Need help selecting a good green tea...

[jrgnd]

I am not interested and bashing any brand, so I am not listing who is who...

I would like for a honest opinion as to getting the best bang for my buck or if I can modify my steeping to get a better result out of the inexpensive one of the two teas...

Here is a pic from both tea leaves after steeping at 175F for 4 minutes without moving the basket...Two spoons in each steep...




Expensive Tea Close Up...




Inexpensive Tea Close Up...




Single Leaves side by side, inexpensive on the left, expensive on the right...




End product, Expensive on the left and inexpensive on the right...





I am new to this, but as far as aroma they both smell the same...

Taste, the expensive one is very smooth and has no after taste, the inexpensive one has woody flavor to it but it is not out of place...

Feel of leaves after steeping, the expensive one is nice and soft, the inexpensive is harder and sort of woodier...

I am mostly doing this for health reasons, so if the woody stuff is still providing me with the antioxidants health benefits, at half the price of the expensive brand I rather save the money...Thank you for your help...

[jrgnd]

Anyone??

[debunix]

The proof is in the sniffing and sipping, not in the images.

I would not presume to judge based on the pictures, because I've had some very pretty teas that did not taste very good, and some ugly teas that did, and vice versa.

Your taste experience is what counts.

[jrgnd]

Thank you for your answer...I extended my steeping time to 4:30 mins and the inexpensive tea open up more and the leaves are softer...

Would increasing the temp to 180F allow me to reduce the steeping time back to 4 mins??? I know the longer I steep the bitterer the tea will get...

[debunix]

Your brewing parameters are so far off from mine for a green tea that I can't begin to predict the effect of your proposed change for that particular tea.

I prefer my tea fairly dilute compared to the average teaChatter. I start with about 2 grams of tea, about 60mL of water in a small gaiwan, and will infuse that perhaps 30 seconds with 160 degree water, then another infusion at 20 seconds, and perhaps 45 seconds to a minute for the third, depending on how strong/weak the 2nd infusion was, and increase both brewing time and brewing temps gradually through 4-8 infusions,d epending on the tea, rarely going as high as 190 degrees or more than 2 minutes.

Sometimes I do a "flash rinse" with slightly hotter water to start, say 180 degrees for less than 10 seconds, because that seems to 'open up' the leaves a bit more for the first infusion. But I'm still experimenting with this and don't yet know which teas it works best with.

So....not very close to the western-style brewing you're describing. Always you can go shorter/cooler/lower leaf-to-water ratio to mellow the tea, and longer/hotter/higher-leaf-to-water ratio to strengthen it.

[teaisme]

hum how much is your expensive and cheap tea?

[jrgnd]

debunix...Thanks for the answer...I changed my brewing to 185F for 2:30 minutes and the leaves are opening more and the wooding flavor is a lot less noticeable.

Teaisme...Expensive is about $80+ a pound and cheap is about $40+ for a pound...

[edkrueger]

I would say neither looks too great and neither is that expensive.

[DarkenedSun]

I would say neither looks too great and neither is that expensive.

Expensive is relative. When I first started buying loose tea, I was shocked at how much even just the mid-grade stuff cost. Of course, after drinking good quality tea for a few years, I understood why it was worth buying higher quality and why the price was more than the store stocked sh...tuff.

jrgnd, perhaps your best bet is to play around with leaf amounts and steeping times to get a better idea of what works for you so that as you try new teas, you will have a better idea what to compare to as far as taste goes. It is a learning process, enjoy it.

[teaisme]

yeah that stuff doesn't look too hot...
for $40 and $80/pound I bet you can find better green tea elsewhere

Japanese sites where you can get 1lb for 40-80 abound. I would stick with the ones that are based in japan. Den's and Rishi are good domestic though. It is very easy to find houjicha, genmaicha, bancha, kukicha, and some sencha in that price range.

For chinese greens like the one you have teaspring is good. Tea trekker also. jingteashop also has everyday teas.For $35 bucks you can get a pound of their everyday long jing which looks more appealing to me then what you are drinking right now (though they are different teas). http://www.jingteashop.com/pd-green-tea ... g-jing.cfm

Hope you don't get too attached to your vendor...there's a whole world out there. If you would like more detailed suggestions you can reply to this or pm me, then I can help you look for some deals

[bagua7]

I am not interested and bashing any brand, so I am not listing who is who...


Here is a pic from both tea leaves after steeping at 175F for 4 minutes without moving the basket...Two spoons in each steep...

Care to name the tea you are referring to? Thanks.

[teaisme]

He just said in the quote that he was not interested in naming the brand....
Obviously you see this since you copied his post, so why would you even ask him?

[debunix]

Asking for more info about the type of tea, without knowing brand/store/grade, can still be useful.

A Mao Feng would be expected to look very different from a Long Jing....

[teaisme]

ok nvm me I hastily assumed he was asking brand not name of type of tea sorry bagua

But really does attaching a name to that tea make any difference after seeing those pics and reading the description he gave?

[debunix]

Maybe.