I drink mostly one tea from the most sacred Buddhist temples in Japan. I take the same tea back to Japan as gifts since they can't buy it because it all comes here. I spent many days at multiple tea shops in multiple cities and never found anything as good. Teavana was sole supplier in the states but they went out of business. It is called Sencha Hikki. The highest grade of Japanese green teas is called gyokuro. It is picked and put into wooden boxes to cure to avoid the chlorophyll turning bitter. It is also known as dessert tea. Higher grades 140 degree water, steep for no more than 1 min 20 sec first steep, 20 seconds 2nd and 3rd if it is good and fresh. The real bitterness of green tea comes first from curing, second from water temp, third is steep time.

So I understand, what makes most of the commercial green teas here in the US lesser? I drink a lot of green tea because of the reported health benefits. But perhaps I am wasting my effort ( or money). Sorry for the continued hijack of this thread into another subject. We should move this discussion to the appropriate forum and start a new thread.

[quote=Uptown]Teavana was sole supplier in the states but they went out of business.[/quote]
Where do you see that Teavana went out of business? It was bought by Starbucks at the end of last year, and the gyokuro tea, along with several other types of green tea, is for sale on the Teavana website. I don't see the Sencha Hikki listed there, though there is a Sencha Jade Reserve. (And apologies for the continued hijack.)

Good info, Ed! I've seen Sencha at the store, and others mentioned. As Brian said, maybe a separate post on its own. There are a few studies with green tea cancer fighting benefits, I believe one with Dr Dong Moon Shin, at Emory University, others, and apparently there is more to green tea as far as taste, quality and enjoyment.