What Green Are You Drinking

[AozoraE]

^Adding to what Victoria said, I think Gafu would be another great option as well. He uses natural shidei(no iron oxide mixed in) that he obtains and produces himself. He's still pretty young but I think the pots that he makes are just as good and sometimes often better than some of the more established makers from a design standpoint.

@bentz98125 regarding your first shudei, you might like Yamada Sou or Fugetsu’s shudei. Fugetsu will be slightly less porous than Sou’s. I like both and recommend you buy based on size, shape, and aesthetic preference. Fugetsu is surprisingly affordable still given his skill and experience. He studied under Hokujo (Shimizu Genji of Hokujo kiln). Here are a few member Japanese Teaware Vendor Recommendations.

Actually I believe Fugetsu studied under Yamada Jozan III I believe he may have actually been in fact even one of his very first students

[Victoria]

Ah, you are right, Fugetsu studied under Yamada Jozan III. I’ll edit my post above so as not to confuse future research. And Gafu is another excellent option as well @AozoraE. Thanks.

[faj]

Ah, you are right, Fugetsu studied under Yamada Jozan III. And Gafu is another excellent option as well AozoraE.

I think I read somewhere Gafu studied under Fugetsu. Is that right?

[mjac]

So if full leaf tea can be seeped "several" times, I take that to mean at least 3

This is very dependent on the tea, but also on the infusion method. Most people on the forum use mainly or exclusively loose leaf tea, and use an amount of leaf that can seem quite high at first for people who have been drinking tea in the ways it is commonly done in North America. Using the brewing techniques you will see referred to on this forum, it is common for people to infuse the leaves at least three times, and in some cases more than 10 times, depending, among other things, on the tea's type, quality, brewing method, and the tea drinker's preferences.

then even though you are buying a more expensive tea the costs even out.

In all honesty, reading this forum is not likely to save you money even if you increase the number of times you infuse your tea. It is easy to get into teas that will cost several dollars per session for the leaves (one session meaning a quantity of leaves you will infuse several times) for just one person. In the end it is likely to be less expensive than other drinks such as alcoholic beverages of comparable relative quality, but if you do that a few times a day, it adds up.

I assume Camilla Seninsis is the category of Green Teas.

Camellia Sinensis is the name of the plant used to produce any true tea (I know this might not be entirely true given Tillerman's comments this, but it is true enough in this specific context). Green tea is one category ; what makes tea "green" is how it is processed.

Something that is very big with me is value [...], any suggestions?

You will see various teas and vendors being mentioned on this forum, mostly specialized vendors, many located overseas. You might want to take a look at their websites, this will start to give you an idea of the staggering variety that exists, even if you limit yourself to the general category of green teas. There is way too much variety to reduce all green teas on a "value" scale, and value is way too dependent on personal taste.

What I would like to do since I am going to order many small batches of Gunpowder to find what I like is get the names of different reputable tea companies and try and find their Gunpowders on Amazon. I found one " Temple of HeavenCina Green Tea Special Gunpowder Green Tea" from "Upton Teas" on Amazon at a fraction of the cost from Upton and saved shipping costs. It is good, smokey, an interesting taste and leaves a good feeling but I would like something crisper. Do you know any reputable tea companies I could try to do this with or could ask around? Thanks,mjac

[Sweetestdew]

Do you know any reputable tea companies I could try to do this with or could ask around? Thanks,mjac

Harney and Sons

[mjac]

Do you know any reputable tea companies I could try to do this with or could ask around? Thanks,mjac

Harney and Sons

Got them. They are a reputable company?

[Victoria]

Harney and Sons

Got them. They are a reputable company?

Yes, Harney & Sons carry good quality loose leaf teas like gunpowder and jasmine. I have been to their shop in Soho, NYC and enjoyed tasting a few teas there as well as at various tea festivals. They’ve been around for 40 years now and carry a wide range of teas. Looking forward to your introduction so we can hear a little more about your tea journey so far. Gunpowder tea was a gateway tea for many members here .

[mjac]

Harney and Sons

Got them. They are a reputable company?

Yes, Harney & Sons carry good quality loose leaf teas like gunpowder and jasmine. I have been to their shop in Soho, NYC and enjoyed tasting a few teas there as well as at various tea festivals. They’ve been around for 40 years now and carry a wide range of teas. Looking forward to your introduction so we can hear a little more about your tea journey so far. Gunpowder tea was a gateway tea for many members here .

Well go up to Soho and get me some Gunpowder.

I wrote you a long note did you get it?

Gunpowder is certainly the gateway tea for me. I want to try some Gunpowders from reputable companies so I know I am getting a true impression and I can decide what my tastes are. We shall see.Thanks,mjac

[mjac]

Got them. They are a reputable company?

Yes, Harney & Sons carry good quality loose leaf teas like gunpowder and jasmine. I have been to their shop in Soho, NYC and enjoyed tasting a few teas there as well as at various tea festivals. They’ve been around for 40 years now and carry a wide range of teas. Looking forward to your introduction so we can hear a little more about your tea journey so far. Gunpowder tea was a gateway tea for many members here .

Well go up to Soho and get me some Gunpowder.

I wrote you a long note did you get it?

Gunpowder is certainly the gateway tea for me. I want to try some Gunpowders from reputable companies so I know I am getting a true impression and I can decide what my tastes are. We shall see.Thanks,mjac

Would I get a better grade,better quality tea ordering from Adagio and Harney & Sons or going to a local tea storeI found in the city? ...Thanks,mjac

[Bok]

A session of Kanro Gyokuru from Ippodo. Not very far off from the Tokusen some of us got to enjoy a while back, just less intense and brothy, but not very different in my view. Less easy on the stomach, I do feel the aggressiveness of Japanese greens after a few cups.

This is what Ippodo calls their entry level Gyokuru. As that it's just fine. Still prefer unblended Gyokuru.

[Victoria]

Would I get a better grade,better quality tea ordering from Adagio and Harney & Sons or going to a local tea storeI found in the city? ...Thanks,mjac

I would recommend for you to first visit your local stores to sample different teas and talk directly to vendors (while you still can). Since I don’t know your local shops I can’t comment if online stores will be better. There’s only one way to find out, dive in an try as much as you can. @mjac I did reply to your pm but see you have not yet opened it.

[mjac]

I did find one extensive tea and herb store in the French Quarter and perhaps another a little smaller. You gravitate toward visiting a local tea because you have experienced professionally run stores that are of impeccable integrity including Harney & Sons in SoHo. Probably a great experience. If there was such a shop here I would not hesitate. But if there is not I would be getting a false impression of what a tea has to offer and ruin my experience. I want the first impression to be genuine. I may be wrong but I feel I would be much better relying on Harney & Sons and Adagio, proven integrity, fresher products, more experience. I EMailed all the online shops I know about and Adagio replied with URLs of all their Loose Leaf Green Tea Samplers and other Loose Leaf Green Teas they thought I might be interested in. So that is going to be my shot along with reading the posts in the various threads to see what teas these people are interested in to get some ideas. The Local Tea Shop and Adagio are both about $5 an ounce on average in general.

I will have to see if I can find the PM.

[Bok]

Adagio, proven integrity

Ahem... integrity and Adagio – I don't think many core members here would agree on that. After all their lack of integrity is what gave birth to this forum

[Victoria]

I did find one extensive tea and herb store in the French Quarter and perhaps another a little smaller. You gravitate toward visiting a local tea because you have experienced professionally run stores that are of impeccable integrity including Harney & Sons in SoHo.

Actually, my gateway tea into this current wormhole began at a local coop market with bins of loose organic sencha, gunmetal, jasmine... not top shelf but I liked it, then I moved over into Japanese local markets ‘high end’ sencha, only later did I find online sources. We each have a path. Enjoy the journey.

I think I started with this organic gunpowder, Starwest Botanicals Gunpowder, use to buy it by the pound to make kombucha and then just to drink. But I grew up with Maté and Pau d’Arco so like strong teas. Haha can’t believe how cheap that is by the pound! I now spend >15X, 30X, 60X times that ...

[mjac]

Adagio, proven integrity

Ahem... integrity and Adagio – I don't think many core members here would agree on that. After all their lack of integrity is what gave birth to this forum

I am operating from a point of what I know at this time. At this time all I know is that these two names, Harney & Sons and Adagio were provided to me by Ms. Victoria,my only source of information up until now. In all fairness she did represent them as offering good budget offerings I believe as she put, though did say her visits to Harney & Sons in SoHo were always pleasant. The rest I assumed on my own. If you know better offer some other alternative sources since you know the situation I am coming from. Nice bit of history of Tea Forums and Adagio and how Tea Forums originated. Things of that nature are always interesting.