How to brew a nice cup of green tea!
Brewing a nice cup of green tea is not as simple as throwing a heap of leaves in a teapot, and adding boiling water! In both Japan and China making and pouring tea is a ritual, because it is so important to get it right.
First there are around 90 different sorts of green tea that are regularly drunk, perhaps more. It's the old story, you only get what you pay for and cheap green tea is ....well...cheap green tea, and life is too short to drink cheap, bad tea!
Some of the more popular Japanese teas include Bancha, which are bigger and older leaves picked after Sencha is harvested.
Genmaicha is Bancha blended with roasted rice.
Kukicha is made from steamed soft twigs and tender young leaves, Matcha is green tea powdered, and Sencha is one of the most popular green teas drunk in Australia.
The bottom line is that there is a huge variability in the price and quality of Green Tea products on the market today. Buy the best loose leaf green tea you can afford.
In China and Taiwan they drink Gunpowder green tea, another tea popular in Australia, Moon Palace, which has rolled slightly curved leaves with a full bodied taste. Chinese Sencha is always popular, as is Yua Hin, or rainforest tea.
There are dozens more blends and teas from various parts of Asia, South Africa, Australia, and other parts of the World.
Then of course there are the white teas and oolongs, which are brewed the same way as the green teas.
We are now going to make some suggestions about brewing green tea.
First green tea is a delicate drink with a delicate flavor. While many tea purists drink from clay or china cups, i prefer glass, so I can see the delicate color of the tea. But thats up to you. I only use good pinch in a small teapot. If you make it too strong, it may be bitter.

Never make green tea with boiling water. Let the water go off the boil, become still, then add to teapot, and let brew for a few minutes. Don't brew for too long, the green tea may become a little bitter. I like to rinse the teapot with boiling first, to warm it up, but thats not critical.
Next, sit down and enjoy, happy tea party, Patrick
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