Frequency of Consumption of the Green...

[tomasini]

So I am directing this question to all you Green Tea enthusiasts...

Do you find that drinkig the finer quality greens like matcha, gyokuro or your fukamushi regularly (daily) to be positive or negative? And what I mean is, do you becore more accustomed to the taste and find new subltle things about it...or does it become so friendly with your pallette that it becomes common taste and not "special" tea anymore.

I am curious because from what I understand a lot of you guys drink Fuka and Matcha pretty regularly...but ya, just curious as to what you all had to say! =]

[Wesli]

These teas become more and more special every time.

[tomasini]

So interesting.... , which of the higher quality gems do you drink most often?

[scruffmcgruff]

Hmm... I do sometimes get the feeling that I'm spoiling myself, but luckily the variety I drink keeps me from getting too used to any one tea. Plus, there are always differences due to the human factor, so the same tea is rarely the same twice.

[tomasini]

Very true scruff, human error....or perhaps human creativity...makes every cup of tea a new expereince to the trained tea drinker. You make much sense

[Wesli]

Fukamushi is my #1.

But I have to tell you, matcha has been catching up pretty readily. Who knows, in a few weeks I may become matcha dependent.

[bambooforest]

I actually have a system.

I do not drink green tea in the morning these days. This has been a lovely change of pace. Every morning I alternate between black and oolong.

Right now I am alternating between darjeeling and Taiwanese oolong. By drinking these other styles of tea's I appreciate my green tea that much more.

So, if I have 3 tea's in a day, that means green twice, and oolong or black once. This practice gives me a special appreciation for my beloved sencha. It makes the unique characteristics of sencha stand out that much more.

[augie]

I just ordered two teas I haven't tried in months.
1. 1st Flush Houjicha
2, Fuka

I had been drinking a lot of Oolong teas and have switched to Houjicha. I caught a terrible cold and have been drinking 10+ cups a day! I think I was getting too desensitized/accustomed to drinking Oolong and after switching to something new/diff I am able to notice small subtlties about the two new green teas I bought.

And, man am I ready for Whole Foods to open in Indy (after reading your post). I know that they bought Wild Oats, but haven't gotten around to looking for Rishi at WO. Does anyone frequent WOats?

[Ed]

I do, Augie. My local Wild Oats has a small selection of rishi tea. They have a few Chinese green teas (Jade Cloud, Jasmine...), some flavored white teas and a couple black teas. They don't have any of the Japanese varieties . The rishi teas are the only loose leaf they carry. Hopefully they will expand their selection at some point...

First flush houjicha, eh? Must be hibiki-an.

[Samovar]

I drink matcha evey day morning and evening. Each time I look forward to the ritual and flavor.

It's a relaxing and quiet time for me.

Samovar

[bambooforest]

Ed, interestingly enough, my whole foods here in southern Cali does not seem to carry Rishi anymore. Perhaps it wasn't selling well. But, in this area, you would think that it would. I wouldn't mind some high quality black tea on the shelves.

[Space Samurai]

Ed, interestingly enough, my whole foods here in southern Cali does not seem to carry Rishi anymore. Perhaps it wasn't selling well. But, in this area, you would think that it would. I wouldn't mind some high quality black tea on the shelves.

In my experience often times the employees in places like this don't know anything, or very little about tea, so the tea section suffers. Its not a compartitively high volume seller, so it doesn't get much attention.

Rishi is a direct store delivery (DSD) item, meaning they don't have a rep to go to the store and maintain or stock the product, so its up to the employees to do it. And if a product sells out, it isn't always re-ordered (particularly if another vendor takes the empty space for their stuff), and after a while there isn't anyone working there who even know's something is missing--its hard to keep track of 12,000 sku's.

For example, if you were to go to any of my other stores, the Rishi selection would be very poor; which is exactly what our's was like when I started. But I worked with them and brought the line up to date. But again, like I said in the beginning, the employee's don't always know to bother.

So if you want your local WF or WO to carry more Rishi, ask them; they might be able to help you out if they know there is a demand for it.

[augie]

I do, Augie. My local Wild Oats has a small selection of rishi tea.
Hopefully they will expand their selection at some point...

First flush houjicha, eh? Must be hibiki-an.

I haven't been to wild oats in 4+ months, b/4 WF purchased. The tree huggers are trying to stop WF from coming to Indianapolis b/c they will have to cut down some trees and we already have WO, which WF owns . . . Last time I went to WO they just had some junk tea and a few RoT with extra antioxidants, vanilla and acai added . . . yuk. Definately need to go back and have another look.