Green Tea recommendations

Getting into Green Tea and want recommendations as to which is the best brand.

My favorite is Bigelow, but my daughter, who is a very smart young woman, says the "economy" Members Brand at Sams Club is just as good!  Costs about a tenth as much.  By the way they say it does more good when using lemon with it which pretty much eliminates the flavored teas. 

To be honest, I've found most supermarket varieties are as good as a branded tea like Twinings.

However, be wary that you are getting tea bags, and not "green tea flavoured [x]". As an example and caution, SoBe Green Tea contains 90 calories a small bottle, and 23g of sugars - and likely none of the healthy properties that come with your brewed leaf or bag variety. So do make sure it's a teabag brand, not a bottle!

I personally like Stash Green Tea.  It has a very earthy/grassy flavor that I'm fond of.  A lot of people don't like it for that reason though.

If you want a milder green tea or are still getting used to the flavor, then there are a ton of flavored green teas from good tea brands such as Celestial Seasonings, Twinings, Repuplic of Tea, Lpiton, etc.

And I usually keep some kind of Mighty Leaf or Revolution tea on hand for when I feel like splurging.

I like the ITOEN green tea.  Both their unsweetened bottled teas, and the loose tea.

You can actually find the green tea matcha blend bags in bulk at costco (I think 100 bags for $9).  It is very nice for a bagged tea.

I drink Lipton..but I must admit Tazo tea is very good...but pretty expensive. :/

Go to an oriental (preferably Japanese) market, buy the leaves, brew them in a proper kyusu (ceramic tea pot - the market will sell them and tell you how to use them) and drink it UNSWEETENED. That is the only way to drink green tea. If the bitterness is a bit much to you, have it with a little sweet (wagashi, if possible) to provide a contrast.

That is the way green tea is enjoyed. Green tea is not to be sweetened or mixed with orange juice or god knows what. Honestly, that sort of thing is blasphemy.

I totally agree udokier, but the taste may be a little strong for someone not accustomed to it.  I'm a quarter Japanese so that's the way I've always drank it.  If you eat Japanese food regularly I would suggest ordering it there first to see if you like it before buying a pot.  However, they typically had rice flower to it which I don't like as well as regular green tea.

Original Post by kristihale:

I totally agree udokier, but the taste may be a little strong for someone not accustomed to it. I'm a quarter Japanese so that's the way I've always drank it. If you eat Japanese food regularly I would suggest ordering it there first to see if you like it before buying a pot. However, they typically had rice flower to it which I don't like as well as regular green tea.

Ugh - genmai-cha. HATE IT.  Love regular green tea or oolong, though.  So-so on the mugi-cha.  Apparently the scientologists love it though...

I guarantee that store-bought brands have nothing on the teas from specialteas.com.  Also, read their tea guide which is quite informative and useful; it will tell you every thing you need to know.

I usually buy Dilmah but I just bought Scarborough Fair for a change and it's really nice. It's a 'Fair Trade' tea which is 100% green tea. It has a lovely mellow flavour and is a nice pale green in colour.

considere fair trade tea if you haven't before :)

http://www.transfairusa.org/ or http://transfair.ca/

Salada 100% natural green tea is the ****! lol.

I used to hate all tea, and I still hate it all expect for salada... dump a packet of sweet n low in a nice hot cup and mmm...thats stuff is good.

I'm surprised so many people sweeten their tea. 

I buy a brand called uncle lee's legends of china oragnic green tea. I get it at walmart, its like 3 bucks for 40 individually wrapped bags.