Green tea is tea that hasn't been allowed to oxidize. The fresh leaves are heated soon after picking, which stops them browning and locks in the taste people call fresh, grassy or sweet. Every green tea in the world, from Dragon Well to matcha, comes from the same plant as black tea. Only the processing differs.
The short version
- Green tea is unoxidized tea. Chinese greens are usually pan-fired, which tastes nutty and toasty. Japanese greens are steamed, which tastes marine and savoury.
- It should taste sweet and fresh. If yours is bitter, your water was too hot. 75–80°C is the fix, not a fancier tea.
- Roughly 35–45 mg of caffeine per 8 oz cup, well under coffee.
- The famous ones: Dragon Well, Biluochun, jasmine, gunpowder, sencha, matcha, genmaicha, hojicha, gyokuro.
- Green tea is the most perishable tea. Buy less, more often, and keep it sealed away from light and heat.
In this post
What green tea actually is
All tea comes from one plant, Camellia sinensis. What separates green from black, oolong and white is what happens in the hours after the leaves are picked.
Leave a picked tea leaf alone and it starts to oxidize, the same way a cut apple browns. Black tea leans into that all the way. Green tea stops it almost immediately by heating the leaves, and how you apply that heat sets the entire character of the tea.
In China the leaves are usually pan-fired in a hot wok, often by hand. That toasting is why Chinese greens taste nutty, chestnut-sweet, sometimes a little smoky. In Japan the leaves are steamed instead, which keeps them a deeper green and pushes the taste toward seaweed, spinach and broth. Same plant, same idea, completely different cup. If you've decided you dislike green tea, there's a decent chance you only tried one of these two families.
What does green tea taste like?
Good green tea tastes sweet, fresh and light, with a clean finish and no harshness. Beyond that it splits along the processing line: Chinese pan-fired greens taste toasty and nutty, like chestnut or lightly browned butter, while Japanese steamed greens taste vegetal and savoury, closer to seaweed, sweet peas or spinach broth.
The words that come up again and again with green tea are grassy, nutty, floral, marine, buttery and sweet. It should never taste like drinking a lawn, and it should never scrape at the back of your throat.
Here's roughly what to expect from the common ones.
| Tea | Tastes like | Body |
|---|---|---|
| Dragon Well (Longjing) | Chestnut, toasted grain, sweet spring grass | Light, smooth |
| Biluochun | Apricot, flowers, fresh and fruity | Delicate |
| Jasmine green | Jasmine flowers over a soft green base | Light, perfumed |
| Gunpowder | Bold, smoky, a bit oaky | Strong |
| Sencha | Grassy, pine, summer fruit, slight astringency | Medium |
| Matcha | Rich, umami, bittersweet | Thick |
| Genmaicha | Toasted rice, popcorn, savoury | Medium |
| Hojicha | Roasted, woody, caramel notes | Light, warming |
| Gyokuro | Intensely savoury, sweet, almost broth-like | Full, syrupy |
Why your green tea tastes bitter
Nine times out of ten it isn't the tea. It's boiling water.
Green tea is delicate, and water straight off the boil pulls hard on the compounds that taste bitter and astringent while flattening the sweet ones. Let the kettle sit for three or four minutes before you pour, aim for around 75 to 80°C, and keep the steep short. The same leaves that tasted like burnt spinach will taste sweet.
The other two culprits: too much leaf, and leaving the leaves sitting in the water while you drink. Take the leaves out, or pour the tea off them, when the time is up.
Types of green tea
There are hundreds. These are the ones you'll actually meet, grouped by where they come from.
Chinese green tea
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Dragon Well Green Tea
Also called Longjing. The most famous Chinese green tea, and the benchmark for the pan-fired style. Authentic Dragon Well is grown in Zhejiang province, and the leaves are pressed flat into little spears during firing. It tastes smooth, mellow and sweet, with toasted-chestnut aroma and a fragrance like spring grass. For the fuller story, including what the pre-Qingming harvest hype is really worth and how to spot a fake, read our guide to Longjing (Dragon Well) tea. -
Biluochun Green Tea
The name means "Green Snail Spring," because the leaves are rolled into tight spirals and picked in early spring. It comes from Dong Ting by Lake Tai in Jiangsu province, and it's covered in fine white down. It tastes fresh and mellow with a distinct apricot note. A good pick if you like naturally sweet, fruity drinks. -
Jasmine Green Tea
The best-known scented tea in China, mostly from Guangxi province. Green tea leaves are layered with fresh jasmine blossoms so they take on the aroma. Good jasmine tea has no petals left in it. You get the freshness of green tea with a floral top note, and a lighter, clearer liquor than Dragon Well or Biluochun. -
Gunpowder Green Tea
Named for the resemblance to gunpowder grains: small, tightly rolled pellets. The rolling was practical, protecting the leaves on long journeys to market. It tastes bold, with a slightly smoky, oaky edge. The green tea to reach for when you want something with some punch to it.
Japanese green tea
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Sencha
Japan's everyday green tea and the one most Japanese people drink daily. The leaves are steamed briefly, then rolled into needles. It smells fresh and tastes grassy and sweet with a touch of astringency, with notes of pine and summer fruit. -
Matcha
Shade-grown leaves ground into a fine powder, whisked into water rather than steeped, so you drink the whole leaf. Rich, full-bodied and umami-heavy. Better matcha tastes sweeter; cheaper matcha tastes chalky and bitter. -
Genmaicha
Green tea blended with toasted brown rice. Nutty, toasty and savoury, with a popcorn aroma. Because part of the volume is rice rather than leaf, a cup tends to be lower in caffeine than straight sencha. -
Hojicha
Sencha that's been roasted, which turns the leaves reddish-brown and mellows them. Woodsy and savoury with caramel notes, and low in bitterness. Roasting also drives off some of the caffeine, which is why it's a common evening tea in Japan. -
Gyokuro
Shaded for several weeks before harvest, like matcha, which changes the leaf chemistry and deepens the flavour. Bright, vegetal and creamy, with a savoury, almost seaweed-like aroma. Brew it cooler and slower than anything else on this list.
Moroccan green tea
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Moroccan Mint
Chinese gunpowder green tea brewed with fresh mint and traditionally a lot of sugar. Refreshing, and every bit as much a social ritual as a drink. Modern blends swap in other green teas or dried mint. Very good iced.
Green vs. black tea: the differences
Both come from Camellia sinensis. Everything that separates them happens after the picking.
| Green tea | Black tea | |
|---|---|---|
| Oxidation | None. Heat is applied early to stop it | Full. Leaves are rolled and left to oxidize |
| Taste | Light, fresh, grassy or nutty | Bold, malty, sometimes fruity |
| Liquor | Pale yellow-green | Amber to deep red-brown |
| Caffeine (8 oz) | Roughly 35–45 mg | Roughly 40–70 mg |
| Water temp | 75–80°C / 167–176°F | 90–95°C / 194–203°F |
| Shelf life | Short. Drink within months of harvest | Long. Keeps for a year or more |
The caffeine content of green tea
An 8 oz (240 ml) cup of green tea typically has around 35 to 45 mg of caffeine. Treat that as a range, not a number: it moves with the cultivar, the growing conditions, how much leaf you use, how hot the water is and how long you steep. Shade-grown teas like gyokuro and matcha sit higher; roasted hojicha sits lower.
For comparison, black tea usually runs 40 to 70 mg per cup, and brewed coffee 95 to 200 mg. The Mayo Clinic's caffeine chart is a good reference if you want to compare drinks.
On how much is reasonable: the US FDA points to 400 mg a day as an amount not generally associated with negative effects in healthy adults. That's a lot of green tea. People who are pregnant, sensitive to caffeine, or taking medication should ask a doctor rather than a tea seller.
How to brew green tea
The single thing that matters most is water temperature. Everything else is adjustable.
| Method | Leaf | Water | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mug or cup, 250 ml | 2–3 g (about 1 tsp) | 75–80°C / 167–176°F | 2–3 min |
| Gaiwan, ~110 ml | 3–4 g | 75–80°C / 167–176°F | 15 sec, adding 10 sec per steep |
| Glass, leaves loose | 2–3 g | 75–80°C, topped up | Sip and refill; leaves stay in |
| Cold brew, 500 ml | 5 g | Cold, in the fridge | 6–8 hours |
No thermometer? Boil the kettle, then leave the lid off for three to four minutes. That drops most kettles into the right window. Or pour the boiling water into an empty cup first and then into the pot: every transfer costs you a few degrees.
The glass method in that table is worth trying, by the way. In China plenty of people simply drop leaves into a tall glass, top it up with hot water and keep drinking and refilling all day. It's how green tea is drunk at desks and on trains across the country, and for a tea like Dragon Well it works beautifully. For the gongfu approach with a lidded bowl, see our guide to the gaiwan; for every other vessel, the loose leaf brewing guide has you covered.
Is green tea good for you?
Here's an honest answer from someone who sells the stuff.
Plain green tea has essentially no calories and no sugar, and it's mostly water. It contains caffeine, which is a stimulant, and an amino acid called L-theanine, and a group of plant compounds called catechins, which are antioxidants. Those are facts about what's in the leaf.
What that does for any individual person is a much bigger question, and one a tea shop has no business answering. Green tea has been studied a great deal, the findings are mixed, and much of the research involves concentrated extracts rather than a cup of brewed tea. I'm not going to tell you that green tea prevents or treats any disease, because I don't know that, and neither does anyone selling you tea on the internet.
What I'll say instead is what people in China have said for centuries: it's a good daily drink. It's warm, it has enough caffeine to be useful in the morning and not so much that it wrecks the afternoon, and swapping a sugary drink for a cup of tea is rarely a bad trade. If you have a medical condition, are pregnant, or take medication, talk to your doctor about caffeine. That's the sensible order of operations.
A short history of green tea
The legend says that nearly 5,000 years ago, Emperor Shennong (神農) was boiling water in the shade of a wild tree when a few leaves blew into the pot. The tree was Camellia sinensis, and the drink was green tea. It's a story, not a record, but it tells you how far back Chinese people place this plant in their own history.
Tea was first used as a medicinal preparation. It became an everyday drink during the Tang dynasty, and in the 8th century Lu Yu wrote the Cha Jing, the first book devoted to growing, making and drinking tea. It earned him the name "the Tea Sage."
In the early 9th century a Japanese monk named Saicho carried tea seeds home, and Japan began developing the steamed styles and the tea ceremony that came with them. Tea reached Europe in quantity in the 17th century through Dutch and Portuguese traders, and from there it went everywhere.
How to buy green tea worth drinking
Green tea is the most perishable tea there is. Nothing has been done to stabilize it, so it fades. A Dragon Well that was glorious in April is ordinary by December. This changes how you should shop for it.
Four things to check, wherever you buy:
- Harvest date. Not a "best before" two years out. If a seller can't tell you when it was picked, they probably don't know.
- A specific origin. "Dragon Well from Zhejiang" means something. "Green tea, product of China" doesn't.
- Whole leaves. Dust and fannings brew fast and bitter. You want to be able to see leaf shapes.
- Testing. Ask whether the tea has been screened for pesticides and heavy metals, and whether the seller will show you results.
Then keep it properly: sealed, away from light, heat and anything with a smell. Tea absorbs odours from a cupboard with alarming enthusiasm. Our guide to storing loose leaf tea goes into detail.
We sell two Chinese greens, both sourced directly from the farms that make them and screened by independent labs before they ship: Dragon Well (Longjing) if you want the classic toasty, chestnut-sweet cup, and Biluochun if you'd rather something fruity and delicate. Our jasmine tea uses a green base too, if floral is more your thing.
FAQ
What does green tea taste like?
Fresh, light and sweet, with a clean finish. Chinese pan-fired greens like Dragon Well taste nutty and toasty, closer to chestnut. Japanese steamed greens like sencha taste vegetal and savoury, closer to seaweed or sweet peas. Bitterness is a brewing fault, not a flavour of good green tea.
What are the main types of green tea?
From China: Dragon Well (Longjing), Biluochun, jasmine green and gunpowder. From Japan: sencha, matcha, genmaicha, hojicha and gyokuro. Moroccan mint is gunpowder green brewed with mint. Chinese greens are pan-fired; Japanese greens are steamed, which is the main taste difference.
How much caffeine is in green tea?
Roughly 35 to 45 mg per 8 oz cup, compared with 40 to 70 mg for black tea and 95 to 200 mg for coffee. Matcha and gyokuro run higher because of how they're grown; roasted hojicha runs lower. Longer steeps and hotter water pull out more.
Why is my green tea bitter?
Almost always water that's too hot. Green tea wants roughly 75 to 80°C, not boiling. Let the kettle stand three or four minutes before pouring. The other causes are too much leaf and leaving the leaves sitting in the water instead of removing them when time is up.
How long does green tea stay fresh?
Months rather than years. Green tea is unoxidized and fades faster than black or pu-erh. Buy smaller amounts more often, check the harvest date rather than a best-before, and store it sealed away from light, heat, moisture and strong smells.