GeneralTuesday, August 19th, 2008, (11:58 pm)
Green tea… What’s that all about then?
Fat people swear it makes them thinner. Healthy swear it makes them healtheir. Trendy people think it makes them cooler. Tree huggers like it because of reasons that probably have something to do with the moon, and up market ‘ladies that lunch’ like it because of a mixture of all of those reasons.
Am I the only person who thinks green tea is rubbish?
—
Green Tea: Nutritious Miracle or Nasty Myth?
Benefits of green tea
Beauty myths – Busted
Wrote the following comment on Aug 20, 2008 at 12:25 am
You are the only who thinks it’s rubbish in my household, I’m afraid. I don’t like it for any of those reasons, I like it because I find it refreshing for the palette. true it’s meant to also contain good stuffs like a tonne of antioxidants and crap, but who truly gives a smeg about that?
Wrote the following comment on Aug 20, 2008 at 11:17 am
I have to say that I disagree Simon. Green tea can be very pleasant but I think that you have to think of it as a different drink. It is not a ‘tea’ as such and if you start thinking that you are not drinking a cup of tea then it is very refreshing. The lemon ones are the best.
Wrote the following comment on Aug 20, 2008 at 2:48 pm
It’s all about the antioxidants.
I saw green tea ice cream in the store last night.
Wrote the following comment on Aug 20, 2008 at 4:15 pm
I think Mark is probably right, in that I thought I was having a cup of tea in the traditional English sense and then my taste buds got something they didn’t expect. Maybe I should give it another go, but I dunno…
Having said that though, Susan got me a great gift. A Teavana system with some strange tea that looked and smelled like potpourri.
Wrote the following comment on Aug 20, 2008 at 5:48 pm
When I was a kid my dad knew this guy that worked for Dreyer’s Ice Cream up near San Francisco who attended our church. This guy offered up a bunch of ice cream for a get together after church one night and what we got were all the reject experimental flavors that nobody wanted (in huge 5 gallon buckets). One of the flavors (and the most memorable) was, yep you guessed it, Green Tea. Mind you, this was about 25 years ago. It was the worst tasting crap ice cream ever. As a kid I thought it profane to make ice cream like that! Almost criminal. I guess Dreyer’s was way ahead of it’s time though because I am seeing green tea ice cream all over the place now. I still haven’t worked up the nerve to try any of it though.
About Green Tea… I only like it mixed with really sugary lemonade. I guess that means I don’t really like it.
Wrote the following comment on Aug 20, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Hey Todd, that’s ok, Simon goes out of his way to enjoy things he doesn’t like the taste of by making them taste of something else :-) Strawberry cigars and coffee that is flavoured with any number of things, just as long as it doesn’t taste of coffee :-)
Wrote the following comment on Aug 20, 2008 at 6:34 pm
i really think it keeps me in a good state of mind, especially when i drink a lot of it. it’s just really good, tasty, and healthy. i guess i’m “one of those people”. haha :)
Wrote the following comment on Aug 21, 2008 at 12:20 am
I too enjoy green tea. It’s looking like you are in the minority here Simon. :)
Wrote the following comment on Aug 21, 2008 at 12:14 pm
I’ve tried it and do not care for the flavor. Except for the bottled one that we have here – Arizona Green Tea with Ginseng, I believe it’s called.
Wrote the following comment on Aug 21, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Okay, so I went ahead and bought some twinnings green tea. I’ll let you know how that goes.
Wrote the following comment on Aug 22, 2008 at 10:20 am
I’ve just started drinking Twinings Green Tea flavoured with Orange and Lotus Flower (!). It’s actually quite nice, cos the orange flavour is stronger than the ‘tea’ flavour – I don’t drink ‘ordinary’ tea at all. Viva la Arabica coffee bean!! ;-)
Wrote the following comment on Aug 24, 2008 at 1:27 am
I have tried to like green tea and join the enlightened health conscious crowd, but my tongue revolts against my higher aspirations. I guess I am doomed to be a low-brow, blue collar type.
If you really want to persist on the path of green tea, perhaps you should try mixing it up with some chanting.
OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!
Wrote the following comment on Aug 24, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Some green tea tastes awful, and some is good. Once I got given some that a friend had brought back from Japan. It had a box and ribbons before you got to the airproof sachet. That was amazing tea. But the kind of rubbish you get here is more to disguise the fact that you fancy hot water, or, if you brew gun powder strong, to appeal to your bitter side.
Wrote the following comment on Aug 24, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Well I tried the Twinings green tea and I didn’t like it. It tasted like warmed up river water, which is pretty much what all green tea tastes like to me. You are welcome to try it when you’re next here though Joelle. :-)
Wrote the following comment on Aug 26, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Erm…. Thank you, Simon. Maybe you need to put 3 bags in a small glass, and wait a few minutes
?
(PS, I didn’t know you’d tried river water. From what I saw in India, you liked it bottled first ;-)
Wrote the following comment on Aug 27, 2008 at 12:39 am
I’ve drank plenty of river water from my canoeing days I can tell you :-)
Wrote the following comment on Sep 3, 2008 at 6:29 pm
word up my man, I met you yesterday at Coffeetime (got long hair, was playing chess with Renee). So I’m going to tell you the straight shit on green tea since I just read your blog here:
First off, there is a vast world of difference in quality – you need to have a proper cup of it to really understand as the Japanese made it. That stuff sold in tea bags really is no good. Need loose leaf tea, and still there is a wide variety.
As for the health benefits, a stimulant does increase metabolism though to ‘get thin’ might take a whole lot of it…. it’s a good wake up if you aren’t already totally caffeine tolerant, which is why coffee addicts don’t get much kick from green tea – however it’s EXCELLENT for staving off withdrawal if you want to quit coffee. I’ve used it this way. And the lessor caffiene does makes less dependence and ultimately helped me wake up more easily in the morning, more alert.
It contains “anti-oxidants” (means literally : keep you from rusting) slightly less than Oolong, slightly more than Black. This prevents cancer to some degree and a lot of other problems, though again, you might need an awful lot to get the real benefit.
I’ve heard its challenging to grow tea plants that are very delicious – this from a Zen monk. My favorite is Macha, a traditional form of green tea powdered so finely that when whisked into hot water it blends into frothy liquid. I swear it will get you high and if you don’t like the taste it grows on one quite the way that beer and coffee do!
I don’t know what that bit about treehuggers is, but as a treeghugger I’ll gladly note that both coffee and tea are imported long distances by gasoline fueled vehicles, and both are imperialistic drinks of royalty. That said I’m fairly addicted to the stuff… hope you get to taste a decent cup sometime.