Howdy All

[Qrono]

Howdy All!

My name is Clint and I'm pretty darn new to tea. I am working on my health and part of my journey has been the introduction of drinking green tea. I will admit that I bought into some silly items and teas that I don't think are of the quality they say they are. I found this website and have been reading a good bit. I will also say that I'm still incredibly overwhelmed with all the choices out there! Perhaps some of you might be able to lend me your advice?

I'd prefer a Japanese green tea. Is the first harvest worth the extra money? I've also seen the different vendors listed here in the forums. Will I be ok with just choosing one and going for it? For instance, I've seen o-cha and am interested in doing one of their beginner kits. Is this (or something like this) worth it? I see the different types of green tea (such as growing in the shade vs. not), is this personal preference on taste?

Any help is greatly appreciated and I will continue to read as much as I can to make an informed decision.

Thanks!
Clint

*Edit: If you have any questions that I may answer to better help you help me, I'm all for answering! Also, the green tea that I tried was the Teavana Gyokuro Imperial Green Tea. I'm also looking for a good on the go system. I have one of the Teavana thermos with the infuser inside as I tend to drink my morning green tea once I get to work.

[Chip]

Yes, first flush is definitely worth it! And O-Cha's kits are a great way to get started with Japanese greens. And their teas are a much better "value" than Teavana's.

Oh, and welcome to TeaChat, Clint.

[Qrono]

Thanks Chip for the advice and welcome!

I may just do an O-Cha kit and arbitrarily chose a green tea to try.

[daidokorocha]

Welcome, Clint. I don't think you can go wrong with any of the vendors listed here on teachat, especially for the Japanese greens. They've all been tried and nominated by the various long-term members of this board, all who have a good standard of taste.

As for o-cha, I've never had any of their Japanese green as I basically get all of mine when I'm in Japan or directly from Japanese vendors rather than an English proxy. However, they seem to be one of the most popular on here and you should definitely give them a go. I recently placed an order with den's tea to try one of the recommended vendors for Japanese greens on this board. They have a beginner's sampler which gives you all sorts of tea plus the current best harvest for free + $3 for shipping and a discount on your next order. The extra sample I got I believe was the fukamushi sencha, so it definitely is a good buy at the moment. You should check it out.

http://www.denstea.com/bnew-to-dens-tea ... 7_386.html

[Qrono]

Awesome thank you for the reply! I'm happy to hear that I can't go wrong. I will take a look at your link and probably pull the trigger on ordering something this week.

Thank you all for the help!

[Noahwhiteman24]

Hey Clint! Welcome to the world of tea! I'm a little bit of a novice with greens myself, but in the past month or two I have really gotten down my sencha and gyokuro technique. I personally really enjoyed the Teavana gyokuro I got earlier this year, but that could just be because I haven't tried anything else... I did get 7 I fusions out of it though. It started off very vegetal and fresh tasting, not too astringent, and then became lightly green and sweet until finally at infusion 6, it tasted almost like a toasted marshmallow! I brewed at 150 degrees Fahrenheit, 4 oz at a time with 3 teaspoons of leaf. Good luck in your search!