Green tea newbie

[scope]

Hi!

This is my first post, here, so please excuse my lack of knowledge!

I first started drinking green tea due to reading some alternative therapy suggestions for muscular dystrophy (I have a similar disability) - the clinical research suggests that drinking a lot of green tea slows down the muscle wasting, in the mouse model at least. So I thought I might as well try, nothing to lose by drinking some green tea!
At the moment I just buy clipper green tea tea bags, and I enjoy the taste too so thats a bonus. I've had other green teas whiles out and have enjoyed them more, so this got me thinking that i should try some better quality green tea. From what i've read, it seems better if the green tea is fresher too, taste and health wise.

Anyway, I do have some questions!

Is there any specific tea pot i would need for green tea or that are particularly recommended, or is it ok to buy any really.

I've found one tea retailer that ships to the uk (from china) and was wondering if theres any suggested retailers, that people use, and teas that you would recommend? (am i allowed to post the website i found on here?)

Any other beginner info would be appreciated too!

Thanks

[JRS22]

Your timing is excellent as the 2013 harvest teas are appearing in the online stores so its an excellent time to shop for green tea.

Can you clarify if you mean Chinese greens, Japanese greens or both?

[scope]

Well, the store I found is chinese, But I'm willing to try either. As for the research, it doesn't specify which country.

[Evan Draper]

Hi scope, I think the general feeling around here is that Japanese teas are generally safer than Chinese in terms of "pollutants," if you are drinking teas for a health perspective. The Japanese have more of a transparent manufacturing culture, so if something is certified organic, it's more likely to actually be organic. (And this is coming from someone who drinks more Chinese than Japanese greens.) These are unsubstantiated generalizations, but it's a place to start. I'd recommend looking for some sencha, and keep in mind that they can be finicky about wanting cooler water.

In terms of pots, follow your fancy! Tea tastes better when prepared in smaller volumes, but that's no reason not to use a larger quantity of leaf.

[tenuki]

I would start with Dens sampler and their kukicha. You'll get a lot of recommendations to try all these high end sechas here, but coming from where you are I would start with the daily drinker type teas from the reliable shop like dens and ippodo.

Dens 20 dollar sincha pot could be the only pot you ever need. Sometimes they offer very cheep pots that are great values too, so keep you eyes out

[bambooforest]

If you want to get into Japanese green tea and want a relatively inexpensive teapot, I recently purchased this one:

http://www.denstea.com/teapots-cups-ban ... 5_606.html

And I am very fond of it. It has a screen at the spout and handles deep steamed tea well. Also, since it's around 9 ounces... you can steep more tea if you desire or can steep around 5 ounces if you desire, and it can handles both amounts of liquid well.

[scope]

I've just had a look on the website, and it looks really good!
However i looked at the shipping and it seems to only ship to america and canada, does it ship worldwide and i'm just looking in the wrong part?

[Milo]

Since you're in the UK, you're better off ordering directly from a vendor based in the region whose green tea piques your curiosity. Most of the following vendors offer both airmail and express shipping to the UK:

JAPAN
O-cha
Yuuki-cha
Maiko
Ippodo

CHINA
Dragon Tea House
Teaspring
Teavivre
Yunnan Sourcing

There are plenty of other Japanese and Chinese vendors, these are just the ones that first come to mind.

[JRS22]

Also
Jing Tea Shop for Chinese teas
Artistic Nippon for Japanese teaware

[scope]

Wow ok that's a lot of retailers!
I'll look through them all then post up some things here to see what people think, thanks so much for the help

[tenuki]

Ah, didn't notice you were in UK. So here is my one choice to get you started.

http://goo.gl/O9z6n



If you want to branch out a bit into roasted japanese greens this is the perfect beginner's foray..

http://goo.gl/IbO17

and might as well order this while you are at it..

http://goo.gl/NvGmX

[Milo]

Wow ok that's a lot of retailers!
I'll look through them all then post up some things here to see what people think, thanks so much for the help

Yeah, TeaChat can induce information overload pretty quickly. If it makes it any easier for you, I started my green tea adventures with just a 360mL kyusu (http://www.o-cha.com/Fukamushi-Teapot-16513.html) and a 50g packet of Sakura Sencha (http://www.o-cha.com/sakura-sencha.html) from O-cha.

That particular kyusu turned out to be just what I needed. Sturdy, affordable, and can brew any type of green tea imaginable. And at 360mL, you can serve 1-3 people. I haven't looked for another kyusu since.

The Sakura Sencha, while not exactly orthodox, is delicious. I've had plenty of 'proper' sencha and I still keep coming back to it.

[scope]

Ok!!!

I've had a good look at the websites, I'm thinking of getting the sakura sencha milo recommended http://www.o-cha.com/sakura-sencha.html and the yame sencha: http://www.o-cha.com/organic-yame-sencha-asatsuyu.html

Would it be worth buying some gyokuro or should i wait until i've brewed a fair amount of sencha first?

The teapot i'm looking at is this one: http://www.yuuki-cha.com/teaware/japane ... ame-teapot

thanks again

[scope]

Also, just another question, should i get some shincha from yuuki-cha?
any help is much appreciated!

[AdamMY]

Also, just another question, should i get some shincha from yuuki-cha?
any help is much appreciated!

They sell good tea from my memory, you just need to be careful you do not end up on their ban list. Probably a lot more reading than you planned on for this question: http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=11657

In short, the tea is good, but the owner is unable to take any sort of criticism. Heck even a long time loyal customer of his simply saying something along the lines of "I did not like this one nearly as much as the rest I have had from him" lead to issues with a now mythical ban list.