Wholesale Green Teas

on being green
Green teas bring fresh and vibrant flavors to your tea cup that are difficult to resist. These flavors vary greatly depending on where it’s grown and how it’s processed. The deeply grassy and marine notes in Japanese greens are very different from the slightly nutty, cooked vegetal flavors often found in Chinese green teas. There is a wide range of flavors to experience in our collection of loose leaf green teas, which are available in bulk.

on Japanese Green Teas
Japanese green teas are plucked and then steamed. This process helps the leaves retain their deep green color, and prevents oxidation. After steaming the leaves are then rolled to create a unique needle like shape you’ll often see in tea such as sencha. It is then dried to remove excess moisture, and sorted. The highest quality Japanese teas are picked in the early spring and produce a vibrant green color.

Popular Japanese teas are sencha, gyokuro, and genmaicha. Sencha is vegetal and has notes of fresh cut grass. It’s a lovely tea to welcome spring or brighten up a winter’s day. Gyokuro is a more specialized tea because it is partially shaded during the growing stage. This prevents the process of photosynthesis, so the plant produces more chlorophyll and fewer tannins. This results in a very savory, almost broth-like flavor. Genmaicha is green tea with roasted rice. The rice lends a lovely mellow flavor. It’s calming and satisfying. We also love kukicha which contains not just the leaves but also stems of the tea plant. It adds a pleasing chestnut-like flavor to the tea. Kukicha can also be found roasted, which makes it mellow and relaxing. The best way to prepare Japanese green teas is with a side-handled teapot, called a kyusu. This pot lets the leaves fully expand and doesn’t trap in the heat.

on Chinese Green Teas
Chinese green teas are withered after picking and then heated to stop the oxidation. Unlike the steamed leaves of Japanese green tea, these leaves are pan fired or heated in vats. The leaves are then formed either by pressing into a flat shape, twisted, or rolled into beads. Leaves are then dried again to remove remaining moisture. After drying the leaves are then sorted by size. Because of the processing, the liquor of Chinese green teas can be much paler and more yellow than the deep green hues of tea from Japan.

Long Jing (Dragonwell) is one of the most popular types of Chinese green tea. It has a flattened, long shape. The brewed tea has seaweed and cooked vegetable notes with a hint of nuttiness. Bi Luo Chun (also often noted as Pi Lo Chun) is another popular variety that has elegant spiral-shaped leaves with fuzzy white buds. The flavor is fresh and subtly floral. Gunpowder green is another popular choice, and one you can find on our website. It has tightly rolled leaves that unfurl as you brew, and the flavor is vegetal, slightly smoky and bolder than many other green teas. You can brew these teas in a pot, but we’d recommend using a traditional gaiwan if you have it, to extract the most flavor from your leaves.

on Green Teas in other places
Japan and China aren’t the only two countries that produce green tea. Other large producers can be found in Korea and New Zealand, and there are even green teas from Hawaii that are worth looking out for. Traditionally black tea producing areas such as India and Nepal are also successfully trying their hand at green tea.

Did you know the early American colonists loved green tea? In fact, George Washington was known to drink quite a bit of green tea called Young Hyson, a tea we also carry. This was one of the teas that ended up getting thrown into the harbor during the Boston Tea Party. You can drink a cup of American history!

on being in hot water
It’s important to note that brewing green tea requires a much lower temperature than black or oolong tea. If you’ve brewed up a green tea and thought it was too bitter, chances are you used water that was too hot. The exact temperature depends on the type of tea, but as a general rule it should be around 175 degrees. If bitterness has been your only experience with green tea give it a try again with the right temperature. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at the depth of flavor you can achieve with the proper brewing technique.