Choosing a summer selection

[whiteplum]

Good day tea experts!

A nice fellow pointed me here while we were chatting about green tea, so I though I could come here with my trouble of choosing tea for the coming hot season and also to broaden my taste in the Japanese green tea.

So far I have been quite fond of Hibiki-an's Gyokuro and Sencha, and have been drinking them for a year ever since they cured me from the supermarket green tea bags from local brands. ^^" I still have quite an amount of Hibiki-an's Gyokuro and Sencha left so I will not need too much of those.

I have been looking at making green ice tea for summer. My first try went quite well with Gyokuro leafes. After finding this forum I have been browsing the listed tea shops and probably want to try Maiko as a new shop. They offer some special green tea's for making ice teas. Are they worth it?

Also do they offer some interesting green teas I could try over the next months for getting to more different kinds of green tea?

Thank you in advance,

- whiteplum

[Chip]

Welcome to TeaChat!

My fave 5 dealers of fine Japanese teas. This order varies somewhat ...

O-Cha
Zencha
Maiko
Ippodo
Den's
OK, make it current fave 6. Rishi.

I could list to fave 10, but hope this might give you some options.

[shinobicha]

Hi whiteplum,

First of all - Shincha! (See http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=15362 for ideas)

But specific to your question, here's a couple recommendations for Maiko, and for iced green tea:

I haven't actually had this personally, but I know it is popular:
http://www.maiko.ne.jp/english/shopping/bancha.htm
Kyobancha is a type of roasted green tea that is a specialty in Kyoto; anyway, this kind of houjicha or any other kind makes excellent iced tea. I believe I read a story once that farmers would brew this tea directly in the pot and then stick the whole pot partially in a cool river to get cold and on a hot day.

As for Maiko tea generally, many people like Maiko's "Sencha Maruyama" but I personally wouldn't go for it; it wasn't bad, just nothing special, either.

I also recommend Maiko's "Yamashita Gyokuro Sampler" - at least when it is on sale. The normal price is a bit steep, but this spring it was on sale for 3,000 JPY, and is a nice way to try excellent Gyokuro (pretty much top of the line).

Den's Tea offers several iced tea options, too:

1) Cold-brew bags: http://www.denstea.com/cold-brew-iced-teas-c-139.html - Stick those in directly to room temp or ice-cold water and they brew up easy. I've personally had the pear flavor and it is delicious (the flavoring is not overpowering, the sencha is definitely present. They have regular sencha (non-flavored) as an option, as well.
2) Hot brew iced tea: http://www.denstea.com/hot-brew-iced-teas-c-180.html - Regular iced tea loose leaf; these are just their suggestions for teas that are good iced. I'd personally recommend houjicha gold, houji-genmaicha, or the pineapple sencha (or apple).

Good luck!