I debated what to write for my 600th article. Teas play a critical role in Japanese culture and in my personal life, which captures what JP is about–the intersection of anime, Japanese culture, international culture, and our lives.
I’ve become a bit of a tea snob. Lipton tea doesn’t cut it anymore. I fell into tea after I learned about how it can help prevent a wide range of cancers. I’ve long drank iced tea, the type with lots of sugar. But one day, I stumbled across imported Chinese tea in a Mennonite-ran food store. I bought a little of each on a whim (I also found miso soup imported from Japan of all things), and so began my addiction.
I’m partial to Chinese-style tea, but I enjoy Japanese sencha. Powdered teas like Japanese matcha are okay but are a little too much for my stomach. But then, I don’t like the texture of thick drinks like milkshakes, and matcha can be just as thick. You should give it a try. I approach tea as a part of each day instead of something special. In fact, I likely drink too much of it. Too much tea can be hard on your kidneys and possibly cause kidney stones. Drinking iced tea during the summer can cause this.
I’ve tried many types of tea and found a few I don’t really like, such as tea with rose hips. First, let me clarify what I mean about tea. It excludes herbal infusions, or what we in the United States calls herbal tea. I enjoy herbal infusions, but they differ from true tea. Tea comes from Camellia sinensis, an evergreen shrub.
I’ve found a few brands of that won’t require you to take a second job, and they are also available on Amazon. They aren’t the highest grade stuff, but they are much better than what you’d find at most grocery stores: Numi, Tao of Tea, and Republic of Tea. You can also buy tea from various prefectures in Japan; I recommend this. Chinese tea (and other agricultural products) may have heavy metals and other contaminants. But the effects of heavy metals on adults aren’t clear in the studies (Hu, 2013; Chang, 2013). I like loose leaf tea over tea bags, but sometimes I don’t want to mess with an infuser, especially when I am a zombie in the morning.
On the lower end of the list comes Twinings tea. I like their offering of black teas: Irish breakfast, Earl Grey, English breakfast, and more. Their blended black teas taste better than their green teas. You can find Twinings tea at Walmart and other stores. Of the three, Twinings is the easiest to find and offers the best flavor for the price.
- To be clear: I’m not being sponsored by any of these companies. You know how online writers have to give disclosure.
- I’m not a coffee drinker. Black teas kick me awake in the morning. Despite the caffeine tea has, I find green and white teas relaxing. Whenever I drink them, I get drowsy. Definitely not a good habit for the mornings.
- Don’t add boiling water to green or white teas. It makes green teas bitter. Black and pu-erh teas can take boiling water just fine.
But in any case, here are my favorite teas:
Earl Grey/Lady Grey
The tea of choice for Jean Luc Picard. The combination of citrus and black tea tastes great at any time. You can drink it with or without sweetener, but I suggest using honey instead of sugar. Honey accents the citrus of the bergamot flavor better than sugar. In fact, I prefer honey over sugar for all of the teas I drink. I prefer to drink green teas without sweeteners (as is proper) and black teas with honey. Earl Grey is my go-to tea for reading or when I just want an afternoon tea.
Jasmine Green Tea
The floral scent of green tea mixes well with soothing jasmine, but this tea can be cloying if over-saturated with jasmine. I find gunpowder styles better than standard loose leaf. Gunpowder style has the tea leaves rolled to resemble black powder. As the tea infuses the water, the leaves unfurl. Surprisingly, this changes the flavor of the tea. In the case of jasmine teas, it keeps the tea from becoming cloying since the tea releases its flavor more slowly.
Sencha
This Japanese loose-leaf tea complements meals well. It has a lighter taste than many green teas. It’s also decent for cooking. I like adding tea to chicken noodle soup. Sencha is a good everyday tea.
Silver Needle
Silver needle is a white tea that isn’t for everyone. It has the lightest taste of all the teas I list, and not everyone likes light flavor. I know people who call it hot water. But if you brew it right, Silver Needle has an evergreen flavor in its aftertaste. If you’ve ever stood in a pine forest and breathed through your mouth, you know the taste. It’s a great, light tea that has to be enjoyed by itself. No food or sweeteners, or you’ll lose its subtle flavor.
Gunpowder Green Tea
Gunpowder green has a deeper taste than standard green tea. It’s rolled pearls slowly unfurl, releasing green tea’s forest-floral flavor. It’s a fair tea for cooking, enjoying with food, or just enjoying alone. I prefer it without sweeteners, but I like German forest honey in it sometimes. This type of honey has a pine-woody flavor that compliments gunpowder green tea well.
Genmaicha
One of my favorite things is sitting down with a bowl of soup and a cup of genmaicha. This toasted-rice green tea goes well with salty, broth soups like chicken noodle or ramen (packaged or homemade). The tea smells like popcorn. This is also a great afternoon tea that helps cut your appetite. Itoen Genmaicha from Japan mixes matcha instead of loose-leaf green tea. It has become one of my favorites of this type because of its nutty flavor and light matcha. It doesn’t make a thick tea-shake, and comes in tea bags as an added bonus.
You’ll find hundreds of tea varieties. I have more that I enjoy, such as Green Dragon Oolong and Imperial White, but I keep returning to the teas on this list. The brands I list give a good value for the price, but you’ll also need some sort of infuser for the loose-leaf teas. Tea-drinking has become an everyday vice for me, but there are worse vices. Tea has many health benefits, but, as with everything, you can go too far. Be sure to drink water between, especially during summer, to avoid kidney stones and other problems. But for those who drink soda, tea can help you step down your intake and reset your taste buds. Soda pop and other strong sugary drinks make your taste buds lazy and unable to detect subtle flavors. Smoking also ruins them. Luckily, drinking water and tea can reset them over time.
Give tea a try. It’s range of flavors will keep you interested, and the health benefits make it a great hobby.
References
Chang, C. Y., et al (2013) Acculmulation of heavy metals in leaf vegetables from agricultural soils and associated potential health risks in the Pearl River Delta, South China. Environ Monit Assess 186:1547-1560.
Hu, Yuanan, et al (2013) Assessing heavy metal pollution in the surface soils of a region that had undergone three decades of intense industrialization and urbanization. Environ Sci Pollut Res. 20: 6150-6159.
