TeaChat

I had just been pondering a painless way to drink quality tea on the go, and I stumbled across these Rishi Powdered Sencha packets- To my surprise they are wonderful sencha, can mix in hot or cold water, tho a bit pricey and too much packaging...

Has anyone else found any other types of high-end powdered, mixable sencha, perhaps sold in bulk?

O-cha.com as well as Denstea.com both have good powdered sencha. They are both very reputable vendors specializing in Japanese tea, so you will not get a knock off version from another country.

I have not tried either so I cannot tell you my personal impressions of either.

Anybody else tried powdered sencha?


Might be good for a work-time fix.

I heard an interesting way to use powdered sencha/matcha teabags– put a couple in a thermos/shaker/whatever with cold water, and shake. Might be interesing, if anyone is willing to give it a shot.

I plan to do a proper reveiw of the Rishi matcha sticks next week, but I'll tell you now they are convenient. Just pour it into a bottle of water, shake, and you have better tea than you could buy in a bottle. But its too expensive. For that price I could have the same convenience but with much better matcha. I'd go with o-cha or somewhere else.

I have much love for Rishi, but their Japanese teas continue to dissapoint me.

Space Samurai wrote:I have much love for Rishi, but their Japanese teas continue to dissapoint me.

Interestingly, the Rishi Sencha Sticks yield a better-tasting tea than the loose leaf Rishi Sencha's I have tried...

In general, the best loose-leaf Sencha supplier I have found by far is Ito En....

And thanks so much for the links, I will post them for anyone interested. These look super-cool for anyone needing tea on a lunch break or any other situation in which there is little time or no tea equipment:

http://www.o-cha.com/green-tea/powdered-sencha.html
http://www.denstea.com/index.php?main_p ... th=268_269
http://www.rishi-tea.com/store/product. ... =27&page=1

**EDIT: O-Cha's powdered Sencha arrived today. It is cost effective, 11US for 100 grams, and decent, but not quite as tasty as the Rishi packets, which are 8US for 10 grams individually sealed, however. O-Cha is a superb supplier in general, so far, but I might try the Den's powdered sencha next...**

joelbct wrote: As for Matcha, what exactly is the deal with Matcha? Does it dissolve instantly in cold or hot water, or does it require the traditional hot water and whisking process?

The matcha does not desolve, you just whisk (or shake) it up and it becomes suspended in the water; it will settle on the bottom if given time.

Uhhhh...





Did I miss something?

Scruff? Help me out, cos I think I read that first on your blog.

With what? The settling? You're right space, matcha doesn't completely dissolve, it will settle if you give it time.

Thanks

Matcha powder is safely larger than a micrometer, so chances are that while some polar molecules will likely diffuse out of the leaf powder and be dissolved into the water, the rest of the leaf structure will settle out of solution when the drag force exerted on the particles by the water becomes greater than that velocity given to the particles by agitation.

Damn...it pays to be half-asleep at work. I remember science then!

Woot! You go, girl!

When I drink matcha, I tend to swirl my bowl to keep the particles in suspension. Otherwise, it can get pretty astringent by the end.

Powdered sencha is reportedly easier to mix, but once mixed, does it stay in suspension better than matcha? That is a question for a sleepy Mary at work...

lol


I was referring to the quote, my friend.