What is good quality green tea?

We have heard statements as such regularly: “I have heard that green teas are good for you. I have tried some from the supermarkets and they taste awful.” Why? Bad quality green teas.

In China, the birthplace of all teas, the price for the same tea but different quality (when freshly produced) could be as such:

• from the cheapest which is the tea dust (used to fill tea bags) for 2-3 AUD/Kg
• to over 5000 AUD/Kg

In addition, there is also this somehow particular phenomenon: for other industrial products, you normally find the exporting goods are of good quality; for Chinese teas however, the best are strictly not exported. The only reason that I could think of is that tea is such a beverage of depth, great appreciation comes with extensive experience. The top quality teas only find their admirers in a country that it is so experienced with it. This is not to say that people outside of China do not appreciate the tea quality, it is only to say that the number in China is much bigger.

Green teas are fresh teas. It is very common to see green teas outside of China in such conditions:

1. In Chinese grocery stores where they are wrapped in glossy packages and sitting on the selves for months after months.
2. Tea shops run by foreigners who purchased the teas from a second or third hand dealer, knowing very little about fresh teas, however claiming to have ‘premium’ ‘loose leaf’ tea.

The experience of tea drinkers will be as such: when open the pack, the tea looks dark, lack of body gloss and freshness. They sell almost dusty or moldy, taste bitter and awful.  

Reasons for it?

• Could have been low quality tea to start (independent of packaging or wrapping)
• Inadequately packaged and stored. Teas’ enemies include: light, moisture, foreign odor and high temperature. The bitter and awful taste of teas is introduced by tea oxidization. (This is one of the main reasons that tea dust is the lowest quality tea since the oxidization surface increases by hundred folds.) To avoid those tea damaging factors, the latest is to vacuum seal, small packaging and refrigeration.  
• Prolong shelf time. Even with the latest packaging as mentioned above, tea quality starts deteriorating after 12 months. It is not difficult to find teas that are already a couple years since production by the time they reach the selves.