How to determine good and bad green tea?

[Canadiangal]

Hi,
I recently bought a couple green teas online from Yunnan,China.
I also bought a few different bagged teas from the grocery store and one from the grocery store was just not that good and rather "flat" tasting.
It was supposed to be a lychee green tea made by Confidence Teas.

The green teas I bought online were Girl Ring tea that is made from whole leaves rolled into hoops.
That one is very light tasting and stronger with the second infusion.
I do not always like very green teas so this ones is nice so far.

The second one I bought, I mistakenly thought it was a white tea or else just forgot when I received it I opened the bag and though it smelled very "outdoor,fresh,green". Quite strong smelling.
The tea when I looked again online was listed under green teas and was noted
"fresh and durable aroma".
This was a Silver Thread green tea.
I like it better iced though,
not sure if I will reoder that one,but the price was very good at around $7 for 250 grams...

I just ordred some green and black tea samples from the same saller in China,so hopefully those will be good!

What would you say makes a good green tea?
I know that is very subjective but a general idea might help me.

Anyway,the forum looks interesting so far. lots of interesting comments.

Also,has anyone tried Yunnan white tea?
maybe that is another post...

[Zanaspus]

Drink what you like, like what you drink. "Good" is always going to be subjective. Good is what's good to you. Price has very little to do with "good." Award winning tea is judged by a standard for that variety. e.g. when several dragonwells are lined up side by side, one can compare the nuttiness, floral overtones, etc., but if you don't like dragonwell, it's all moot anyway.

[Chip]

Drink what you like, like what you drink. "Good" is always going to be subjective. Good is what's good to you. Price has very little to do with "good." Award winning tea is judged by a standard for that variety. e.g. when several dragonwells are lined up side by side, one can compare the nuttiness, floral overtones, etc., but if you don't like dragonwell, it's all moot anyway.

Well said, could not have said it better myself ...

Dragon Well is an interesting example. Often people prefer the lesser grades that have been "fried" a bit longer and thus tend to have a bit of a nutty sweetness. That is good.

Then a seasoned drinker, experienced in the ways of Dragon Well/Long Jing will probably favor the true greener character of a higher end, authentic LJ that is not fired as much which would mask its delicate, more veggie/floral character ...

What is good? Good is in the individual taste and experience of the individual. The key is to always challenge yourself with other teas, but do not deny your own tastes in favor of an eloquent vendor description, and they often display their gift of glib ...

[silverneedles]

for me its good if it tastes better than supermarket teabags (lipton, twinnings, foojoy, ymy, etc)

[Maitre_Tea]

Even though good and bad are subjective depending on taste, there is however, a difference between good quality leaf and bad quality leaf. I'm not that familiar with the traits of high quality green tea, except for random things that probably don't even say anything, like how dragon well leaf should look like a sparrow's tongue.

[Chip]

Even though good and bad are subjective depending on taste, there is however, a difference between good quality leaf and bad quality leaf. I'm not that familiar with the traits of high quality green tea, except for random things that probably don't even say anything, like how dragon well leaf should look like a sparrow's tongue.

Indeed, yet so many lesser grades look more like a Chinese version of Bancha. These tend to be more nutty and brown as well. Basically they tend to fire them longer because they are low grade.

[puerhking]

There are dozens and dozens of styles of Chinese and Japanese teas. Keep trying until you find something you like. Also, in general, stay away from cheap tea. What seller are you buying from? For an intro into Japanese teas try Den's sampler at $3 you can't go wrong.

http://www.denstea.com/index.php?main_p ... &cPath=377