What’s your favorite green tea?

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Well it might be a little apples and orangesy for some people, but I like high grade matcha. In fact I like matcha lattes sometimes in the evening. Its easy to mix with other hot drinks.

I never even heard of matcha until I googled it a few seconds ago. Something I'll definitely check out.

Roger,

Agreed. I don't get that big caffeine kit but I feel a more sustained level of energy throughout the day.

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I don't drink green tea much, but my father does and his favorite by far is Gyokuro. It is Japanese shade grown tea picked by pixies under a full moon or something like that. It is expensive as all get out, but he swears by the stuff.

Bigelow Constant Comment Green Tea is okay, but I prefer the taste of black

Black tea needs to be brewed at maybe 210 degree F. Green tea 170 F. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea If you heat water to maybe 180 F and hold it for 5 minutes it will kill parasites. It saves a little fuel to only heat water to this temperature. So, green tea saves a little weight in fuel.

Maybe a compromise is to heat water to 170 F or whatever. Throw in black tea bag. Continue heating to 190 F. Let it sit for 5 minutes. Hot enough to brew black tea although a perfectionist would heat it hotter. Hot enough to kill parasites yet minimize fuel use.

Thread drift?

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Traditional Medicinals makes all kinds of great teas. Their ginger green tea's one of my favorites; but what I really love are soem of their herbal blends (can't call 'em teas becuase htey dont' actually hae any tea leaves in them, but you make and drink them the same way). Ginger Aid, Echinacea, Breathe Easy (has anise in it), and Sleepy Time (chamomile and a bunch of other stuff) are good to start with…

Matcha in Japan is like wine in France. I have seen pt prices as high at ¥30,000 for 100 Grams! (Thats roughly $300) Great stuff I'm sure but I simply don't have that sophisticated pallet.

Note that Machya is use in the Japanese tea ceremony that many women study for literally years on the preparation and presentation: so I suspect that drive the price way way up. My wife (Japanese ) took a 6 hour course on how to make a cup of coffee.

The Matcha I use is about 10 times cheaper than that (but still expensive). I think the people who buy the "Chateau Petrus" version probably need a few decades of tasting to tell the difference – or maybe it is just a status item to use at important tea events. Anyway, that tea may be the answer to what you put in a $10000 antique tea bowl.

I do use a chasen and a tea ceremony type bowl, but strictly for function. But if you work out the cost per serving it only comes to about a buck. Still it is unnerving to buy a tiny pile of bright green power for so much money. As a minor consolation the small metal screw toped cylindrical boxes it comes in make elegant UL re-purposed containers as well. :-)

Anyway, though the tea ceremony masters from a least the last half-millennium spin in their graves whenever they hear me say it, it is really great with steamed milk and some honey drizzled on top.

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One of the reason it is expensive is it can't be exposed to air and must be absolutely fresh. Since it is a fine powder it oxidizes very quickly. Tea bags and matcha are a contradiction. Hopefully you will get a chance to try the real thing someday.

Green tea is good, but I like Oolong better. It's sort of half-way between green and black, more robust flavor than green, not as strong as black.

Call me crazy…

I hate to disappoint Roger, but I recently found on a cold, rainy morn high in Montana's Anaconda Pintlars that Trader Joe's Matcha Green Tea Latte helped cast a golden glow on the day's prospects. Such is green tea.

Lapsang Souchong from The Tea and Spice Exchange (www.spiceandtea.com).
No finer way to start or finish a day, unless Kona coffee is involved.

Lapsang has replaced coffee for me, at home and the trail. Strong, robust and of course smoky, it is a fine compliment for my usual trail breakfast of chocolate, dried fruit and sunflower seeds.

Thanks to everyone for all the great input. I just ordered some Matcha and a bamboo starter kit to go with it and will eventually try all of the green and black teas suggested thus far as they all sound wonderful.