Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Evolution of Bottled green tea


Decaf culture
There was a thing that surprised me when I went to the United States about one and a half decades ago. At coffee shops, some people were ordering a kind of coffee that I’ve never heard of. It was decaffeinated coffee, which was not common at all in Japan. It was difficult to understand the existence of decaf coffee for the person like me, who can enjoy thick matcha. Today, I checked the Starbucks Japan website. I still couldn’t find decaf coffee on their beverage menu. (Some people say that you can get a decaf at Starbucks even if it’s not on the menu.) I have to say that our decaf culture is still a few decades behind than American’s. Even if I say so, it’s also a fact that the decaf drinks are finally getting attention in Japan these days. Kirin released a new product, Decaf Namacha. It’s the world first bottled decaf green tea.


Decaf Namacha

Added Value Tea
The market of bottled green tea in Japan is quite competitive nowadays. Many products come in the market and fade away. Makers try to launch new products with added value like the decaf green tea. Here are two more examples. One is Shokumotsusenni-ga-oishikutoreru-ocha or Green tea with fiber from Itoen. You can intake 7.5g of dietary fiber out of a 500ml bottle. Another example is Iyemon Tokucha from Suntory. It is a green tea that takes off your body fat. This tea contains an amount of quercetin glycoside, which is equivalent to the amount that can be found in three onions. It is a kind of polyphenol that helps to break down fat. We may be a primitive nation regarding decaf coffee but we might be the most advanced country regarding bottled green tea. If you have a chance to visit Japan, it’s fun to try some of our latest green teas!


Green tea with fiber


Iyemon Tokucha

Review of the Decaf Namacha
The original Namacha is one of my favorite brands. Its flavor is very mellow and aromatic. It has less bitterness than other brands so you can guzzle it when you are thirsty. Now, let’s try the decaf Namacha. At first, I noticed that it smells really good. It smells sweet like freshly-picked young tea leaf, which I can only find in high-grade sencha. Its taste also has the same note. It’s not bitter at all and the mellow sweet flavor of young leaf fills your mouth. This is totally different from other brands, which have bitterness in some degree for refreshing taste. Namacha preserves mellowness but it could be too mellow for some people. One disappointing thing is that a flavoring ingredient is added, but I really like this tea after all.


Following sites are all in Japanese.

Kirin Decaf Namacha:
http://www.kirin.co.jp/products/softdrink/namacya/about/yasashisa/index.html

Itoen, Green tea with fiber:
http://www.itoen.co.jp/news/detail/id=23209

Suntory, Iyemon Tokucha:
http://www.suntory.co.jp/softdrink/iyemon/tokucha/index.html


16 comments:

  1. How much do these ones cost? One bottle of normal japanese cold tea at a grocery store here can easily cost 3-4$!!

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    Replies
    1. Wow, it's quite expensive! Here, you can usually get one around one dollar. Eeven the expensive ones cost less than two dollars.

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  2. It's true that they're very expensive in the states. In Japan I remember many bottled teas could be bought for 100 yen in vending machines, or even less than that at a grocery store.

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    Replies
    1. You are right. We can buy them everywhere at vending machines and cheaper at a grocery stores.

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  3. I've lived in Japan for many years and I agree with the absence of decaf. It's almost impossible to get a decaf coffee. Starbucks serves decaf drip coffee, but you have to wait for about 10-15 minutes and it tastes terrible! Unfortunately, they don't do decaf espresso drinks like lattes. So, I'm really surprised that a decaf green tea got released! I wonder if it will take off.

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    Replies
    1. Arigato, Becki-san,
      We also have very few selection of diet snacks and pops. I saw many choices of low-fat potato chips and low-calorie sodas in the States. I wish that I could have low-fat Chexmix and diet ginger ale here.

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  4. A while ago I was looking for a green tea capsule supplement that said "caffeine free" on the side. I have wanted to explore the blood-sugar lowering powers of green tea for years, but I didn't want the jitters that come with caffeine or other stimulants. There are many decaffeinated teas for health purposes out there. Eastern medicine meets the customization attitudes of the west.

    Paul | groundgreentea.com

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  5. You know my friend regular had green tea in morning and she had lost 3 kgs in a month without any dieting. I was really surprised when I came to know that. I have also started taking green tea and Green supplements in evening.

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