 PM on September 20, 2006

Remember that caffeine is extremely bitter, so the more of it you have, the more bitter the tea will be.

To see for yourself, use the same tea leaves twice, about 3 minutes each time. The first steeping will pull out most of the caffeine; that will be the 'normal' brew. The second steeping should be just about as flavorful, but it should have much less caffeine. The difference is the price you pay for the kick in the pants.

The single strongest caffeinated tea I ever had was Lipton's Orange Spice, which I can no longer drink, being MSG-sensitive. (almost all of Lipton's flavored teas have 'natural flavors', which 9/10 times is MSG.) I'd make a pitcher of the stuff (about four tea bags) and sweeten it some per their instructions, and after a few cups, I was WIRED. Stronger than any coffee I ever remember having, with both a nicer flavor and a better buzz. This was a long time ago, but I assume it's still the same stuff.

Beyond that, I can't really comment... I haven't found a green tea I really love. I'm very fond of the blacks. The Twinings unflavored tins of loose black tea in the supermarket are surprisingly good, best supermarket tea I've found. I don't know if they do greens, but you could take a quick look.
posted by Malor at 9:23 PM on September 20, 2006

You might want to try a blend of green and black tea. The green teas are generally too bitter for me, but in combination with some black tea and some other flavors, it is very drinkable and has many of the benefits of green tea.

My favorite green/black blend is "Ali Baba's 40 Düfte" or "Ali Baba's 40 scents" available from Germany and importers. It also contains sunflowers, jasmine and rose petals. Seriously delicious.
posted by vizsla at 9:59 PM on September 20, 2006

If you like the taste of (real) mint, you should consider purchasing some quality Moroccan mint tea. As I understand it, it is a blend of mint and gunpowder green tea with quite a bit of caffeine. Serve heavily sugared. I purchased mine at Teavana, but I wouldn't fall all over myself recommending their particular blend.

The jasmine pearl green tea they sell, on the other hand, is fantastic. So is Rishi brand, as others said.

If you have a Teavana shop near you, though, they're pretty knowledgeable about the stuff they sell and they can hook you up.
posted by anjamu at 10:18 PM on September 20, 2006

ming mei (eyebrow tea) is a favorite of mine.

i think the story has something to do with a buddhist monk trying to gain access to a bon temple. the elders wouldnt let the heretic in so he sat and meditated before the temple. to keep himself from falling asleep, he ripped off his eyelids and eyebrows and tossed them aside from which grew the first tea plants.
his meditation then became so powerful that he burned holes in the temple walls with his gaze, impressed the bon clerics and gained acceptance for the new teachings.

me, i just like the tea.

i order pounds once a year from www.twohillstea.com

good stuff.
posted by oigocosas at 10:50 PM on September 20, 2006

I am borderline-obsessed with green tea. I drink mostly Gunpowder, Chun Mei, and Hojicha.

On to your question: Green tea simply doesn't have that much caffeine. If you want caffeine, drink soda, coffee, espresso, etc.

As previous posters have said, if your green tea is at all bitter you're brewing it very wrong. Use water between 160 and 180 degrees and steep for less than 5 minutes. Bitterness means it's been oversteeped by using either too hot water or leaving the leaves in too long.

My understanding is caffeine dissolves quite quickly in water, so if you really want green tea with high caffeine, make a normal brew with loose leaves and then dunk some low-quality tea bags in it for < 30 seconds. Tea from teabags is usually quite granular so the high surface area should let the caffeine get in quickly.
posted by 0xFCAF at 11:37 PM on September 20, 2006

By bitter, are you sure you don't mean grassy? I find that the flavour of lower-quality and/or oversteeped sencha is bitter, but in an entirely different way from black tea.

As for something (relatively) highly caffeinated, my local tea shop recommended Kapchoura Estate. It's granular and stays in the cup as you drink the tea but never tastes oversteeped -- it's almost slightly fruity. I found it pretty strong; I'm normally a coffee drinker but it kept me wide awake during last exam season.
posted by thisjax at 12:54 AM on September 21, 2006

I'm certainly not an expert, but the relative mildness/bitterness of green tea isn't always just preparation. The quality of the leaves matters too!

If you like Sencha, try some Shizuoka-grown stuff. Shizuoka is Japan's top tea growing region and they have various Sencha green teas that are to die for. There's a special subcategory called Shincha (shin meaning new, cha meaning tea) that is especially mellow and delicious. It's made of the first crop of handpicked tea leaves, available in April and May, IIRC. I'm sure you could find some online.

But regarding the caffeine, green tea wouldn't be my first choice if I needed a jolt....
posted by QueSeraSera at 1:23 AM on September 21, 2006

Green tea might be a nice compromise between wanting some caffeine and not wanting to drink coffee or Mt. Dew. However, it's not just the caffeine that you should be thinking about if you're looking for a boost. Tea may be low in caffeine, but it's quite high in theophylline and related methylxanthines, which are bitter compounds called alkaloids. Generally, basic compounds taste bitter, while acidic tastes are more sour.

What you could be tasting that is confusing you are the tannins in the tea.
posted by Mr. Gunn at 6:59 AM on September 21, 2006

Ooo, Moroccan mint. I drink the fabulous variety from Whittard.
posted by bbrown at 8:23 AM on September 21, 2006

Oh, and here's the Straight Dope about relative caffeine levels amongst beverages, which I found very illuminating. I was under the impression that tea had less caffeine than, say, Mountain Dew or coffee. That link indicates that it can have far more.
posted by bbrown at 8:31 AM on September 21, 2006