Kirkland Signature Japanese Green Tea Review
Kirkland Signature Japanese Green Tea is a sencha green tea with a matcha blend, available online here. If you don't know what that means, read on!
Sencha is probably the most popular type of tea in Japan. There are different varieties, but generally speaking sencha is tea that is grown in full sunlight and uses only the buds and the top parts of the tea leaves. These are then steamed – a typically Japanese method of stopping the oxidization process and sealing in the tea's beneficial nutrients and enzymes – before being rolled and dried. Sencha tea tends to have a very vegetal flavor and a greener color than most teas. They can also have a touch of bitterness.
Matcha is quite a culturally significant drink in Japan. Unlike sencha, its leaves are specially shade grown rather than exposed to full sunlight. This slows down their growth, which produces sweetness-inducing amino acids and lends a much deeper green color to the leaves. After harvesting, they are laid out flat to dry, and then ground by hand into a fine, talc-like green powder: matcha. This tea has an intense sweetness, and is one of the higher grade green teas available. It's used in Japanese tea ceremonies, and so has a long and proud history in Japan.
Kirkland Signature Green Tea is a blend of sencha and matcha. Blend teas are an excellent way of developing individual tea tastes and balancing out any negative attributes of a particular variety of tea, and this one does it more successfully than many. The sencha base means that the tea has that characteristically Japanese flavor – slight overtones of seaweed, as well as vegetal notes. But the addition of matcha balances this nicely to give a beverage that is mildly sweet – even if you accidentally oversteep the leaves, you're unlikely to end up with the nasty, bitter taste that this normally brings about in green tea.
Usually, it's good advice to avoid teabags when buying green tea, and to opt for loose tea leaves for better quality. However, these teabags produce a surprisingly good cup of green tea, if you have a preference for using bags! The nylon filter bag ensures optimal water flow as the tea is brewing, and although the string might appear to be a bit short, it's not so when you realise that there's a slot pre-cut into the tag. This is for you to clip it neatly on to the edge of your cup: the string doesn't need to be long enough to drape the tag over the side, and it actually makes much more sense this way, since there's no chance of the tag being dragged into the cup by the weight of the teabag. A nice little detail to make life that little bit easier!
Kirkland Signature Green Tea is a good choice for anyone who prefers a hint of sweetness in their drink without detracting from the goodness of the antioxidants by adding sugar or sweeteners. It tastes very palatable and mild, while still containing all the essential green tea ingredients to boost your immune system, flush toxins from your digestive system, and do all the other helpful things that green tea is famous for. A pleasant, mild green tea option, worth trying. You can get it online here.
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