Green Tea

[Halb]

I now wish to try matcha tea, after seeing it on superfoods last night, the girl loved the powder, so surprised to see on here ppl hate it.

[dapprman]

As I mentioned a few years back, it is a very acquired taste. Also it's not brewed, but rather the powder is whisked in to hot (not boiling water). By hot I mean to taste hot, not touch, so probably ~65 degrees C, not the 80-85 degrees you'd heat water to for sencha.

[Halb]

A friend in LA is going to send me her fave brand.

[Du1point8]

Matcha tea comes in 3 flavours (cafe and kitchen pretty much the same) from the most bitter to the nicest.

Kitchen matcha - avoid like the plague unless adding to cake
Cafe grade - avoid unless its latte you want.
Classic grade - now you are getting somewhere, can be drank on its own.
Ceremonial grade - actually sweet and not bitter at all.

I drink Classic or ceremonial grade only, I suspect most people on here have been given kitchen grade and tried to drink it by itself and thats why it tastes crap.

I get my stuff from T2 Tea in Sydney

http://www.t2tea.com/en/au/tea/matcha-tea/

They don't seem to have it on the website, but they do in store...

Yes I do have the whisk and other crap, can highly recommend the flask for drinking on the way to work.

It makes you more focused then buzzing like coffee, as it has the caffeine in it but also a relaxant like camomile, so you just get focused, I replaced my drinks of coffee with it.

Remember if its bitter, the quality is ste.

[Halb]

Du1point8 said:

Matcha tea comes in 3 flavours (cafe and kitchen pretty much the same) from the most bitter to the nicest.

Kitchen matcha - avoid like the plague unless adding to cake
Cafe grade - avoid unless its latte you want.
Classic grade - now you are getting somewhere, can be drank on its own.
Ceremonial grade - actually sweet and not bitter at all.

I drink Classic or ceremonial grade only, I suspect most people on here have been given kitchen grade and tried to drink it by itself and thats why it tastes crap.

I get my stuff from T2 Tea in Sydney

http://www.t2tea.com/en/au/tea/matcha-tea/

They don't seem to have it on the website, but they do in store...

Yes I do have the whisk and other crap, can highly recommend the flask for drinking on the way to work.

It makes you more focused then buzzing like coffee, as it has the caffeine in it but also a relaxant like camomile, so you just get focused, I replaced my drinks of coffee with it.

Remember if its bitter, the quality is ste.

Right, thanks. That makes sense. In the show they did the tea ceremony, and the presenter tasted the power and loved it.
I'll see if my LA mate (she says they are all into it there, health conscious LA hippie lot).

[Du1point8]

Halb said:

Du1point8 said:

Matcha tea comes in 3 flavours (cafe and kitchen pretty much the same) from the most bitter to the nicest.

Kitchen matcha - avoid like the plague unless adding to cake
Cafe grade - avoid unless its latte you want.
Classic grade - now you are getting somewhere, can be drank on its own.
Ceremonial grade - actually sweet and not bitter at all.

I drink Classic or ceremonial grade only, I suspect most people on here have been given kitchen grade and tried to drink it by itself and thats why it tastes crap.

I get my stuff from T2 Tea in Sydney

http://www.t2tea.com/en/au/tea/matcha-tea/

They don't seem to have it on the website, but they do in store...

Yes I do have the whisk and other crap, can highly recommend the flask for drinking on the way to work.

It makes you more focused then buzzing like coffee, as it has the caffeine in it but also a relaxant like camomile, so you just get focused, I replaced my drinks of coffee with it.

Remember if its bitter, the quality is ste.

Right, thanks. That makes sense. In the show they did the tea ceremony, and the presenter tasted the power and loved it.
I'll see if my LA mate (she says they are all into it there, health conscious LA hippie lot).

If you are in cheshire, why not get in touch with these guys? ask for a sample?

http://www.cheshiretea.co.uk/collections/green-tea...

they are here:

31st July 2016 - Treacle Market, Macclesfield (treaclemarket.co.uk)

13th August 2016 - Sandbach Makers Market (themakersmarket.co.uk)

Also do read up on the measures you use, its not a teaspoon its a lot lot less, my colleague was putting 2 teaspoons in a cup and wondered why he was having issues with overdosing on caffeine.

[Phil.]

I have sourced excellent green tea from Jing Tea over many years and use their t-bags at work. The t-bags work out at about 30p each from memory but can be reused and will last a day:

https://jingtea.com/

This is my favorite:

https://jingtea.com/shop/organic-jade-sword-tea-ba...

They offer free delivery occasionally.

[fredt]

Du1point8 said:

If you are in cheshire, why not get in touch with these guys? ask for a sample?

http://www.cheshiretea.co.uk/collections/green-tea...

they are here:

31st July 2016 - Treacle Market, Macclesfield (treaclemarket.co.uk)

13th August 2016 - Sandbach Makers Market (themakersmarket.co.uk)

Also do read up on the measures you use, its not a teaspoon its a lot lot less, my colleague was putting 2 teaspoons in a cup and wondered why he was having issues with overdosing on caffeine.

Sounds and looks delicious! Had to order some, looking forward to that!

Do you need a toolset or can it be stirred in a mug by teaspoon...?

Edited by fredt on Monday 18th July 09:27

[Du1point8]

fredt said:

Du1point8 said:

If you are in cheshire, why not get in touch with these guys? ask for a sample?

http://www.cheshiretea.co.uk/collections/green-tea...

they are here:

31st July 2016 - Treacle Market, Macclesfield (treaclemarket.co.uk)

13th August 2016 - Sandbach Makers Market (themakersmarket.co.uk)

Also do read up on the measures you use, its not a teaspoon its a lot lot less, my colleague was putting 2 teaspoons in a cup and wondered why he was having issues with overdosing on caffeine.

Sounds and looks delicious! Had to order some, looking forward to that!

Do you need a toolset or can it be stirred in a mug by teaspoon...?

Edited by fredt on Monday 18th July 09:27

you don't need the official tool set.

A milk frother will work fine and is cheap:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/KitchenCraft-KCFRX-LeXpre...

This will actually measure it out better than a teaspoon, so I do recommend the official spoon
https://www.amazon.co.uk/MATCHA-GREEN-POWDER-SCOOP...

If you want to go the whole hog then by all means its not expensive by all means.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Goodwei-Japanese-Matcha-T...

[Du1point8]

Oh and for the love of god, get Japanese matcha tea, do not get the Chinese as its inferior and sometimes like in one study, had high lead content... not massively high, but you have been warned... plus you can taste the difference between the 2 areas and its massive.

Japanese is good.

[fredt]

I have one of those whisks, I'll have a go and see if I actually like the taste first.

Will get a tool kit if I do, it is nice to do certain things 'right'.

Thanks

[IanA2]

The dollar/gbp rate at the moment makes these guys a bit pricey, but they know a thing or two about tea:

http://www.hibiki-an.com/?gclid=CjwKEAjw_LG8BRDb1J...

[dapprman]

fredt said:

Sounds and looks delicious! Had to order some, looking forward to that!

Do you need a toolset or can it be stirred in a mug by teaspoon...?

Edited by fredt on Monday 18th July 09:27

You an just use a whisk.

[Halb]

well before I could go round there my mate sent me these!