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I’ve been trying many different loose leaf teas trying to find my favorite. Unfortunately, for green tea, I have yet to find one that I enjoy more than the full leaf “Tazo – China Green Tips” that can be found at starbucks. I assume this means either I have bad taste or I am not getting the right varietal for my particular tastes. Are there particular types of green tea that I should be looking for that taste similar to “Tazo – China Green Tips” but better?
Does anyone know what varietal China Green Tips is? The teas I have tried so far at the local grocery store which has about 70 types of bulk loose leaf teas are (I’ve ranked them in my order of preference). I’m including the prices because that may signal some information about the quality.
uni Kabuse – $110/lb
gyokuro – $200/lb
Jasmine Green $27/lb
tomo sencha – $17/lbyuzu secha – $30/lbgunpowder – $22/lb
kukicha – $70/lb (I really like the initial flavor on this one, but I don’t like the secondary flavor/aftertaste)
Houjicha – $50/lb
but still I like china green tips better than all of them 🙁 -
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In my opinion, it is some over-priced broken leaves in a bag. The taste is acceptable as a teabag product, but that is the only category it belongs. I have seen in some stores green teas turned stale because of bad storage, which maybe the reason why you find even that Tazo product better. I think you would understand what I mean after you have tried properly stored and packed real whole leaf green tea that are fine quality. I think you wouldn’t even think of Tazo for anything after that.
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I also drank this type of tea-bag tea when I was in the West, but never the loose leaf tea. If you look at their website, it is basically a “maofeng” tea from Zhejiang, but (of course) not a great quality one. So basically, a Chinese green tea that is roasted or baked should be fine. The flavor of it is more green and vegetal than some Chinese teas like Longjing, and probably with a stronger flavor than a baked green tea like Huangshan Maofeng.
From Tea Hong, I would recommend Tianshan April Mist (greener), or Silver Curls Spring (more balanced). If you have difficulties making it taste as good as Tazo’s China Green Tips, I think it is probably related to how the tea is being prepared. Try different temperatures, different amounts of leaves, different steeping time… Eventually you will get a grasp of the basic principle and you can make the tea however you like. Personally, I make my green tea so it tastes quite light, green, and fresh. This requires water at a little lower temperature, fewer tea leaves, and the right type of drinkware to prepare it.
In general, though, any good quality Chinese roasted green tea may be a fine substitute. Many quite ordinary roasted green teas of good quality are sold off as Biluochun or Huangshan Maofeng, despite the fact that they are not really anything special or distinct. Nevertheless, they can be quite good general green tea. They are twisted into small curls, and often have some silvery hairs.
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Here is a picture of the China Green Tips leaves.
The tea I listed above was stored in air tight, opaque, aluminum canisters at Wegmans. I have now tried Wegmans’s dragonwell and I like it much much better than the China Green tips. I think I just don’t like gunpowder and prefer the Chinese green teas to japanese ones.
I really enjoyed the three white teas I have tried. White Peony, silver needle, and snowbud were all amazing.
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I can share about this one, because I have tried both. The Tazo Green Tips tastes duller, rougher and when made stronger, very astringent. The Tea Hong April Mist has a lot more tastes and much fresher and not rough. When made stronger, it has even more taste though also quite astringent.
Maybe once you started to explore green teas from China, you will be amazed by the wide varieties of taste beyond our misled preconception of what green tea is. My favorite now is Luan Guapian. -
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Thanks CHAWANG, I have found much better greens in my recent tea exploration, and especially lovely oolongs and whites as well. I think I just don’t like Japanese green tea (Sencha and Gyokuro are too light for my tastes), and the one Chinese tea on my list, gunpowder, I find too smoky for my taste. I really enjoy dragonwell and pretty much all of the different preparations of Tienguanyin I’ve tried. Does this give you a sense of the type of flavors I like.
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