sencha and matcha suggestion

Non-oxidized tea
phier
Posts: 32
Joined: Mon Nov 30, 2020 2:27 pm

Wed May 12, 2021 6:06 pm

Hello,
I am completely new to matcha and sencha so I was wondering which are good brands on amazon.co.uk ... I found following but not so many details on the forum regarding these brands... Do you think these might be good value/price? Or can you suggest something else? Appreciate so much.

sencha
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ocha-Co-Premiu ... ems&sr=1-7

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ocha-Co-Japane ... ems&sr=1-1

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Revelation-Org ... r=8-8&th=1

matcha
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ocha-Co-Premiu ... ems&sr=1-4

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Revelation-Org ... to_dp&th=1

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08PNTK2JX/ ... _3-21&th=1

Thanks

https://www.ochaandco.com/products/orga ... ese-matcha
some reviews
http://www.tea-happiness.com/2018/12/re ... anese.html
https://www.matchareviews.com/review/oc ... ar-matcha/
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debunix
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Wed May 12, 2021 11:34 pm

I've had poor experiences purchasing Sencha and Matcha at supermarkets, and quickly realized I preferred teas purchased closer to the source, from Japan-based vendors or from more local specialty tea shops. I suspect that's been the experience of most of the members here. But now that so much on Amazon is provided by 3rd party resellers, some higher quality teas may be slipping in.

I just have no idea about the ones you found.
phier
Posts: 32
Joined: Mon Nov 30, 2020 2:27 pm

Thu May 13, 2021 9:09 am

hello,
well no clue; i was expecting someone can somehow advice on the quality... not sure if its possible to say based on the brand etc... or at least reco some brand that is on amazon :)
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LeoFox
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Thu May 13, 2021 9:17 am

I remember people gave you a lot of advice on japanese teapots earlier. Did you end up following any of the advice ?
phier
Posts: 32
Joined: Mon Nov 30, 2020 2:27 pm

Thu May 13, 2021 9:56 am

@LeoFox yeah, i ordered stuff as they recco.

But this one is more about sencha / matcha instead of teapot.
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LeoFox
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Thu May 13, 2021 9:57 am

phier wrote:
Thu May 13, 2021 9:56 am
LeoFox yeah, i ordered stuff as they recco.

But this one is more about sencha / matcha instead of teapot.
Which teapot did you get?
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LeoFox
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Thu May 13, 2021 10:13 am

To help with advice on tea: a lot of the advice given to you for teapot was to buy from a store outside of Amazon. In the end you still bought from Amazon. Does this mean you will only buy from amazon and from nowhere else? In that case, our advice for tea will have to be restricted to what is available on amazon.

The issue is that I think 99% of people here don't buy tea from Amazon so the advice that will be useful to you may be limited.
phier
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Thu May 13, 2021 10:20 am

I see, well i can buy tea from any co.uk store (online) or any other that posts to UK but i thought also good sellers list on amazon .... but apparently they don't - question is why... if they have to pay so much for listing ... no idea.
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LeoFox
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Thu May 13, 2021 10:30 am

phier wrote:
Thu May 13, 2021 10:20 am
I see, well i can buy tea from any co.uk store (online) or any other that posts to UK but i thought also good sellers list on amazon .... but apparently they don't - question is why... if they have to pay so much for listing ... no idea.
Not saying they are bad it's just most people dont buy from amazon here. There is one tea I do sometimes buy from Amazon and it is darjeeling from Vahdam. I say sometimes because it can be cheaper on amazon on occasion and there is free shipping with prime. But if I bulk buy, I do it on the vahdam site that offers more discounts.

Also I have gotten pure chimp matcha on Amazon early in my tea journey. It is not good.
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debunix
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Thu May 13, 2021 10:33 am

Amazon is easy to order from, and some very good specialty items do get on there from 3rd party sellers, but I have never heard of 'Ocha.com'. There is a seller many of us patronize named O-Cha, whose web site is O-Cha.com, but 'Cha' means tea so similar names are not surprising. That does not mean their tea is necessarily poor quality: a friend of mine went to a 'direct to consumer' tea expo in Tokyo, for small producers to connect with consumers, and sent me some random samples of tea. The samples were in fairly plain packaging, not a lot of fancy logo or decoration, and some of the teas were terrific. So unknown producer does not mean bad tea.

But price warns me away from this one: 40 euros per kilo or about $48/kilo or 5 cents per gram. I have used up some 'supermarket' sencha at 10 cents per gram in preparing chilled sparkling sencha (infusing tea in the refrigerator and then carbonating), because I did not like it to drink--too bitter and not enough of the flavors I craved. The senchas I'm enjoying now cost me at least 20 cents per gram and most are more than that. You can find overpriced Japanese teas, but I'd be wary of anything that looks like a massive bargain.

Regarding matcha, I couldn't stand any of the matcha I bought from my local supermarkets--even the fancy ones--and I gave up on it until I went to Japan. I was served some so different that it was a revelation, and decided the right matcha is delicious, but there is a lot of cheap matcha, produced from moderate to poor quality leaves, and destined for use in confections and cooking where a hint of tea flavor is all it needs to bring, and some bitterness is diluted by other ingredents. So I've only bought matcha from a couple of trusted sources since, and the cost per gram is quite a bit more than the sencha from the same sources. But matcha for me is an occasional treat, not with a formal tea ceremony, but not an every day tea, so I'm willing to pay more for it.

I'd suggest the Green Tea Vendor topic, and just say Caveat Emptor for what shows up on Amazon.
faj
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Thu May 13, 2021 12:11 pm

phier wrote:
Thu May 13, 2021 10:20 am
I see, well i can buy tea from any co.uk store (online) or any other that posts to UK but i thought also good sellers list on amazon .... but apparently they don't - question is why... if they have to pay so much for listing ... no idea.
Several factors come to mind.

People who buy quality loose-leaf tea buy it for themselves or people close to them. They buy it because they (hope to) enjoy it. Suppose you buy from a vendor, and the tea is not to your liking. You will not buy it again. If it is to your liking, you might buy it again. But if that second purchase is of lower quality, it will be your last. In other words, building a reliable revenue stream around a product that is sold for appreciation requires a certain level of consistency. The product may not need to be always exactly the same, McDonald's-style, but you have to stay in a range where the customer is not startled and does not feel duped. Now, hold that thought.

People who make quality loose-leaf tea tend to be, as per my understanding, operations that are not operating at the scale a seller on Amazon would need to bring high quality to the masses. Amazon is efficient at two things : bringing mass-market products to individuals (efficiency in large-volume supply arrangements, logistics), or bringing specialty products to people who buy on impulse, or as a one-time thing (efficiency is in discovery, less first-order friction, using a sales channel the customer already knows). I do not think that bridging the gap between niche producers and customers who intend to buy regularly is their forte. Also, Amazon is really bad at establishing the credibility of small vendors. If Mother Teresa were an Amazon seller, she would still look shady.

Based on the above, I think it is by necessity that tea vendors are relatively small. They cannot offer for sale a very large amount of any given product. Given time, Ford can make as much F150 as the market will bear. But tea, like wine, is dependent on terroir, so scale is limited. Vendors can grow by listing a wider variety of tea, but this has a limit : a customer faced with a selection of 500 teas is not better served, will be confused, and will get the feeling the vendor is "specializing in everything", which means in nothing. If I am a vendor with no reasonable path to becoming huge and with relationships with producers the products of which I can turn into a predictable revenue stream thanks to repeat business of tea lovers, why would I pay the Amazon cut?

Now, of course that does not mean there is no good tea on Amazon (I cannot tell), or that I am right, but at least it provides one potential narrative to explain why few vendors sell on Amazon.
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Victoria
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Thu May 13, 2021 1:41 pm

I regularly order from a tea company in Kagoshima that happens to have decided to sell their very good award winning kabusecha on Amazon, Sae Midori Kabusecha from Kagoshima Seicha. I meet members of the company in Los Angeles and tried their teas here during a tasting before buying on Amazon. During covid it was also an easy way for me to restock since Amazon USA distribution was out of LA. It is though the only tea that I have purchased on Amazon so far, having meet company reps and tasted their teas beforehand really helped.
phier
Posts: 32
Joined: Mon Nov 30, 2020 2:27 pm

Thu May 13, 2021 5:18 pm

Its easy to say ... for ppl living in USA/UK etc... but if someone is living in small EU country where amazon is not operating etc... its hard to buy anything good easily or not overpriced 2 times... I use amazon + some private freight forwarder... otherwise i have to buy miserable local selection or overpriced items. Thats why I was thinking about amazonco.uk/de to get something decent for a good price.
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Xeractha
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Fri May 21, 2021 10:04 am

phier wrote:
Thu May 13, 2021 5:18 pm
Its easy to say ... for ppl living in USA/UK etc... but if someone is living in small EU country where amazon is not operating etc... its hard to buy anything good easily or not overpriced 2 times... I use amazon + some private freight forwarder... otherwise i have to buy miserable local selection or overpriced items. Thats why I was thinking about amazonco.uk/de to get something decent for a good price.
Where do you live?

There are quite a few sellers with good prices. For example: Yuuki-cha, Maiko-tea, Thes du Japan, O-cha. Also Hibiki-an, Ippodo, Obubutea (haven't tried these though). I'd say look at Yunomi as well, but the selection is too large and overwhelming at first (try it later). I used to like Zencha but since Covid the selection is low and shipping was expensive. Might be back to its old days after Covid, dunno.
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