purematcha said

What do you prefer and why? Chinese green teas or Japanese green teas.

We arn’t trying to start an argument lol. It is clear to us that the best Green teas come from China and Japan. Teas like Bi Lo Chun, Sencha, Gunpowder, and Matcha. We just want to know which countries green tea is your favorite???

38 Replies
Cofftea said

As a rule, Japanese hands down. Especially when comparing the same tea from different countries of origin (i.e. sencha). I tend to find Chinese sencha’s way too buttery. I’m thinking the higher the quality of tea, the more buttery the flavor because I notice this w/ 52teas flavored senchas, but not Adagio’s. Just a guess though. I also am pretty sure I’m addicted to matcha LOL. That being said, the only 3 greens I do not like at all are Japanese- ho ji cha, gen mai cha, and gunpowder.

Actually, gunpowder is Chinese, if you’re referring to this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder_tea

Cofftea said

Ah the Japanese green lover in me is relieved there’s a Chinese I don’t like as well.:) Thanks for the correction.

No problem!

Login or sign up to post a message.

So far, I prefer Japanese. I haven’t come across a Japanese green that I didn’t like.

Login or sign up to post a message.

purematcha said

My personal favorit is Bi Lo Chun and Sencha. Gyokuro always upsets my stomach. Not sure if it is the caffeine.

Login or sign up to post a message.

Japanese, by far. They seem to have more flavor. I could drink gyokuro every day.

+1

Login or sign up to post a message.

I guess I’m a lone dissenter here. I love Young Hyson and Chun Mee, and of course, the Chinese sencha we use with our flavored teas.

Well, I recently had this tea: http://steepster.com/teas/rishi-tea/319-ancient-emerald-lily , a Chinese green from Yunnan – it was amazing!
If you get tea from the right part in Yunnan, it doesn’t matter what kind it is, it is good!

Login or sign up to post a message.

en_paz said

It appears that I prefer chinese tea. I have tried different forms of both and it seem that I only like chinese green tea. It’s weird. I am still trying to finish my matcha now. Matcha seems to give me indigestion(is this normal). The only japanese green tea that I haven’t tried is gyokuro. I will eventually get around to trying gyokuro. But as it stands I am a chinese green tea fan.

Cofftea said

No it should not cause indigestion. I’ve only known one person who has issues w/ greens and I think his problem is w/ all greens, not just w/ matcha Japanese greens in general. I suspect you’re either preparing it too thick or are simply consuming too large of a volume.

en_paz said

Thanks Cofftea. I will keep that in mind the next time I make some matcha. Maybe I need to use more water. Since this post I have realized that there are at two other Japanese green teas that I have not tried (gyokuro and hoijocha). I just tried kukicha last night and love it. So it may be fair to say that I am not giving japanese teas a fair shot. Also, please point me in the direction of some good brewing instructions for Matcha. Honestly I have steeped it several ways and it still gives me indigestion.

Cofftea said

There are so many ways to prepare it, because everyone likes it different. Just do a discussion search here for “matcha” or google it.

Login or sign up to post a message.

trybat said

I enjoy both but think I like Japanese a little more, I find it usually has a fresher taste :)

Login or sign up to post a message.

Shadowleaf said

In general, I prefer Japanese green tea over Chinese green tea, but my favorite green tea is still the Chinese Long Jing. As for my favorite Japanese tea, I would say a good sencha.

Cofftea said

I LOVE Long Jig. I call it a nuclear tea because I get so many steeps out of it I think it could survive a nuclear war.

Login or sign up to post a message.

Gonna have to toss my weight around for Chinese here.
Sencha is good and all, and shincha is delightful, but
it’s grassy. It’s all grassy.
I’ve been surprised by the flavor complexities of a few shinchas, but other types of Sencha have a tendency to not wow me at all.

As for Chinese, I’ve had some competition-grade Bi Lo Chun. I hardly liked Green tea till I tried that stuff. One of the few times I was quick to go through a stock of green tea.
Also, while I haven’t had the experience of drinking tea in Japan (and that could sway me), I have been to Lungjing village, where I gained an appreciation for dragonwell that I never had until then. It’s a lot different over there, though, and the flavor is hardly like what we import here.

Chinese green tea is much mellower and less finicky than Japanese tea, too. If you screw up brewing Chinese tea, you get a bit of a bitter flavor. If you screw up with Japanese, you get an undrinkable mess.

Login or sign up to post a message.

Japanese for me. I am hooked on gyokuro and genmaicha is my typical go to green but I still do love Chinese greens.

Login or sign up to post a message.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.