Tea bags as little gifts

Hamamatsu is in Shizuoka Prefecture that is famous for its tea cultivation. You can drink good green tea in many restaurants and the basement of Entetsu Department Store. In addition to permanent tea leaf shops in the basement, Ishida Chaya (いしだ茶屋) from Mori-machi located north east of Hamamatsu was selling their tea leaves today. This was an spring event to be held until tomorrow.

There were several kinds of tea leaves sold by measure, and you could taste some green tea. But I was more interested in tea bags sold in little packs. There were four kinds, and this is “Rich green tea.” Some of the packs have Japanese paintings, and other have messages like “Thank you (ありがとう(arigato))” and “Congratulations (おめでとう(omedeto)).” They may be intended for souvenirs or gifts. Each pack contains five tea bags and costs just 150 yen, which I think reasonable.

There were also packs of “High quality green tea.” As it is high-quality tea, each pack contains three tea bags and cost 200 yen.

The other two were “Roasted green tea (hojicha)” and “Japanese black tea.” In fact, I prefer roasted green tea to ordinary green tea that is not roasted, so I bought one pack home. This one is high-quality tea, but it costed 150 yen for five tea bags.

I thought this tea was a little bitterer than other roasted green tea I had at home, but it was still milder than ordinary green tea. According to their website, it is good to drink after eating Chinese dishes. It may be also suitable to drink after eating tempura.

Last autumn, I traveled to Finland and Sweden. In both countries, I noticed green tea had become quite popular because there were many kinds available in supermarkets. I saw even green tea flavored with mint, lemon, etc., however, roasted green tea still seemed to be unknown. It was a pity, because roasted green tea warms you up while ordinary green tea is said to cool your body. I thought roasted green tea was more suitable for the cold weather they had in Northern Europe.

   

In addition, roasted green tea contains less caffeine compared ordinary green tea. I surely recommend high-quality green tea from Mori-machi, Hamamatsu, or other areas in Shizuoka Prefecture because it has excellent flavor, but if you have a low tolerance for caffeine like me, it may be better to have roasted green tea instead.