Opinion about dirt-cheap organic matcha ?

[Akuma37]

Ok fellow teachatters,

I decided to order this dirt-cheap 'organic matcha'. It arrived yesterday. Shipping wasn't too slow, but not fast either (2 weeks?). It came in a half foil-half-clear sealed plastic bag holding two smaller vacuumed sealed bags of the tea. The smaller bags say at the top: CHINESE TEA (yes, it's in all caps). It is in green with pictures of tea fields, leaves, a pot and cup, and some writing in chinese, some in japanese (i can't read either of these languages, sorry guys), and some instructions in english that are for the gongfu style of brewing.

The outer packaging from Dragon TeaHouse reads:
----------------------------------------
ORGANIC MATCHA
Type: Green Tea
Country of origin: Japan
Grade: Organic Ceremony
Ingredients: Natural leaves
Manufacture: Stone Ground
Infusion: Thick, frothy, opaque and bright green
Cup Characteristics:
Intensively of spinach and artichokes followed by a bracing caffeine bite.
-High in anti-oxidants
-No preservatives
-No pesticides
-No artificial flavours
-----------------------------------------

It shows some brewing instructions, and other stuff too on the label as well as the nutrition facts. Fat, calories, sodium, fiber, sugars, protein is all 0.

I'm going to try this tea this weekend. Probably today. I'll let you know how it looks and how it tastes.

I also have access to a Geiger counter, so I can see if it's radioactive

[Akuma37]

WOW that's some intense matcha tea!
The color is the same as the picture they display on their website, and it whisked up nicely. I'm really happy that I ordered this matcha, and I'll probably order it again For those of you who are really picky about your matcha tea, I'm sure it'd be fine for smoothies, lattes, icecream, cooking, etc. However, this is a really good wake-me-up matcha.

[Kevangogh]

That's some pretty brown colored matcha....

[Akuma37]

It's really not brown at all. Are you viewing it on a tablet or something?
I just checked the webpage w/ my android tablet and it did look a bit brownish-yellowish, but it's a nice bright green when I view it on my computer's monitor and w/ my own eyes.

But don't believe me if you don't want to. It's a really good oragnic drinkable matcha for the price. Have fun paying $15+ per gram.

[AdamMY]

Compared to a lot of the better Matcha I have seen that is "brown" even on my computers screen. While I wasn't taking this photo for the matcha at the bottom of the bowl, but rather trying to see if I could capture the staining in my Korean teabowl. But how does this color appear in comparison?


Matcha and Staining by Adam Yusko, on Flickr

[Akuma37]

Compared to a lot of the better Matcha I have seen that is "brown" even on my computers screen. While I wasn't taking this photo for the matcha at the bottom of the bowl, but rather trying to see if I could capture the staining in my Korean teabowl. But how does this color appear in comparison?


Matcha and Staining by Adam Yusko, on Flickr

I am going to take a picture and post it.

[Chip]

But don't believe me if you don't want to. It's a really good oragnic drinkable matcha for the price. Have fun paying $15+ per gram.

??? $15/gram?

My first impression of it is that it was "brownish" in comparison to most matcha I have purchased from Japan. It is not the neon, vibrant green, more olive or drab by comparison. Reminds me of matcha that has sat around too long. Any matcha I have had that leaned towards more olive colors was definitely tasting off-peak.

I have not tried it, and like most of us, sight is all we have to go by at this point. Hopefully you are not taking such comments personally.

Country of origin: Japan

Going back to my earlier (and older) comments, it is odd to me that a Japanese tea is being sold to Westerners via a Chinese site. Chinese sencha can find its way to Japan. But it is very odd for Japanese tea to find its way to China, then sold to Westerners. I have never seen this before.

Often older Japanese teas are dumped on foreign markets, I have likely had more than my share of these as they definitely pop up on naive (or worse) Western sites.

So, my round about way of saying this, this is not the normal route for higher grade matcha (or tencha) to travel. This fish is swimming upstream. And I question ... why? Ceremonial grade? And then why so cheap? There is just something askew about this picture.

As I mentioned also previously, I have confidence in DTH's Chinese offerings.

[Chip]

... and looking at DTH's ebay store, the photos are still olive drabbish ...