Space Cowboy wrote:
There's no such thing as a good penny/gram Japanese tea. Even
that is throwing away loose change. I'm paying the price
break you suggested and more. I'd still like one commercial
recommendation regardless of price.

Try some by Maeda-en. I've had some bought here in the US and it
was fine. The thing is, by commercial brand, the assumption is
recognizable, never-changing, iconic packaging. This sort of
thing isn't so common for Japanese teas.

I suspect the good stuff isn't on the shelf at any price. I'd
just like to know if people in Japan are paying for quality
at specialty tea shoppes or whatever. It's no indictment of
the Japanese tea industry if those in the West have to travel
East for a good sencha.

You can get good tea in Japan at practically any grocery store.

--crymad


Jim

crymad wrote:

Space Cowboy wrote:

Locally it is easier for me to get good puerh than a
Japanese green. We have a well established Japanese
community with commercial enterprise. As I stated before
you have to be in a store when matcha arrives because it
will unstock that quickly. So my question for those who
should know is there any commercial shelf brand you would
recommend as being much better than average. I might be
able to find it here but I gave up because I was
disappointed at what was available commercially. AFAIK
the really good stuff doesn't leave the country. My local
tea shoppe has a limited selection of Japanese tea
bancha,sencha,matcha but I don't think they are
benchmarks.

Commercial brand out of Japan? Instead of searching by
brand, it's probably easier to just search for price. You
might as well give up on penny/gram teas you're always so
rapturously discovering in groceries devoted to other lands.
Just go into a Japanese grocery and buy anything that's at
least $10/100g. You might get lucky.

--crymad