(Part 3) Best matcha tea according to redditors

I've had that one.

No, it is not great quality as it is culinary grade. It is meant for lattes/cooking, on its own it wasn't that great.

However, that seller has some good matcha https://www.amazon.com/Jade-Leaf-Matcha-Green-Powder/dp/B014LT0712/

Organic matcha doesn't equal quality either. Matcha needs to be shaded, and to make it organic the plant suffers quite a bit so the tea never comes out as good in comparison. If you prefer organics, go for organic matcha, that is totally cool. If you want quality, taste, and cheaper, go non-organic matcha.

1.5 is:

• cheaper
  
• easier to mix with other stuff
  
• less plastic and cardboard waste
  
• doesn't require shipping water across the country
  
  

Yame Hoshino cerimonial grade is dank.

What you're looking for is Matcha powder. Something like this:

https://www.amazon.ca/Jade-Leaf-Japanese-Culinary-Blending/dp/B00PFDH0K0/ref=sr_1_9?keywords=green+tea+powder&qid=1572271289&refinements=p_85%3A5690392011&rnid=5690384011&rps=1&sr=8-9

One tiny spoon of this, plus ice, coconut milk and some mango is one of my favorites to make at home.

I wouldn't recommend this one. I have it and the main problem with it is that it's extremely weak and barely has flavor. The only way for it to have flavor is if it's steeped for a long time, but the only flavor that you will get is just bitterness with absolutely nothing else. The water will be an attractive clear light green, but that's it. Essentially you will get warm water that smells somewhat like sencha and is slightly thicker than water but really has no flavor. Overall that seems to be a huge problem with teabag sencha. So far, I've tried Den's sencha teabag, Sugimoto America's teabag sencha, and this Kirkland (actually Ito-en) teabag. The Kirkland/Ito-en teabag is also kinda messy since the matcha can get all over the place when you open the packet.

First thing: I suggest getting this $3 sampler. It comes with 4 loose leaf samples (hojicha, genmaicha with matcha dusting, one of their sencha, and random sample), 1 teabag sencha, 1 genmaicha with matcha teabag, a $3 coupon, and one of their flavored green teabags (mango sencha). This is a good look into several types of green tea. Personally, I wouldn't say these samples were the best samples out there, but they were decent. My favorite of them was the gyokuro kukicha that came as apparently one of my samples. According to their website, your sample will probably be their organic sencha if you order this month. In case your interested, I can post my impressions of their tea (across the board 7.5/10 to 8.5/10, but I rate harshly).

If you're interested in making any sort of green tea, I suggest a Japanese teapot of some sort and a variable temperature kettle. There are several types of Japanese teapots, but I suggest trying a kyusu or hohin. A kyusu usually has an in-built strainer/infuser at the spout itself which leaves room for the tea leaves to expand. This can be a ceramic mesh (varying levels of fine filtration) and a stainless steel mesh strainer. A kyusu has a handle and is often medium in size and often holds at least 6 ounces, but overall it seems that kyusu can hold 8 ounces of water. Hohins have no handles are usually smaller and can safely infuse 120 mL - 150 mL, and it seems that 150 mL is the most common number. Some others go at about 200 mL, but it's about 10% of hohins.

Additionally, kyusu and hohins are fairly versatile since you don't need to completely fill them in order to infuse the leaves. In most teapots with a basket strainer/infuser, the very bottom of the strainer usually sits at 8 oz which means you will need to fill the pot with 8 or more ounces of water to brew tea.

There are other similar devices that can accomplish the same thing as a kyusu or hohins, but I don't know what they're called. Basically any teapot or similar device that has small holes built into the teapot for filtration. They can be in the form of a 120 mL teapot with small ceramic holes or some other device. Personally I use a "spouted gaiwan" of some sort to function as a faux hohin and there are several that can be found on google that function just like mine.

Anyway, the way to use these devices is to put the leaves into the device, pour water into the device at an appropriate temperature for a desired amount of time, and pour all of the water out of the device into a cup or multiple cups. By doing this, the leaves won't oversteep and you get a nice cup of tea. To get more tea, simply pour more tea into the teapot.

If you're planning on getting a one-does-it-all device that can function perfectly work with non-Japanese green teas as well for loose leaf and bagged tea, look for a kyusu or hohin. Kyusu, hohins, spouted gaiwans, and all similar devices are all extremely versatile teapots since filtration all happens at the spout. I have no real personal experience with a kyusu, but overall a hohin, normal gaiwan, and spouted gaiwan (that uses a ceramic filter) are much easier to clean than a Western teapot, a tea ball, and teapots with a sit-in strainer/infuser basket since you don't have to deal with tea leaves getting stuck in the mesh. I don't know how it works for mesh strainers at the spout though, but from experience cleaning your teaware will be one of the unexpected chores you'll have to do when you brew tea.

For actual tea leaves, one of the ones I was extremely interested was this. I own this, but I bought it with several of their other teas on a huge sale so I decided to buy this with my shipment as well. Unfortunately, I can't comment on this tea anytime soon since I'm saving it for later on since I have other teas on the way I'm more interested in trying, but all I can say is that I heard plenty of great things about this tea. Regardless, this specific product appears to be the cheapest and highest quality one I can find that's at that price range on Amazon that qualifies for free shipping. There's also this which allegedly sometimes gets sold in Asian grocery stores, but I personally don't know how commonly sold it is and how it tastes. All I can say is that I've seen many of this brand's products lining the walls in Asian grocery stores, but I don't recall if this one was among them. Zencha does "free shipping" (price is included in the product price) and while I've heard a lot of nice things about them, I haven't had any of their tea.

I have this tea coming in tomorrow according to the estimated time of delivery and my calculations and since I will definitely try it tomorrow, I can tell you how it tastes if you're interested in this one. This company sells on another website, but I bought this for sale and since it shipped from Japan, if it really comes tomorrow it will be a 16 day total shipping time.

If you live in California or Hawaii, Lupicia has retail stores located in these locations. I don't know where else somewhat well-known tea companies sell without a shipping fee, but Lupicia for now is the only one I'm aware of.

Pretty much my main recommendation is avoid the Kirkland/Ito-en teabag and try some other green tea. There are options, but that's part of the tea journey I suppose. Please avoid the Kirkland/Ito-en teabag though even if its price-per-weight ratio is pretty high. I really don't think it's worth it because it hardly has flavor at all despite what the reviewers say. Japanese teapots and similar devices are nice, but look at your options. I can tell you a lot about cost efficient teapots and nice looking ceramic filtered non-kyusu (120 - 150 mL) teapots if you want to know more. Overall, the 120 - 150 mL class teapots/similar devices were about $12-$17, and I randomly encountered one in a Korean supermarket for $15. I didn't buy it, but it was amazing for $15 purely by aesthetics, the material, the fine filter, and the cups and bowl it came with.

Top two for matcha prepared the traditional way:

Encha Ceremonial
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XXQF4DB/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_PifLDbAEHF095

Ippodo Matcha - Rich - Ummon-no-mukashi (40g)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003KYSOCE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_TjfLDb5J1VRN6

The every day drinker prepared as a latte :

Organic Ceremonial Matcha (Emerald Class 100g)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WVNY0CI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_KlfLDb8VK19QG

For lattes, I mix with coconut almond milk.

Price History

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https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZGT1662/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_dgt8Cb03W5SKA
Here's the link to the product as well if yall want to see for yourself

I feel like I buy my entire life using amazon prime. Settled on this one, which I am a fan of.

*edit: The 1lb bag for $20 being the better price here

I'm super sensitive to caffeine as well. Coffee makes me feel crazy (in a very bad way). Both black and green teas have l-theanine in them. It's an amino acid that calms you down but doesn't make you drowsy. Although both black and green teas have it, green has significantly more. Together caffeine and l-theanine are what cause the "zen" alertness associated with being "tea drunk".

The best source of l-theanine is matcha green tea. It's become pretty hip, but for good reason. NYC and other big cities are seeing matcha bars pop up everywhere. To drink straight matcha you want to use something thats "ceremonial grade". Making matcha tea is a fun and it's super tasty. I like mine cold so I use a small food processor to do the mixing (it takes forever for cold water to absorb the tea when mixed by hand, I also add honey at this point). I finish it off with a splash of vanilla almond milk. The nutty flavor seems to compliment the tea better than regular milk. Sounds a little weird, and I never put milk in my other teas, but this makes for some seriously gourmet shit. Only downside is the price, typically about $20-$30/oz. But hey, it's some seriously gourmet shit. I like Do Matcha (which you can get at Whole Foods), Matcha Kari (arguably the "best" available online), or my personal favorite MatchaBar (I used to live next to their shop in NYC so I'm biased).

If you're looking for a cheaper option, Costco carries a 12 oz bag of "culinary grade" matcha for under $50 (I'm sure you can find it elsewhere). It's definitely not to be had by itself, so instead I put a teaspoon into my morning smoothie. If you're only looking to get the benefits it works perfectly for a fraction of the price.

There are a few different grades and prices to choose from in the dropdown list on the side for the Marukyu Koyamaen Matcha link. They are not all so expensive!

Matcha is a wonderful habit. There are so many bad choices on Amazon, and I've had to sift through many crappy matchas before settling on a few stable ones with good quality, taste, and price/g. Hope you enjoy it!

Since you're new to the Matcha world, I recommend trying something less pricey to start off and see how you like it. Here are some more easily acquired ones that are still excellent.

• Maeda-En 'Universal Grade,' 1oz—$16.95 on Amazon

• Maeda-En 'Ceremonial Grade,' 1oz—$23.86 on Amazon

• DoMatcha Second Harvest 2.86oz—$31.76 on Amazon.

Those are much easier to get and still very good—especially the ceremonial grades. So, I'd recommend trying those first and then giving an Ippodo a go if they're not cutting it for you. I drink DoMatcha Second Harvest daily, and its good, but the difference between that and Maeda-En's ceremonial is still distinct enough that I notice a real difference. I haven't tried any from Ippodo, so I can't be of any help there.

I hope some of that was useful! :)

It's 京風味"KyoFu Aji" (Kyoto Style) "MachaIri Genmaicha" 抹茶入玄米茶. Unfortunately, you cut out the brand name so not sure what brand it is...
If you live near a Mitsuwa in the states, you can probably get it there. Otherwise, some of my family in the states uses the emarukai store : http://www.tokyocentral.com/
Maybe try this at amazon to hold you over?
https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Iyemon-CHA-Matcha-Sencha/dp/B00OMRJQYI/ref=pd_sim_sbs_325_4?ie=UTF8&dpID=61Q9SbeOAqL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&psc=1&refRID=W5C53WZ5G8TKRZTM4TVX

I've had matcha before, the good stuff is well expensive (fine powder, not tea bags) and tastes like fresly cut grass but keeps you awake and alert for hours.

When you say 'make it at home', do you just mean put a green tea bag in hot water?

Anyway, you have two options, either green tea bags or tea leaves. Tea leaves are a bit of a faf as you need tea strainers which can be cumbersome to clean. Here's a viking boat tea strainer. 200g will probably last a long time though.

Hope that helps

This will help me relax! It is some yummy herbal tea! Would be a nice little night time treat.

Just Breathe!

This is the best matcha I've used. Relatively cheap. Tastes way better than a lot of match you'll find on Amazon, which are often intended for baking. Since you're mixing it with Soylent, you don't really need to break the bank on getting the best or highest rated.

DO Matcha is pretty good for mass production standards.

I love the matcha energy. So different from coffee. Much cleaner and steady. I feel almost no crash unless I drink a ton of it.

I just reordered this Gyokuro Kukicha. It's super sweet with a nice savory finish. Tealux has a few teas on Amazon, and there's a ton of Harney and Sons and Mighty Leaf.

I stumbled on this post and got curious, this is what I found:

It's Ito En brand Instant green tea powder!

https://www.amazon.com/Instant-Powder-Matcha-Shipping-Worldwide/dp/B00CYHNOLE

How about some Matcha Tea?! :p