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How is it that you enjoy your night time tea? Do you enjoy a cup of herbal in the quiet after the kids go to bed? Do you sip a cup during the nightly news? I take mine out to the front porch and sip my tea while I drink in the night. Listening to the night sounds of suburbia, Killdeers winging through the dark... Sometimes watching a bat fly in and out of the streetlight catchng insects.

Other times I sit quietly with prayer beads in hand and ask the Universe to help plot my course to contentment, pray for the end of suffering and war... or pray for things closer to home and my heart... or I simply give thanks for the blessings I have.

These are prayer beads I made for a friend fighting breat cancer.

Do you have a night time ritual invovling tea?

 In researching this article, I came across the following legend regarding the origin of Genmai-cha:

In feudal Japan, there was a servent named Genmai. One day he was serving his master, a samurai lord, some tea. As he served the tea, some grains of rice fell out of his pocket and into the tea. His master, furious at him for ruining the tea, executed him on the spot. The samurai lord decided to drink the tea anyway and loved the flavor that the rice added to the tea. He ordered that his tea be served that way every day from then on and called the tea Genmai-cha in honor of it's accidental creator.

The contemporary story associated with the origin of Genmai-cha is that frugal Japanese housewives added brown rice (genmai in Japanese) to their tea as a filler to stretch the little tea they could afford.

Whichever story you choose to believe as the true, Genmai-cha is a great variation to plain green tea. The toasted brown rice added to green tea adds a rice cake flavor to the tea. It is also called Popcorn Tea because while toasting the rice, some of the grains may pop, similar to popcorn. And best of all, it's easy to make using rice and the green tea you already have.

The method I use to make this tea starts with toasting about 2 tablespoons of brown rice in a skillet on low-medium heat. Add the toasted rice to a sauce pan of 4 cups of boiling water and allow it to simmer for a minute or two. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the rice to steep for a couple minutes. Add 1 tea bag or 2-4 teaspoons of green tea and allow that to steep for a few more minutes. Strain out the tea and rice and you have about 2 servings of Genmai-cha.

What shook Japan on March 11th was fatal and catastrophic, but no one knew then that its shocks, in the form of economic drains, wouldn’t cease a bit several months later.  In the latest wave of banned items issued by the government, dried tea hits the list in even wider margins.

What does this mean for the tea buyer? Shortages and higher prices and probably not just for tea drinkers in Japan.

The primary problem remains to be the radiation leaks from the greatly affected Fukushima Dai-Ichi power station. However, as of early June, the ban now extends to four surrounding provinces where tainted produce has been found over legal limits: Ibaraki, Chiba, Kanagawa and Tochigi.

What you should know—the ban includes tea leaves that contain over 500 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram. Japan’s largest green tea growing region, Shizuoka, which produced 40 % of the nation’s total output last year, has yet to detect any levels of concern. Of the regions that did, dried leaves are the ones to watch as they can hold up to 5 times the amount of toxins than fresh leaves can.

Even with Japan’s largest province still in the clear to export, a cost increase is certainly predicted. On the island, it’s expected that people will soon switch from green tea, the primary tea produced in those regions, to oolong tea or barley-based drinks to save money.

What’s the risk for the world and tea drinkers from all over? The tea business in Japan yielded $1.3 billion in 2009. Tea no longer produced on this scale is going to disrupt tea availability and possibly shift the market. For how long and how much are the questions to ask.

Pictured: A bag of dark chocolate and green tea Kit-Kats produced in Japan (a gift from my friend currently living there). The shortage of green tea also strikes products that use green tea as a flavor enhancer in Japan, such as these Kit-Kats, ice cream, cookies and more.

With the summer heat here to stay for a few more months, many people are trying to find ways to cool down with more than just water. Green tea is known for it’s health benefits and great taste, but many people don’t realize that there are many variations of green tea they can sip on in the shade.

History of Green Tea

Green tea derives from the leaves of Camellia sinensis, the same plant that also produces black tea, but the two differ in not only taste and color but also in preparation. Green tea leaves are steamed which allows the antioxidants to be drank by the consumer. Black tea is fermented in preparation.

Green tea was believed to be discovered by the Chinese and has gained popularity during the 1500s in the Western world when the Japanese began the tea trade with the United Kingdom.

Health Benefits of Green Tea

There are many different health benefits for the consumption of green tea. Whether it is in skin care products or in a drink, doctors and health fanatics can’t stop raving about green tea.

A few of the health benefits of green tea are:

• Green tea reduces the risk of stroke.
• The catechins in green tea may be able to stop cancer cells from growing further.
• Green tea is helps keeps heart healthy.
• Components in green tea help increase calorie burning – weight loss.
• Helps curve food cravings and amount of food consumption.

Top Green Teas

The following is a list of the most popular green teas. There are also many other green tea choices out there as well. If you are interested in a certain type listed below, click on the name and a link will send you to California Tea House’s marketplace!

• Sencha: The most popular type of green tea in Japan and quite possibly the most well known in the world. This tea has a acerbic taste complimented with a slender sweetness.
• Dragon Well: The name derives from the well in China this tea was first produced in. Along with the unique name, dragon well is a brilliantly green color with a brisk flavor.
• Matcha: A very fine ground up powdered tea, macha is whisked in preparation. Because of it’s light and sweet flavor it is also used in desserts.  
• Gunpowder: These tea leaves are rolled into tight balls that resemble old-fashioned gunpowder. Since it is rolled tightly together, this type of tea stays fresher, longer, making it a very fresh and grassy tasting green tea.
• Jasmine: A mixture of jasmine flowers and green tea leaves, the florets providing a invigorating and pleasant fragrance and taste.
• Genmaicha: A mixture of crisp brown rice and green tea leaves, this tea is perfect for cooler nights when you want to have something toasty.
• Anji: Popular among new green tea fans, this variation is very fine with a subtle taste. Perfect for those who wish to steer away from that “green” taste.

There are many drink possibilities with green tea leaves and other ingredients and while one may be your favorite, it never hurts to branch out and try some other variations! While spending your summer nights at a country concert or on the back deck playing dominos, reach for a cool glass of green tea over that soda pop.

Sources: GreenTeaInformation.org and, About.com

Matcha is a type of green tea used mainly in traditional Japanese tea ceremonies; pale green with a nice, if weak smell. I heard the taste is bitter, but strangely plesent. As a lover of all sorts of green tea, I've always wanted to try it, so imagine my joy when I found it at the local grocery store I shop at. Having run out of black tea and dried cranberries earlier in the week, I decided to go shopping earlier than unsual. I could live without black tea by drinking the remaining green tes, but I needed the cranberries.

AS I browsed the tea aisle, I passed the green and flavored teas to look for standard black tea, when I looked up on the top shelf and ta-da! There it was in all its very expensive glory. $30 for tea is far more than any college student could afford, and I still needed my cranberries. I poked around and eventually found a matcha and green tea blend that fit within my budget. I took it home and proceeded to make a cup of tea.

I heated up a cup of water and dropped a circular bag into my mug, the label on the container telling me to let it soak for three or four minutes. When I took the tea bag out, a cloud of green fog hovered in the middle of my cup before settling to the bottom. The rest of it was a pale greenish-brown color like regular green tea.

It tasted like it looked, but as I drank the dregs, the bitter flavor it's touted for hit my taste buds like a wave. After recovering from my initial shock, I found the normal green tea flavor balanced the bitter flavor very well. It reminded me of summer-time and freshly cut grass.

Matcha is merely green tea leaves ground up very finely, providing all the health benefits that regular green tea does.

I would not recommend dropping a tea bag into your cup directly, rather, making a pot of tea and drinking it slowly while relaxing after work. It’s a calming tea, the flavor and smell making it a good drink for the end of a hard day or watching a storm while curled up with a good book.