I buy a brand of tea called Zen Matcha and it's hard to find and very expensive.?

Question

Are all green matcha teas the same or is there a difference? I see some on e-bay and they are much cheaper than what I'm getting.....They say with the Zen Matcha that it's the top three leaves of the green tea plant. Am I getting ripped of? I pay about $30 for a very small tin. Thanks for your input.

Answer 1

I did a Google and found this informative site. BUT, be warned, this could just be a lead-on (advertisement) to the tea manufacturer. I DO NOT have personal experience with this website. What follows, I copied from here:

http://www.brainready.com/blog/dumpthosegreenteadrinksgoma.html

"Real Matcha is the very high-quality, stone-ground powdered form of select shade-grown Japanese green tea leaves. It's like regular green tea on steroids, and then some: rather than just drinking green tea leaf-infused water, when you consume Matcha, you're actually getting the whole green tea leaf, and a very high quality green tea leaf at that (real Matcha should be shade-grown, carefully prepared Tencha-grade), so you're drinking the full benefits of the best of the green tea leaf. "

"But here's the amazing thing that many don't know: high-grade Matcha green tea in particular is exponentially more powerful than regular brewed green teas, so it's like amplifying all of these wonderful health and mental benefits in as little as one comparative serving. For example, Matcha green tea has approximately 70 times the antioxidants of orange juice, even higher than blueberries, and its unique EGCG catechin element (the subject of much current research) is one of the most powerful immune-boosting and anti-cancer substances known."

"And guess what? Matcha green tea contains approximately 137 times the amount of EGCG as regular steeped green tea. Wow!"

"So where to find Matcha?"

"Fortunately, thanks to the recent health discoveries about Matcha combined with increased awareness and popularity in the West, you can find various grades of Matcha powder in more and more places these days. More and more gourmet supermarkets, and some specialty tea shops in upscale shopping malls are starting to carry Matcha, as do some web-based green tea suppliers."

"But be warned: not all products labeled "Matcha" are real, true, high-quality shade-grown properly prepared tencha-based Matcha! Some are just ground low-quality Sencha leaves, some even add coloring or flavoring or sweeteners."

The supplier below is the one connected with this article.
www.zenmatcha.com."

Answer 2

I would think that matcha is matcha and if you find it cheaper, buy it cheaper. Why waste $30 on tea leaves? I think that it would be fine, sometimes the spicing is different (if it is spiced, but if it is plain green tea, it is the same any way that you get it! Good luck!

Answer 3

Brad Warner wrote "Hardcore Zen" and more recently "Sit Down and Shut Up." That's all the Zen you or any else needs. So don't write, sit. -- Gozen, Soto Zen priest