TeaChat

This is my first teachat post. I'm a big fan of Gyokuro. The only time I bought it was from Arbor Teas. It's very delicious but expensive; so I was wondering if any of you had cheaper alternatives in mind. I prefer Organic tea.

If high quality sencha is the next best option, I would appreciate ideas on where to buy. Thank you.

Well...Gyo and Sencha are different beasts of course..and you should expect to pay more for quality Gyo. I looked at the Arbor Tea Gyo and its sitting at 36 bucks for 5oz/140grams thats actually a pretty inexpensive Gyo in my book.
The Gyo I enjoy is about 53 bucks for 100g. and its the "cheapest" in that line of Gyo's that the store sells which is the Yamashita line at Maiko Tea. but its also not organic. You could try the O-cha organic kabusecha..which might be a good alternative for gyo for you. or try any of the organic Gyo's from Yuuki-cha.

Do not expect organic gyokuro to match up with conventionally grown gyokuro ... they are very different animals, apples to oranges. Unfortunately, Yuuki-Cha is the only vendor on the planet who won't sell tea to me.

For gyo ... my fave list.

O-Cha (Kame is the best value at that price point compared to any others I have tried, but I have not tried them all). Members who have tried the "value priced" Yame have been very satisfied.
Zencha
Maiko
Ippodo

I also want to try the Yame from Hakoniwado ... and a bunch of others. Hibiki-An higher grade ones are good too, just do NOT get the Superior grade gyo ... bleh.

Chip wrote:Unfortunately, Yuuki-Cha is the only vendor on the planet who won't sell tea to me.

Maybe they'll sell to your wife, Chip!

O-cha is a good one for gyo, especially this time of year IMO.

I have tried Den's Sui Mei and that is the best one I've tried yet. Not sure if they nitrogen flush for freshness like O-cha though. It's getting later in the year now...

Tead Off wrote:

Chip wrote:Unfortunately, Yuuki-Cha is the only vendor on the planet who won't sell tea to me.

Maybe they'll sell to your wife, Chip!

Well, considering they would not sell it to my daughter (who was attempting to buy it for me) ... not likely.

Chip wrote:Unfortunately, Yuuki-Cha is the only vendor on the planet who won't sell tea to me.

Everyone on here should boycott Yuuki-Cha until the vendor decides to explain himself. I probably can't afford their stuff anyway, but I definitely wouldn't want to support that kind of behavior.

I can't say this about matcha, nor can I say it about sencha, but after trying many samples, I've yet to try a single good organic gyokuro.

Chip wrote:

Tead Off wrote:

Chip wrote:Unfortunately, Yuuki-Cha is the only vendor on the planet who won't sell tea to me.

Maybe they'll sell to your wife, Chip!

Well, considering they would not sell it to my daughter (who was attempting to buy it for me) ... not likely.

They must have a DNA sampler installed on their checkout.

High quality gyokuro is not a daily slurper, at least not for most mortals.

An option you could look into is a good quality sencha, it's pretty different from gyo, but you might find it's similar enough to enjoy. Or a gyokuro karigane, which is gyokuro mixed with tea stems.

O-cha is a recommended seller of any Japanese greens, but there is a vendors section on this forum where a lot of other ones are recommended as well.

jdl, you mentioned less expensive alternatives.

I just opened Yame gyokuro from O-Cha ($34/100 grams) ... this is priced cheaper than anything comparably priced I have tried. The aroma in the bag was amazing. I am anxious to try this hopefully Sunday (today).

Generally cheaper gyokuros not only do not impress me, they can be a real turn-off (and are often not even true gyokuro). But this one has always exceeded my expectations for a gyo at this price point.

Hi Chip,

I just opened Yame gyokuro from O-Cha ($34/100 grams) ... this is priced cheaper than anything comparably priced I have tried. The aroma in the bag was amazing. I am anxious to try this hopefully Sunday (today).

How was it? Some day I'm going to try their Kame, but what did you think of the Yame?

That is the other gyo I've had in mind from O-cha... well, besides Tsurujirushi, but I figure I'll try the others that are highly recommended first.

shinobicha wrote:Hi Chip,

I just opened Yame gyokuro from O-Cha ($34/100 grams) ... this is priced cheaper than anything comparably priced I have tried. The aroma in the bag was amazing. I am anxious to try this hopefully Sunday (today).

How was it? Some day I'm going to try their Kame, but what did you think of the Yame?

That is the other gyo I've had in mind from O-cha... well, besides Tsurujirushi, but I figure I'll try the others that are highly recommended first.

I have been trying to sample this ... Wednesday will likely be the day. However this may be an apples to oranges thing since I have 2010, not 2011 that is being offered currently. (I think)

But the dry leaf aroma upon opening the bag was remarkable!!! And leaf color is really nice and dark green, not anything like other gyokuro I have seen at this price point.

sencha wrote:

Chip wrote:Unfortunately, Yuuki-Cha is the only vendor on the planet who won't sell tea to me.

Everyone on here should boycott Yuuki-Cha until the vendor decides to explain himself. I probably can't afford their stuff anyway, but I definitely wouldn't want to support that kind of behavior.

What's the problem?

(I take it I've missed a lot.)

Christian

Tead Off wrote:They must have a DNA sampler installed on their checkout.

I know its not inherently funny, but after a while all you can do is laugh at this mess

Chip there is a picture of you and your family along with a folder with a big red X on it (inside contains your bio and full family tree) sitting on the desk of the order processing computer