Green Tea Forum

Kevangogh · Forum God Joined: 19 Jul 2005 Posts: 928 Location: Japan

I'll tell you a little about Ito-en. Here in Japan they are really huge, I see their delivery trucks all over the place. I think their main business is the bottled green tea drinks. They are not that old, I think they started in 1966. The CEO seems kind of cocky, I read somewhere that he said they intend to take on Coke in the USA (good luck.) Coke is *really* huge in Japan as well, (not for it's Coca Cola products but instead for their other beverages) so I imagine there is some rivalry there.

Most of their stuff is for the mass market, I see their stuff in grocery stores. Since most of my customers tend to be connoisseurs, it doesn't affect me too much. If they get bigger in the USA, it may even boost my sales. You don't see small, dedicated green tea specialty shops in Japan selling their teas.

Karen · Black Belt Joined: 13 Apr 2007 Posts: 123

dayglow · Uh, Can I Add Sugar? Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 1

(Edited by Moderator)

teaspring

located in china and ships directly from there. they also have a large puer selection.

i've ordered some of the greens, yellows and oolongs and have mostly been pleased. even when i didn't care for the teas, i was happy to try selections beyond the standard dragonwell, etc.

i've enjoyed Meng Ding Huang Ya (yellow), tai ping hou kui (they have two grades), long jing (they have 4 kinds - Lion Xi Hu Long Jing
is the one i prefer) and huang jin gui among others.

they indicate the season of harvest - everything is fresh when warranted (as in not aged). shipping is only $3.80. i'm on the west coast and my order arrives in about a week. their service is also really good. their prices are reasonable, mostly, too. some things are high b/c of what they are.

houdeasianart

also has some good teas. they specialize in taiwanese oolongs and chinese puers. they too have a good shipping rate. and their teas are in season (when appropriate). they are chinese but u.s. based with lots of taiwanese connections i think. they also carry the magazine "art of tea."

my most recent tea purchases have been from these two places.

i've heard that jingteashop is also good. ships from china has in season tea of very good quality.

i've also heard good things about teafromtaiwan.

i've been to red blossom in san francisco and it was ok. after ordering fresh tea direct from teaspring, i'm inclined to be less impressed with a lot of the offerings in the u.s. frankly.

other u.s.-based places i've never tried but are said to be good - shanshuiteas and teance

tenren is not good at all; a person can do a lot better.

i have had japanese tea and i like them. however, i see no reason to limit myself to japanese tea as they are not even the originators of it. besides, the world of tea is so immense. and good to great teas can be found in other places. i try as many as i can. i'm about to order some tea shortly.

britt · 2nd Degree Black Belt Joined: 22 Oct 2007 Posts: 181

Karen · Black Belt Joined: 13 Apr 2007 Posts: 123

I've bought from Seven Cups and think they have great stuff, albeit expensive. However, they're extremely concerned with quality control and bring in everything through the FDA, so for sure the tea isn't contaminated. They're also scrupulously honest--prices on some items are lower this year because of bad weather in China, hence they think the quality merits a drop in price. I can't recommend them highly enough. (I wish they were here in New York--I suspect I'd be spending a LOT of time at their tea room).
I ordered several of TeaSpring's jasmines (the most expensive ones) but haven't tried them as yet because I want to do a side-by-side tasting with a friend. I know that Chip has used them and liked them and I suspect they're good. They ship direct from China, though, and bypass the FDA entirely. As a consequence, they're a lot cheaper than Seven Cups;My hunch is that they're reputable.

Oni · 2nd Degree Black Belt Joined: 15 Mar 2008 Posts: 232

Try teaspring, they give authenticity papers above 500grams of tea and other sites and blogs reffered to this site as being the only site that sells real Long Jing and china`s 10 most famous teas, I have not ordered tea from them, my love for the time beeing is restricted to japanese green tea and matcha, I own only japanese teaware and tea, the next year I will invest in discovering china but be warned that it is easier to find good quality japanese tea than chinese tea, china is huge and their famous teas are falsified, many times more fake long jing is produces than original, and there are a lot of online vendors that sell garbage, and do not buy from sites that sell both chinese and japanese tea buy only from specialized sites such as o-cha.

Karen · Black Belt Joined: 13 Apr 2007 Posts: 123