salty green tea?

[cpark]

Has anyone heard about this? Green tea with umami flavor? some of my co-workers were talking about it and it sounds pretty gross.

[HLing]

Don't worry, "Umami" is not salty. Good green tea has it naturally. It's not an added flavor.

[limster]

Yep, lots of Japanese green teas are prized for their umani quality. It's different from what many expect in black teas etc., but the flavours can be stunning. Try a sencha (Japan) or sparrow's tongue (Korean), or if you want to splurge, go for a gyokuro (Japan, esp. Uji).

[cpark]

thanks for the info. yeah, they were saying it was probably the best quality green tea out there so it's on par with what you two are saying. thanks again! much appreciated! -cp

[danieljdwyer]

Probably not what they were talking about, but there are many places in Asia where tea was historically a salted beverage, or is now. Almost any place north or east of India that dairy was or is added to tea, salt is also. Tibetan butter tea is a good example, and is closer to the tea drunk in Imperial China than what most are familiar with now. Tea historically blurred the line between food and beverage, with tea in various periods being used mainly as an ingredient in a sort of stock, and the leaves often left in and consumed (the tea of these eras would nearly all have been white tea or fresh tea). It seems that it took a few thousand years to develop the idea of making tea using just tea and water, steeping the leaves rather than boiling them, and removing the leaves after a few minutes.
And yes, in my experience, gross is an appropriate word for things like butter tea.

[omotosando]

Yes, I found this salty tea of which you speak. I have never tasted anything like it before - it was like drinking a green tea flavored salty soup. I hated it. Your mileage might vary.

P.S. I still don't understand where the "salty" flavor comes from.

[tatamagouche]

Wow, I think I'd like it (and I have always wanted to try yak butter tea). Thx. all for this thread.