OK I'm on a tight budget so I can't exactly get the expensive stuff
that's usually recommended here. So far I've tried a box of Yogi tea
"simply green tea" and a box of "Equal Exchange" organic green tea BUT
both turn brown when brewed. Does that mean it's not really green tea,
EG I won't get the benefits of green tea from those?

Any decent priced brands you can recommend? I honestly don't care about
the taste, I'm just drinking it for the health benefits. If it has a
bitter aftertaste that's OK with me.

Thank you.

writes:

> OK I'm on a tight budget so I can't exactly get the expensive stuff
> that's usually recommended here. So far I've tried a box of Yogi tea
> "simply green tea" and a box of "Equal Exchange" organic green tea BUT
> both turn brown when brewed. Does that mean it's not really green tea,
> EG I won't get the benefits of green tea from those?

That's probably irrelevant. Different manufacturing methods yield
leaves with different hues, but I haven't heard anything convincing
about health differences along these lines.

> Any decent priced brands you can recommend?

If you have a grocery store handy that sells to Japanese people, try
any brand of green tea you can afford. In my experience, in these
shops quality varies directly with price.

> I honestly don't care about the taste, I'm just drinking it for the
> health benefits. If it has a bitter aftertaste that's OK with me.

I'm sure you sincerely believe this, but please consider: cultivating
a taste for what you're drinking will fortify your resolve to continue
with it.

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

If you're just drinking for the health benifits, and not for it's lovely
flavor, relaxing qualitys, afternoon ritual, and all around beauty, I
suggest you take green tea caplets.
All the (questionable) health benifits, without any of those actual spirtual
benifit nuisances.
Marlene

> OK I'm on a tight budget so I can't exactly get the expensive stuff
> that's usually recommended here. So far I've tried a box of Yogi tea
> "simply green tea" and a box of "Equal Exchange" organic green tea BUT
> both turn brown when brewed. Does that mean it's not really green tea,
> EG I won't get the benefits of green tea from those?
>
> Any decent priced brands you can recommend? I honestly don't care about
> the taste, I'm just drinking it for the health benefits. If it has a
> bitter aftertaste that's OK with me.
>
> Thank you.
>

Your best bet for green tea, is called "Sen-Cha" it is thin and almost
looks like blades of grass in loose form. You can get sencha in tea bag
form very inexpensively from asian markets or even speacialty
tea/coffee shops.

My personal favorite is a loose form of Jasmine Green tea "pearls" they
are small little balls that unfurl in your cup and make an amazing cup
of tea.

Great easy to find green teas are the Tazo brand. "China Green Tips"
"Zen" "Lotus Root Green Tea" and I think they have a ginger green tea
too.

Many "green" teas will actually produce brown tea, but Sen-Cha will
produce a bright green cup that is unmatched. A highly prized form of
green tea called "Ma-Cha" which is a powdered green tea is considered
one of the best and is the central part of the tea ceremony.

Hope that helps! Enjoy

wrote:
> Hope that helps! Enjoy

Welcome to the group. I notice you are using Google. Might I suggest
you review the following link to assist you in providing context for
your posts.

http://www.safalra.com/special/googlegroupsreply/ (Thanks, Mike Petro)

Generally, folks try to form a brief snippet of what they are replying
to in order to clarify the context of their message. This becomes more
important in more complicated threads which may carry multiple subjects.

Regards,
Steve
Context Nazi

Steve Hay wrote:
> Welcome to the group. I notice you are using Google. Might I suggest
> you review the following link to assist you in providing context for
> your posts.

I have reviewed the link, and will be happy to comply... I didn't
consider it a "context nazi" request, just a simple one that I knew
better of anyhow I just happened to stumble across this group while
trying to solve a tea mystery that has been driving me nuts for
years... but am very glad I did! Thanks for the welcome, and I'm glad
to be here.

Also, to the OP. I misspelled Matcha as "ma-cha" in my previous reply.
The correct spelling is Matcha. And also, we all started somewhere in
our tea lives and most just as you are. Keep at it, tea is an amazing
thing that can be deep and rewarding in amazing ways. There is a great
book called "The Book of Tea" that I highly reccomend. It starts with
inexpensive tea bags and then pretty soon you'll progress on to loose
teas that cost $40+/lb. (which isn't as expensive as it sounds at
first). Good luck!

wrote:
> There is a great
> book called "The Book of Tea" that I highly reccomend. It starts with
> inexpensive tea bags and then pretty soon you'll progress on to loose
> teas that cost $40+/lb. (which isn't as expensive as it sounds at
> first).

Nope. $40/lb. is only $2.50/oz., less than 10 cents a gram. Much
cheaper than marijuana or even "Luwak" coffee.
(but still an "indulgence" to people like Space Cowboy :-P )


stePH
in cup: nothing yet. Now to make some Ahmad earl grey.

> wrote:
>OK I'm on a tight budget so I can't exactly get the expensive stuff
>that's usually recommended here. So far I've tried a box of Yogi tea
>"simply green tea" and a box of "Equal Exchange" organic green tea BUT
>both turn brown when brewed. Does that mean it's not really green tea,
>EG I won't get the benefits of green tea from those?

That stuff is a lot more expensive than the typical gunpowder teas. But
the brown liquor is fine.

>Any decent priced brands you can recommend? I honestly don't care about
>the taste, I'm just drinking it for the health benefits. If it has a
>bitter aftertaste that's OK with me.

I think you're out of your mind. Tea should be a calming and pleasant
thing... I will bet most of the health benefits come from that anyway.

But go to a local Asian grocery and look for Temple of Heaven brand.
You should be able to get a months's supply for a couple bucks. It's
not bad, but it will get bitter if your water is too hot.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> OK I'm on a tight budget so I can't exactly get the expensive stuff
> that's usually recommended here. So far I've tried a box of Yogi tea
> "simply green tea" and a box of "Equal Exchange" organic green tea BUT
> both turn brown when brewed. Does that mean it's not really green tea,
> EG I won't get the benefits of green tea from those?
>
> Any decent priced brands you can recommend? I honestly don't care about
> the taste, I'm just drinking it for the health benefits. If it has a
> bitter aftertaste that's OK with me.

Don't you really mean dark amber, not brown?

According to my observations the difference in hues is related to the degree
of fermentation.You can produce the different hues yourself using just one
brand of the same variety tea as follows: Brew one cup of plain green tea in
a glass cup at a starting temp 180F (82C). Then set that cup aside for 5
days. On days 2 thru 5 you will notice progressive darkening of the beverage
from pale yellow to dark amber. That is the result of fermentation.

There are also differences in the partially fermented green tea leaves
(between brands) before you even steep them. That accounts for the different
hues of the beverage.

On 2006-01-15 07:35:29 -0800, said:

> OK I'm on a tight budget so I can't exactly get the expensive stuff
> that's usually recommended here. So far I've tried a box of Yogi tea
> "simply green tea" and a box of "Equal Exchange" organic green tea BUT
> both turn brown when brewed. Does that mean it's not really green tea,
> EG I won't get the benefits of green tea from those?
>
> Any decent priced brands you can recommend? I honestly don't care about
> the taste, I'm just drinking it for the health benefits. If it has a
> bitter aftertaste that's OK with me.
> Thank you.

I recently purchased some Pinhead gunpowder and Decaf organic green tea
from Coffee Bean Direct (heh) Their prices are amazing, they're the
cheapest I could find. It makes me wonder if I'm not going to get a
box of dog poop or something. (I haven't received it yet, they ship
from the east coast) They have an excellent BizRate rating, or I
wouldn't have purchased for this price.

http://www.coffeebeandirect.com/index.php?cPath=24

I'm a newbie to tea in general also, I find I don't like the brewing
methods a lot of people mention online and here. I like my green tea
brewed for about 3 minutes so it's very dark and tastes 'green'. Maybe
I'm just strange. None of the green tea I've tried gets astringent or
bitter after this much brewing though, as some claim.

If you're worried about your health make sure you're eating plenty of
Brussels sprouts and broccoli!

-S.

On 2006-01-20 22:51:20 -0800, "Knack" > said:

>
> > wrote in message
> oups.com...
>> OK I'm on a tight budget so I can't exactly get the expensive stuff
>> that's usually recommended here. So far I've tried a box of Yogi tea
>> "simply green tea" and a box of "Equal Exchange" organic green tea BUT
>> both turn brown when brewed. Does that mean it's not really green tea,
>> EG I won't get the benefits of green tea from those?
>>
>> Any decent priced brands you can recommend? I honestly don't care about
>> the taste, I'm just drinking it for the health benefits. If it has a
>> bitter aftertaste that's OK with me.
>
> Don't you really mean dark amber, not brown?
>
> According to my observations the difference in hues is related to the
> degree of fermentation.You can produce the different hues yourself
> using just one brand of the same variety tea as follows: Brew one cup
> of plain green tea in a glass cup at a starting temp 180F (82C). Then
> set that cup aside for 5 days. On days 2 thru 5 you will notice
> progressive darkening of the beverage from pale yellow to dark amber.
> That is the result of fermentation.
>
> There are also differences in the partially fermented green tea leaves
> (between brands) before you even steep them. That accounts for the
> different hues of the beverage.

It's not fermentation, it's due to oxidation of the chlorophyl. I brew
a pot of green tea with a automatic drip brewer at work occasionally.
Depending on the tea it will be light green to start with and get
progressively darker throughout the day until i've drank it all The
flavor becomes less 'green' as it gets darker. I have two types of
gunpowder tea right now and the stuff that was only 30 cents an once
starts out almost brown to begin with. I think this is due to the
delay between picking and steaming/rolling the tea.

-S.

"S. Chancellor" > wrote in message
news:2006012101041475249-dnewsgr@mephitkicksassorg...
> On 2006-01-20 22:51:20 -0800, "Knack" > said:

> It's not fermentation, it's due to oxidation of the chlorophyl.

Chlorophyl may in fact be the phytochemical that the color of green tea
leaves may be most attributed to.

Technically your explanation (oxidation) is "closer" than mine
(fermentation).
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-65377

However for some reason that oxidation must be the result of or supported by
fermentation
http://www.tenren.com/fermentation.html

Consider the following evidence:
1) Cold filtered tap water contains more oxygen than heated water.
2) The coldness inside of a fridge inhibits spoilage due to bacteria, molds,
and yeast.

So if the darker hues of the beverage are due only to greater degrees of
oxidation, then one could deduce the fallacy that a refrigerator brewed
green tea should be darker than any hot brewed green tea. But that is not
the case unless one puts that pitcher of cold brew on the kitchen counter
for several days, which warms it to room temperature, thus favoring
fermentation ;-)

BTW, I'm not suggesting that anyone should drink any tea that's been sitting
at room temperature for more than a day. My remarks are only for making
experimental observations. Personally I try to consume all hot brewed tea in
one sitting, and all cold brewed tea (while still cold) by the 3rd day after
it began steeping.

> I brew a pot of green tea with a automatic drip brewer at work
> occasionally. Depending on the tea it will be light green to start with
> and get progressively darker throughout the day until i've drank it all
> The flavor becomes less 'green' as it gets darker.

S.C. these are very interesting observations. I've read about some tea brews
having green colored hues and have seen some photos of them. Ever since I
began drinking tea I've always wanted to be able to make a tea that appears
as in the photo at
http://www.o-cha.com/
That would be so impressive to serve when entertaining!

Knack wrote:
> S.C. these are very interesting observations. I've read about some tea brews
> having green colored hues and have seen some photos of them. Ever since I
> began drinking tea I've always wanted to be able to make a tea that appears
> as in the photo at
> http://www.o-cha.com/

Try Sencha. Serve it in cups with a slightly bluish interior.

--crymad

"S. Chancellor" > wrote in message
news:2006012100583616807-dnewsgr@mephitkicksassorg...
> On 2006-01-15 07:35:29 -0800, said:
>
> I'm a newbie to tea in general also, I find I don't like the brewing
> methods a lot of people mention online and here. I like my green tea
> brewed for about 3 minutes so it's very dark and tastes 'green'. Maybe
> I'm just strange. None of the green tea I've tried gets astringent or
> bitter after this much brewing though, as some claim.

I never get an stringent flavor either, and I always steep for 10 minutes in
a covered mug at initial temp 180F (82C). I've tried a dozen different green
teas including Numi gunpowder and one Japanse green tea but they've all been
slightly different shades of pale yellow and all with a similarly thin
flavor. I'd like to get a bolder yellow color and a more robust flavor.
Perhaps I'll next try simply quadrupling the amount of tea leaves in the
brew...

On 2006-01-21 21:01:37 -0800, "Knack" > said:

>
> "S. Chancellor" > wrote in message
> news:2006012101041475249-dnewsgr@mephitkicksassorg...
>> On 2006-01-20 22:51:20 -0800, "Knack" > said:
>
>> It's not fermentation, it's due to oxidation of the chlorophyl.
>
> Chlorophyl may in fact be the phytochemical that the color of green tea
> leaves may be most attributed to.
>
> Technically your explanation (oxidation) is "closer" than mine (fermentation).
> http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-65377
>
> However for some reason that oxidation must be the result of or
> supported by fermentation
> http://www.tenren.com/fermentation.html
>
> Consider the following evidence:
> 1) Cold filtered tap water contains more oxygen than heated water.
> 2) The coldness inside of a fridge inhibits spoilage due to bacteria,
> molds, and yeast.
>
> So if the darker hues of the beverage are due only to greater degrees
> of oxidation, then one could deduce the fallacy that a refrigerator
> brewed green tea should be darker than any hot brewed green tea. But
> that is not the case unless one puts that pitcher of cold brew on the
> kitchen counter for several days, which warms it to room temperature,
> thus favoring fermentation ;-)

While discoloration in some tea may be due to fermentation, the amount
of time my tea changes colors is far too little to be due to true
fermentation. Bacteria just doesn't work that quickly. It is true that
there is more oxygen in cold water, but it's not as reactive without a
catalyst. To give you an example, at my work, we process quartz air
filters for the EAP to determine carbon content in ambient air for
regulatory purposes. We do this by counting the carbon which is
converted to methane by oxidation. In order to convert the carbon to
methane, not only do we have to add oxygen to the environment the
filters are in, but we also have to heat it up to around 800 Celsius to
get all the carbon to oxidize. We are not fermenting the carbon,
we're increasing the chemical volatility of the oxygen and carbon to
get them to react. The same thing is true if you keep your tea hot for
too long.

I think we're arguing about nothing though. The website you cited
about tea fermentation says this:

"The term fermentation when applied to tea is something of a misnomer,
as the term actually refers to how much a tea is allowed to undergo
enzymatic oxidation by allowing the freshly picked tea leaves to dry.
This enzymatic oxidation process may be stopped by either pan frying or
steaming the leaves before they are completely dried out. One method of
classifying teas are is based on the degree of fermentation"
As you can see, this isn't a bacterial or yeast fermentation, but
rather an enzymatic oxidation of the tea leaves. The enzymes are
denatured in green tea by steaming or pan-firing so that they won't
function as catalysts anymore. However, oxygen can still darken the
leaves over time naturally, and this can even happen rapidly without
enzymes provided the temperature is hot enough. (Such as leaving it on
a warmer like I was doing.)
> BTW, I'm not suggesting that anyone should drink any tea that's been
> sitting at room temperature for more than a day. My remarks are only
> for making experimental observations. Personally I try to consume all
> hot brewed tea in one sitting, and all cold brewed tea (while still
> cold) by the 3rd day after it began steeping.

If you leave it sitting out for THREE days you'll probably have REAL
fermentation and then you get kombucha tea or somesuch :P You need to
add sugar to it to get much going though.

>
>> I brew a pot of green tea with a automatic drip brewer at work
>> occasionally. Depending on the tea it will be light green to start
>> with and get progressively darker throughout the day until i've drank
>> it all The flavor becomes less 'green' as it gets darker.
>
> S.C. these are very interesting observations. I've read about some tea
> brews having green colored hues and have seen some photos of them. Ever
> since I began drinking tea I've always wanted to be able to make a tea
> that appears as in the photo at
> http://www.o-cha.com/
> That would be so impressive to serve when entertaining!

My tea does not brew quite that green, and some of it brews quite
brown. The first loose green tea I bought and tried was Stash loose
leaf. I bought it after trying some kind of loose green my boss gave
to a coworker (who shared it with me a few weeks ago.) I promptly ran
out of it and purchased two types of gunpowder, which I have a post
about here. If you can identify the tea on the left in the tall yellow
container you should get a green fruity tasting tea from it.


-S.