Most popular in Asia, green tea is not oxidized. It is withered, immediately steamed or heated to prevent oxidation and then rolled and dried. It is characterized by a delicate taste, light green color and is very refreshing.

Gunpowder:

The most popular of Green blends, each leaf is rolled into a tiny compact pellet and provides a very subtle fragrance and sweet flavor.

Tightly rolled green tea with a bittersweet and slightly smoky character.

Gunpowder tea gets its name from the characteristics of the leaves, which are rolled into small, greyish-green pellets resembling old-fashioned gunpowder. The appearance is important, in that the small, tightly rolled leaves of the top grades have much more flavor than the more irregular, open roll of the lower grades. Gunpowder is a highly processed tea, with long periods of rolling followed by extensive grading for size, shape, and density. The best of these come from Zhejiang province, China, and have a full body, pungent flavor, and slightly smoky aroma.

Dragon Well:

Grown in China, the rich toasty flavor and herbal aroma makes this blend one of the finest green teas available.

Jasmine (China, green):

Logically enough, this tea is scented with jasmine flowers. Some is made from Baozhong tea, but most is based on completely unoxydized green.

Jasmine tea ranges from abysmal stuff, where the flowers are used to mask the poor quality of the tea, to truly remarkable (and remarkably costly) delicacies.

The finest grade of jasmine tea, it's scented five times with fresh jasmine blossoms. Sweet and perfumy.

Jasmine teas vary according to the quality of the tea base, and the skill and flower quality used for scenting. Yin Hao Jasmine has the best of all these elements. The tea base for Yin Hao Jasmine is completed in April during the Spring harvest, then tucked away until August when the finest jasmine blooms. The flowers are plucked at noontime and kept until nightfall. Then, as the evening's temperature cools, the flowers open with a distinct popping sound. The flowers and tea are then blended together in layers, known as the “marrying” of the tea and jasmine. After several hours the jasmine petals are removed from the tea, and another round of flowers is applied. While ordinary grades are scented a couple of times, Yin Hao Jasmine tea is scented with fresh flowers from five to seven times.

Sencha, Bancha, Hojicha (Japan):

'Sencha' is a generic name for Japanese green tea, applying to most high quality tea other than Gyokuro. Bancha refers to late-harvested teas. Roasted tea is called Hojicha.

This classic Japanese green tea has a fresh and lively flavor, with notes of newly-cut grass. Produced by a 300-year-old family tea company. Also available in tea bags.

Japan's green teas have accentuated vegetal flavors, with aromatic notes of cut grass and ocean air. This is largely due to the initial steaming of the leaves, a practice that heightens the fresh, almost raw leaf qualities of the tea. The brightness of the liquor is developed as well, and the best quality Senchas are a lime-green color in the cup. While more and more “Sencha” is actually China-grown tea made for the Japanese domestic market, we prefer the teas of the Uji district of Honshu, long regarded as the seat of Japan's best quality teas.

Genmaicha (Japan):

This visually dramatic tea is made by mixing high-pressure roasted rice with Sencha. The roasted flavor of whole grain rice which is mixed in with this blend is a perfect match for the tea and produces a beverage which is rich in flavor

Genmaicha is sometimes called "popcorn tea" because of its unusual taste. It is green tea blended with toasted rice.

White Tea:

White teas are among the rarest in the world. Traditionally picked only at daybreak in four provinces of north east China, these teas are hand sorted to give them a mellow sweet taste and a delicate flavor.
They are available in specialty shops but are very expensive. As they are unfermented teas we group them under green however others put them under a class of their own.
This rare, expensive variety is made up entirely of buds. Its flavor is very delicate and subtle. Also, in the bad old days, one might be offered a different sort of "white tea" in very poor Chinese homes:
namely, a cup of boiled water.

Gyokuro (Japan):

The most highly valued Japanese tea. Also known as "Pearl Dew," it is a surprisingly rich, herbaceous tea.

Spider Leg (Japan):

This is a "basket-fired" variety of Gyokuro, meaning that it is fired in bamboo baskets. The leaves turn out long and thin, hence the name "Spider Leg."

Mattcha, Tencha (Japan):

Mattcha is the powdered tea used in the famed Tea Ceremony. It is also called Tencha (before it is powdered).