Tea

[Craig23]

I've been drinking a variety of green teas pretty much daily now for a few years. Unfortunately, the little local store I usually buy the tea from recently closed.

Does anybody know of any good online resources for loose green tea (Genmai Cha, Jasmine, Sencha in particular)? Or any stores in the SF Bay Area/East Bay (I'm sure there are many but I have no idea where begin looking)?

[Joe G]

I'm with you on the daily green tea, but I don't have an answer to your question. There's got to be some good shops in S.F. I get mine at a supermarket in an ethnically diverse neighborhood, and also at World Market, of which there is one at

2552 Taylor Street

San Francisco, CA 94133

(415) 928-6200

You could probably do better than that, I'm guessing.

[WD45]

As a daily fellow green tea drinker of many years, I must chime in with my recommendation for Ten Tea. They used to be knwon as Ten Ren Tea, but they dropped the "Ren" a couple of years ago for some reason or other. They have a super mail order and online operation. They website, as you might guess is http://tentea.com/.

I can recommend many of their offerings, with two particular favorites: They have some whole-leaf tea bags, one with only green tea and another with green tea and Osmanthus flower. Fantastic!

They have a great variety of products, from the average everyday teas in regular teabags [even their regular green tea is a treat every day!] to the more esoteric and expensive specialties.

AND, lucky for you, they have retail outlets near your location; they have a store finder on the website.

[jazzypaul]

Wow! Awesome...a tea discussion. I am trying to ween myself from my soda drinking, and am hoping to find some STRONG caffeinated tea. I hear that Morning Thunder is no longer being made, and every time I go to the local health food stores I get weird looks for wanting caffeinating tea. So, any suggestions?

[Craig23]

I must chime in with my recommendation for Ten Tea. They used to be knwon as Ten Ren Tea, but they dropped the "Ren" a couple of years ago for some reason or other. They have a super mail order and online operation. They website, as you might guess is http://tentea.com/.

Thanks for pointing me to Ten Tea. The prices look really good, and there are a couple that are pretty close to me. I'll definitely give them a try.

I am trying to ween myself from my soda drinking, and am hoping to find some STRONG caffeinated tea.  I hear that Morning Thunder is no longer being made, and every time I go to the local health food stores I get weird looks for wanting caffeinating tea.  So, any suggestions?

I found the following caffeine chart at Adiogo Teas.

Caffeine levels of various beverages:

Coffee 80 mg

Cola 45 mg

Black Tea 40 mg

Flavored Tea 40 mg

Oolong Tea 30 mg

Green Tea 20 mg

White Tea 15 mg

Decaf Tea 5-10 mg

Herbal Tea 0 mg

Black tea doesn't look too strong but it looks like a close alternative to soda levels (assuming the chart is accurate). Some of the more common Black Teas are English Breakfast Tea and Earl Grey. I haven't had either in years but I imagine the English Breakfast Tea has a good amount of caffeine since it is considered a breakfast tea.

Edited November 8, 2004 by Craig23

[jazzmessenger]

I am glad to see many tea (green tea) drinkers on the board. I probably drink too much green tea, but I can't help it.

Ten Ren is a really good place to buy Chinese tea. Every time I go to big cities with Chinatown, I stop by at Ten Ren stores for some Chinese tea. Since Jasmine tea is a a Chinese tea, you can get a very good one there. But if you like authentic Japanese tea like sen-cha or genmai-cha, your best bet is to find a local Japanese grocery stores. I am sure there are quite a few in S.F. Green tea at Ten Ren (or other Chinese green tea) is not same as Japanese green tea.

[Dan Gould]

The only brand of Tea I care for is Leoni:

[jazzypaul]

Yeah, but if you put her in boiling water, she'll just scream...

[Joe G]

Doesn't "GreenTea" have something to contribute to this thread?

[ralphie_boy]

Are you guys drinking GT for the benefits or the flavor? I've yet to try one that tasted like anything.

[1ngram]

Have any of you tried a wonderful fruit/herbal tea called Red Zinger from some organisation called Celestial Seasonings of Boulder Colorado? I can get it here in Scotland from a couple of places and it is just wonderful hot or cold.

Green tea is nice once in a while but tjhis stuff is great - and no caffeine!

[WD45]

Are you guys drinking GT for the benefits or the flavor? I've yet to try one that tasted like anything.

Those two things, and out of habit! I rather like the mild taste on a daily basis, and I have some other bolder, more exotic teas for when I want something with more oomph.

[jazzmessenger]

I am drinking tea for the flavor, not for the benefits. Well, it's healthier to drink tea than soda. As a Japanese, I grow up drinking tea since I was very very young. So, you could say I am also drinking out of habit like WD45.

[Joe G]

I have four different kinds of green tea in my house right now, and I can definitely tell the difference in flavor between them. It took me a little while to appreciate those differences, however. I saw an article the other day about the taste buds of Americans are dulled because we are constantly eating the saltiest or the sweetest foods.

[Shrdlu]

It's a bit different from what you are talking about, but when I was in South Africa, I discovered Rooibos "tea". This is not the same as regular tea, but is a herb tea, made from the leaves of a bush. (Rooibos is Afrikaans for "red bush".) It is caffeine-free, by the way.

I spotted it in a health-food store recently, and it was great to be reunited with it. It comes in a superb retro box with a kids' tea party theme. My kids laughed at it and said "What's that?"

Give it a try. I think you'll like it.

[Dan Gould]

Have any of you tried a wonderful fruit/herbal tea called Red Zinger from some organisation called Celestial Seasonings of Boulder Colorado?

Celestial Seasonings is a huge, probably the largest specialty tea company in America.

You can order any flavor they stock direct on their Website

Edited November 9, 2004 by Dan Gould

[John Tapscott]

I immediately thought of the Complete Roulette Recordings set on Mosaic...But I see you're talking about another kind of Tea!