Which Green tea in Vending Machines?

I've been to Japan for 9 weeks last year and I really loved the green tea I bought from the vending machines.
I mean the natural one. Not with rice or any other flavour.
Now, when I came back to Sweden I tried a lot of different Sencha and other green teas, BUT I cant find exact the same taste.

Does anybody have any idea where I can buy the same green tea?
So I can brew a delicious tea at home =)
I can order over internet. If I know what to order =P
I would be really glad if somebody could help me =D

hi there.
I like to use the green tea with lemon from twinings, and then add some honey- a couple of hours in the fridge and you're good to go!
try it- and if you don't like it sweet, just don't use the honey!

Yonaz,

The stuff that comes in bottles from machines will always be slightly different from tea freshly brewed at home, just as the coffee that comes in cans tastes different from real coffee. However, if you brew regular sencha and pour it over ice in a glass, you should get something not that different.

Thanks, but I ment plain green tea with natural flavour. I have bouhgt some Sencha leaves from 2 different places in Sweden, but its still not exactly the same taste =/
Does anybody have a clue what I can do?

Yeah, I can understand that some of the taste will be different, but when I bought the Sencha here I felt that the taste were to mild and not as bitter (bitter in a good way) as I got used to in Japan.
I found that the green tea whith the most similar taste was a green tea from darjeeling and ceylon (Sri Lanka) But, it doesn't make sense if they would use green tea from another country in thoose cans and bottles =/
Where would u recomend me to buy the green tea?
Thank u guys for helping a thirsty person out =P

I think it *could* be due to how you prepare the green tea. The Japanese "sencha" is supposed to be prepared NOT with boiling hot water, but a bit lower temperature, like around 80 degrees C or so, and you let the tea leaves sit in the hot water for one minute or a bit longer. This brings out the sweet, good flavor of the green tea together with the full, pleasant bitter flavor as well :) Anyway those from vending machines would have used plenty of tea leaves and most probably prepared the best way to give you the best green tea flavor, so you might want to try out different amounts of tea leaves and different steeping temperature and time. Enjoy!

Yeah, I did know about the steeping temperature. Well I guess I just have to buy different ones and continue trying.
Do u guys have any ideas where I can order from (reliable site) and which green tea I should go after?
Cheers =)

How about the mineral in water ?
I don't know about water hardness in Sweden. But it is sure that soft water is the best to prepare the green tea.

I've tried lots of different brands of green tea in the U.S. and didn't like the taste of most of them (even Lipton's) until I found Yamamotoyama in a Japanese store here in San Diego. You can buy online at www.yamamotoyama.com but it's more expensive than I pay in the store. I buy the 16 bag Sencha in the store for $1.29 but it's $2.15 plus shipping on their website.

Yonaz,

Try ordering from

www.ippodo-tea.co.jp/en/

This is a famous tea store in Kyoto.
I've visited the store and I also order via their website.
They have all types of tea.
I don't remember the shipping charges but it was reasonable for airmail.
Good luck

Maybe look for tea from Shizuoka or Uji- the main tea-growing areas in Japan. Otherwise I have to agree with others above- it's going to be very hard to duplicate the taste of canned green tea, because canned milk tea and coffee also taste different from the freshly brewed versions.

Maybe after you have made it try putting it in a can and leaving it for several days... just kidding ;-)

definately its the water.
try soft water.

http://www.kaburagien.co.jp/english/st_06.php

..you're using sencha which is too good?

I'm no expert on green tea, and I always make bad choices from those vending machines.

However, I do drink a lot of (black) tea here in the UK and I know that the taste of a fine, leaf tea, is completely different from a bag of general-purpose everyday tea.

My theory is that the tea used for vending machine tea is just your everyday tea, whereas the sort of Japanese teas that people think it's worth the while to export is much more likely to be a fine tea, with a distinctive taste.

The sencha that you are served at a luxurious ryokan will be very different in taste from that at a minshuku, and then again to that in your businss hotel room, and then again to your vending machine.

Just a theory, but maybe you should look for the cheapest tea you can find if you're trying to replicate a mass-market product?

I just returned from Japan, and love the green tea in bottles from the vending machines. Although there are many choices in Japan, I usually buy the Itoen brand tea in cases in the US. You can purchase directly on their website at www.itoen.com. They have a special dark tea... Koi-Aji, but are frequently out of it on the site. I regularly purchase the Oi Ocha, which is also very good. If anyone knows of other internet vendors who offer some of the other japanese bottled green tea I would love to hear about it.

1) Gotta know the exact name/brand of the tea you bought - there are so many bottled teas on the market in Japan, all with different flavors!
You'll almost never have two that will taste the same.

2) http://www.asianfoodgrocer.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=848 a
These places online and any Japanese supermarket in the area will carry a line of bottled teas. You can often find the ones you want - eg. in the USA, Mitsuwa or Marukai usually have the popular teas.

As for export, you'll have to search for places that'll ship such out of japan -- it'll be expensive due to the weight.

I had exactly the same problem... I eventually traced the particular taste that I was looking for to a blend of macha and sencha - cunningly called macha iri sencha...
I managed to find somewhere that sells it in the UK, and the brand is the same as a bottled tea I drank from many a vending machine.
http://www.japancentre.com/?cmd=itm&cid=372&id=842

I, too, enjoyed the bottled green tea I purchased from vending machines in Japan. The only bottled tea I can find that is at all similar is from itoen.com. I prefer green tea such as sencha. The vending machines in Japan often have hojicha, which is lightly roasted green tea and has a different taste. If you are sure you had plain, green tea then you can try the itoen product. They have several different varieties so you must specify that you want green tea, not the roasted hojicha.

If you make sencha at home, please use distilled water and infuse the tea leaves for a maximum of 90 seconds at a temperature of 75 degrees C. Use 1 teaspoon of tea for 8 ounces of water. Too much tea or water which is too hot or brewing for too long will produce bitter tasting sencha. By the way, if you brew it right, it tastes pretty good when chilled.

Good luck!

Rob Roadman

hej yonaz
jag är väldigt sugen på att åka till japan.
har du lust att hjälpa mig lite på traven ?

tobiasfrick@hotmail.com

The taste will depend above all on the brand of tea you use - such common Japanese bottled green teas such as "Ito En" or Suntory are fairly cheap generic brands, but are nevertheless each distinct from other brands of green tea you might try to use.
For the best results trying to make it yourself you should buy (or order) packs of "Ito En" or "IeMon" (Suntory Brand) dry loose-leaf sencha and make the tea at home. Use mineral water if possible, and make sure you steep it fairly long to get the same strong taste as the bottled tea. Also be sure to filter it through a coffee filter to remove the sediment. Finally, when you chill it, try to keep the container well sealed so it won't absorb any smells from other food in your fridge...
From my experience doing this, if it is the same brand of tea, it will tastes quite similar to the bottled version (much more so than some other sencha you might try) but will never be exactly the same (different water is the main reason)...
Good luck

Thanks to all of you who are trying to help me =D

Chris- It sounds like a good idea to try that out, but where can I order Sencha loose leaves from Itoen brand?
And also, Im living in Sweden. I've seen a couple of sites that will only ship to US.
Any ideas?