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Hi fellas, when I have the time, I used to grind my own matcha from tencha for a bowl of old style chanoyu green tea. I do it sometimes with friends, but sometimes only by myself. Recently I tried grinding Luan Guapian and think it has a lovely taste over tencha. I shared this experience in Japanese forum and received some very bad criticism. However, I think because this seems not patriotic. I want to share it here and would like to know if any other people have the same taste experience and would like to know what they think.
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That’s cool. I have one of this but smaller. Forgot where I bought it, perhaps in Hong Kong or Osaka. Mine is too small for grinding enough amount for real use. Put it aside for a long time.
I think Luan Guapian is different from matcha in taste because it is sharper and fresher, but I have not tried making it into matcha so I cannot say. I guess it will be more bitter but more invigorating?
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I actually tried doing that after reading this two days ago, comparing with my experience and a very nice stronger tea ceremony grade matcha which I have at home. I think perhaps Hokusai is comparing Luan Guapian with the thinner version of ceremonial matcha and not with denser and more traditional quality matcha. I think Luan Guapian is thinner and not as flavorful. Yet it is many times less costly so I think it is very good for its price. I think it also has a taste that defines itself as Luan Guapian and not matcha or tencha. I think this is exactly what is great about your idea, many other high quality green tea can be made into powder and become a different kind of matcha!
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Dear Hokusai, just a question: how did you change your profile picture? I cannot find it out!
Thank you, Gabriele-
Hello gabo_kuroki, your response is off topic here. I shall move this in a few days. Before that you can find another user answering a similar question at: https://www.teaguardian.com/dialogues/topic/welcome-back-to-the-dialogues/
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That’s good, people should be experimenting with new ways of using tea like this. Just because Japan picked up a method from China a thousand years ago, doesn’t mean that everyone has to keep repeating that forever. To see more steamed green teas from China, and more ground green tea like matcha, would be great.
Also, Lu’an Guapian is not necessarily expensive. Like all famous Chinese teas, there is a huge range of quality, and an even huger range of price. I have seen packs of Lu’an Guapian being sold for 10 yuan and for over 1000 yuan. Once you get into the 30-50 yuan range, you should be able to expect that the tea won’t be junk. (As long as you are getting tea that has been properly stored.)
The funniest buy I have had was an 8 yuan pack of what is simply labelled “fresh green tea.” I wasn’t expecting much of anything (just curious), but actually I found that the tea was very pleasant and nice without any bad qualities.
However, I’ve seen loose leaf teas in the USA that are of such abysmal quality that they should be reclassified as “fish food” rather than tea. The markets are totally different, and unfortunately Chinese are still generally much savvier than westerners about tea.
So basically, my point is that you have to know the market that you are shopping in, and what quality you can expect wherever you are. 🙂
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