Loose green tea - What to sort?

[jwalker_t_4_me]

I received a "bale" of green tea from Vietnam from a friend who visited there, he even knows the farmer. The tea tastes wonderful and I am putting it into containers to keep. There are a lot of small sticks mixed in, and there is tea powder or dust in the wrapper.

My question is, should I put the sticks in with the leaves when I make the tea, or are they supposed to be sorted out?

What about the tea dust? Do I keep that as well and somehow use it?

I am very new to green tea, but I love this stuff, it tastes so good. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[beecrofter]

Put a pinch of the small stuff in with the larger.
If you try to brew only broken pieces the tea will be more bitter.

[AlexZorach]

The sticks definitely have their own peculiar flavor, which is similar, but distinct from the flavor of the leaf. You will get different flavors based on brewing different parts of the tea. It's probably going to be delicious if you just mix it all up, but if you really want to experience this tea to its fullest, you might want to separate it, at least, separate a small amount of it just to sample it on your own.

I've had teas from Japan (particularly Bancha) and Laos that had liberal amounts of stick mixed in. The Japanese drink a tea, kukicha, made exclusively or primarily from stems and twigs.

Twigs and stems tend to have much less caffeine and an (obviously) more woody flavor. They tend to have a more "hollow" flavor and aroma (not sure how to describe it), and often produce a more transparent cup.

The fine, broken pieces of leaf infuse much more quickly. If you have a tea that mixes whole leaf, stem, and broken-leaf or dust, it can make optimal brewing a little trickier: the tea make become too bitter from the finer particles before all the flavor of the larger or whole leaf pieces and stem has been extracted. This is another advantage of separating it.

Whole-leaf tea often has the most complex flavor; it infuses slowly and can be infused more times than fine dust particles.

So...separate it if you want to experience the tea on a whole different level. But if you're feeling lazy or just like it as-is, then just drink it as-is, all mixed together. I love many teas that are mixed up like you describe: they can be very balanced.

[edkrueger]

The Japanese drink a tea, kukicha, made exclusively or primarily from stems and twigs.

And by drink he means "sell to Americans".

[Chip]

The Japanese drink a tea, kukicha, made exclusively or primarily from stems and twigs.

And by drink he means "sell to Americans".

I have read that Otsuusan karigane (glorified kukicha) is the Tsuen Tea Shop's most popular tea, or one of them. Tsuen is the oldest single family tea shop in Japan.

[edkrueger]

If I were selling kukicha, I would say that too.

[Chip]

I am guessing you do not like kukicha?