Green Tea Balls from Frontier Natural - Any Advice

by Zoe

The green tea I buy in the States from Frontier Naturals got a new supplier about 4 months ago, and now the green tea comes in hard little dark balls which immediately open up into leaves when water is added and then heated. What do you think about this form of green tea ? Should I find another supplier ?

Answer:
Zoe, thank you for dropping me a note. Let's see how I can help...

What you describe to me seems to be some kind of Dragon Pearl tea or Gunpowder green tea, and more likely the latter.

A ball-shaped tea has been rolled into tightly knitted balls in the making process. This type of rolling process is also commonly used for making oolong tea and jasmine tea (another type of green tea, which is scented with jasmine flower).

There is no reason to reject this tea. The main criteria is the taste, so judge its quality by how it tastes and it makes you feel.

It should be flavourful without the use of any flavouring, and not bitter at all. Good green tea always make me feel extremely cleansing and refreshing.

However, just be aware that ball-shaped green tea, in general, tends to be of lower grade. You can see this when you see the leaves unfurl in hot water. These leaves are full-sized and matured, not small, pointed tea buds of one-bud-two-leaf nature.

There may be good ones worth trying out, again - judge by how it tastes is the most important criteria I will apply.

I hope this helps.
Julian