Green tea is the tea family’s least-oxidized major style. The leaf is steamed or pan-fired almost immediately after picking, which stops oxidation in its tracks and keeps the leaf close to its fresh, green, just-picked state.
That fast processing is the whole story of green tea’s character. Because the leaf barely oxidizes, it holds onto a grassy, vegetal, sometimes sweet flavor instead of developing the darker, maltier notes that come with fuller oxidation. It also keeps a lighter body than black or oolong tea, and holds onto more of the catechins, the natural antioxidant compounds the leaf loses more of the longer it’s exposed to oxygen.
One category, very different techniques
Green tea splits mainly along how that early processing happens. Chinese styles, like Longjing (Dragonwell), are typically pan-fired in a hot wok. Japanese styles, like Sencha and Gyokuro, are steamed instead, which tends to produce a grassier, more vegetal cup than the toastier pan-fired Chinese styles. Matcha is a special case even within green tea: it’s stone-ground into a fine powder and whisked into the water rather than steeped and strained, so the whole leaf ends up in the cup.
We carry real matcha alongside blended green teas like Bright and Early and Killin’ It Green, plus Rosemary Lemonade, which uses green tea as its base. If you’re new to the category, starting with a straightforward green rather than a heavily blended one is the easiest way to actually taste what green tea, unblended, is doing.
How to steep it
Green tea is easy to over-brew, and boiling water is usually the culprit. Use 1 teaspoon per 8 oz of water, heated to a gentler 175–185°F, and steep for only 2–3 minutes. Push past that and the cup turns bitter and grassy in the bad way rather than the good way. Matcha works differently since the whole leaf ends up in the cup: whisk ½ to 1 teaspoon into 6–8 oz of water at a cooler 160–175°F rather than steeping and straining it.
