Green tea is one of the most popular teas in the world. I am so in love with the grassy, earthy, slightly floral, and bitter taste and scent of it. But even if you don’t like the taste of it, perhaps the numerous health benefits that come with it can make you try green tea. (We will go through that in depth later in the post.) But among green teas, which one should you buy? Here are some of my picks for the best green tea to buy and the reasons for it.

In this post, I will try to cover everything I know about green tea. Let’s go!

My Green Tea Love Started in Childhood.

My love for green tea began long before I knew about antioxidants, metabolism, or our favorite word to use these days, “superfood.” Growing up in Korea and Japan, green tea was simply a part of daily life. It was just a comfort. There are a lot of different kinds of tea in East Asia, not to mention that there are many different kinds of green tea. I’ve never deeply thought of the tea culture, as I was just “living it.”

But then I moved to the U.S. and Europe. That’s when I realized all this knowledge about green tea, or the love for it, was not something that everyone had. Thus, I became like an ambassador for green tea, wanting to share my passion with you all.

💡 Are you interested in tea for weight loss?

I have a blog post dedicated to the best teas for weight loss, proven scientifically. I have included drinking one of the teas in my daily routine. Learn the teas and how I like to drink them in my article: 7 Best Teas for Weight Loss | How I Drink in My Everyday Life

Health Benefits of Green Tea

I have been drinking green tea as a habit since childhood. I didn’t think so much of why I should be drinking it. But then I learned all the wonderful health benefits of green tea, and you could imagine how surprised I was! Now I drink green tea or malcha (matcha in Korean) almost daily.

Rich in antioxidants like catechins, including EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate), flavonoids, carotenoids, and vitamin E, green tea has a list of health benefits.

• Lower cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar, and body fat
• Protect cognitive abilities (good for our brains!)
• Anti-inflammatory
• Reduce allergic symptoms
• May help with mood
• Promotes skin health (both by drinking and applying!)

To learn more about the health benefits of green tea, you can read more about it in the green tea section of the Nutrition Facts Organization.

Another fun green tea “benefit” I get is the calming scent from the tea leaves. 

After I finish drinking jasmine green tea, I like to keep the used tea leaves in a small bowl for scent.

When I read or write at the table, I can smell the lovely scent of the dried green tea. I throw it away once it is completely dry and has no scent left.

🍸 More recipes to make with green tea?

Here’s my blog post on 3 Best Green Tea Recipes | Lemonade, Ochazuke & Korean Yuzu Drink.

What to Look for in the Best Green Tea to Buy

So, what are the factors that set high-quality green tea apart? There are many things to look for, but here are the five things: origin, form, type, processing, and organic.

• Origin: Green teas from East Asia, such as Japan, China, Taiwan, and Korea, are very well-known. Each origin might have different characteristics. We’ll go more in-depth later.
• Form: Are they in loose leaf or in tea bags? If in tea bags, what type of tea bags are they? (By the way, matcha is a different category.)
• Type: Did you know that there are different types of green tea, such as sencha, gunpowder, or gyokuro? And there are green tea types that include other ingredients such as brown rice or beans. Yes! They can taste completely different.
• Processing: Depending on when and how they are processed, the quality of the green tea can vary drastically.
• Organic: To grow tea plants, some chemicals or pesticides might be used.

So these are the top five things we want to look for when searching for good green tea. Let’s take a deeper look at all five categories.

Looking for Information on Matcha?

By the way, if you are into green tea, you might love malcha or matcha, too! It is the green tea powder, which has even more nutrition than green tea because you are drinking the whole tea leaves instead of drinking steeped water.

Best Matcha Powder for Lattes in 2025 | My Top 3 Picks for Home Café

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Try this best matcha powder for lattes to enjoy health benefits (including skin health) and to bring a cafe to your home. Here are my top 3 based on key metrics.

Oat Milk Matcha Latte Recipe | Everything About Matcha

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Learn how to make a matcha latte using premium ingredients (I have recommendations!) with an original Japanese taste. Try this best matcha latte recipe with oat milk.

I also have a lot of matcha recipes on my blog, so keep reading to check them out!

How to Pick the Best Green Tea

Five key factors differentiate every green tea from each other: origin, form, type, processing, and certification (e.g., organic mark). One might not necessarily be superior to the other. These are just things to know about green tea, so you can also find the best green tea for yourself! And fear not—if you want to know the top 4 picks I have selected, I have them at the end of the blog post.

Then let’s get right into it!

1. Origin

🇯🇵 JAPAN

Perhaps the most well-known green tea origin would be Japan. Green tea culture is so developed in Japan that in many restaurants, green tea or matcha will be served instead of water.

Thus, there are many different kinds of green tea in Japan, but the most common one would be the type called sencha—you probably have heard of it! It is steamed immediately after harvest to preserve the freshness and gorgeous bright green color, which indicates a high amount of chlorophyll.

💡 What is chlorophyll?

Chlorophyll is the green pigment in plants, which plants use to catch sunlight and turn it into energy. And when we eat the chlorophyll, it gives us a lot of health benefits—that’s why we’ve been told to eat lots of greens since we were young! It is detoxing, improves skin, and is anti-aging.

You can read more about it in my article, Leafy Greens List | Why you need to eat more.

🇨🇳 CHINA

Although every East Asian country is proud of its own tea culture, China is considered the birthplace of green tea. The variety of processing methods and different regions of China (as it is a huge country) create a wide range of flavors, from delicate to bold.

Usually, Chinese green tea is pan-fired or roasted to stop oxidation, creating a different flavor than Japanese sencha. As it is roasted, it has a more nutty flavor with less grassy taste and green colors than Japanese green tea.

One thing I’d like to make a note of, though, is that there has been higher lead contamination found in some tea grown in China than in other places. Therefore, pregnant women are advised to limit the intake of green tea from China.

Other than that, Chinese tea has such a wide variety, and you can explore the world of tea from China. I’ve also heard of a tea culinary trip to China.

My favorite Chinese green tea is jasmine green tea; it is like nothing else! It is so wonderfully fragrant. Drinking it makes me feel like I’m lying in the bed of flowers.

🇹🇼 TAIWAN

Taiwan is best known for oolong teas (a type of tea made from the same tea leaves as green tea but with a different process), and green tea from Taiwan might also have some oolong-style, lightly oxidized, and lightly reddish color, and be characterized by a floral scent. It always amazes me how green tea leaves alone can smell like fresh flowers whenever I smell good oolong tea.

🇰🇷 KOREA

Teas from Korea are getting more attention worldwide, but they are still underrated. There is a southern island called Jeju Island, known for its beautiful nature and warm weather. Like a good southern place would, Jeju Island grows most citrus, some seafood, and tea harvested in Korea.

What do I love about it? Well, it is usually more affordable than Japanese tea for the same quality! Especially when it comes to matcha (green tea powder), Korea has amazing products for a much better price! We call it malcha in Korean.

So, in my recommendation, I will give you an amazing green tea from Korea!

2. Form

There is a lot of variety when it comes to green tea, and I’m not just talking about the type of green tea but also how it’s packaged. You’ve probably seen both loose-leaf and tea bags, and you might have questioned: Does it really make a difference?

It does! And even within the world of tea bags, there are different materials and shapes that can make a difference. But it’s easy to learn. Let me take you through there.

LOOSE-LEAF

Loose-leaf teas are usually considered the best form of tea. It means you are brewing the full, unbroken leaves directly with water. The leaves are typically larger, fresher, and less processed than those in tea bags.

Loose leaf often gives you a richer, more complex flavor because the leaves are in contact with more water for a longer peeriod, releasing natural oils, aromas, and flavors without leaving tea dust or paper taste from the tea bags.

You can learn more about how to brew loose leaf tea here.

TEA BAGS

Tea bags are quick and convenient, for sure! They are perfect for busy mornings or at work. Tea bags often contain broken leaves to be steeped quickly, thus being more prone to creating tea dust.

Here are some varieties of tea bags.

There are many different kinds in shapes and materials.

• Paper tea bags: They are quite common, but I sometimes taste the paper! Not my favorite, but they are certainly affordable and easy to buy.
• Pyramid tea bags: These tea bags are in the shape of a pyramid and made from nylon, silk, or corn fiber. These are more premium and deliver a better taste for tea. However, I’d make sure the tea bags are not made out of nylon, as it is a type of plastic and is neither eco-friendly nor sustainable.
• Sachets: These are similar to cloth, and are for premium quality brands.

Final Thoughts on Forms

Whether you choose loose-leaf green tea or tea bags, you can enjoy green tea, and that’s amazing! However, I try to look for loose-leaf or tea bags made from natural materials.

3. Types of Best Green Tea

Now we are getting even more detailed! There are so many different kinds of green tea—the biggest differences are about how the tea plants are grown, how they are harvested, and additional ingredients added to the green tea (and I’m not talking about adding lemon or milk).

Here are some of the most well-known or popular green teas!

Sencha has thin, narrow leaves that are very dark and delicate but make absolutely lovely green tea. I love making coldbrew green tea with sencha because it has a vibrant green color with a fresh, grassy taste.

1) Sencha

Sencha is the most common Japanese green tea, and you have probably seen it sold at stores. Sencha is made by steaming the tea leaves immediately after harvest to preserve the freshness, such as the taste and the color. It has a slightly grassy, earthy, and slightly bitter flavor. It is a very nice everyday tea.

2) Gyokuro

Some might not like the bitter taste of green tea, so then gyokuro might be for you!

Gyokuro is shade-grown for approximately 20-30 days before harvest, and this makes the tea more vibrantly green without the bitter taste. It is lightly sweet, rich, and has an umami flavor. This is considered a premium type of tea.

Jasmine flowers are removed after infusing the scent into the green tea during the process.

3) Jasmine Green Tea

Among Chinese green teas, Jasmine green tea is probably my favorite. It used to be served either cold or hot at nice Chinese restaurants. It feels so luxurious and soothing. If you haven’t tried Jasmine green tea, I strongly recommend that you try it! It is one of the most fragrant green teas of all.

Jasmine green tea is a type of green tea that has been infused with the fragrance of jasmine flowers. The wonderful floral aroma of jasmine flowers creates a nice flavor to green tea. It cancels out the grassy or bitter green flavor of some green teas, which makes it a popular green tea around the world.

Brown rice green tea has toasted brown rice and green tea, and sometimes matcha is included.

4) Brown Rice Green Tea

Genmaicha (玄米茶) in Japanese or Hyunmi-Nokcha (현미녹차) in Korean is a blend of green tea and roasted brown rice. It is one of the most popular types of green tea drunk in Korea, even more than just pure green tea!

You might find it strange to pair roasted brown rice with green tea, but I promise you, it tastes really amazing! It has a nutty, toasty, mild flavor without the grassy taste that many people don’t like about green tea. So, if you are a beginner to green tea, I highly recommend you try this!

Q. Isn’t matcha green tea?

There is a debate on whether matcha is part of green tea. Matcha could be called green tea in the sense that matcha is also made with the same tea leaves.

I will have a separate article on the best matcha, as matcha has a whole new thing to talk about. Also, matcha is a powder and shaken into water to prepare, not whole leaves that are steeped in water to infuse.

4. Processing of Green Tea

Do you know that many different types of tea are from the same plant, called Camellia sinensis? Yes, the black tea, oolong tea, green tea, white tea, and matcha are all from this plant! It’s the process that makes all of these teas different. What’s more, even in green tea, there can be many different processing methods. One might not mean it is superior or inferior to another; it just makes a difference.

1) Steaming

Tea leaves are picked fresh, and within 30 minutes after harvest, they are steamed for 20-30 seconds. This stops oxidation in tea leaves and preserves the bright green color and fresh tea flavors! I love them, although some might find it “grassy.”

🍵 Steamed types: Sencha, Gyokura, Matcha, Tencha, Kabusecha

2) Pan-Firing

The tea leaves are heated in hot pans after harvest. Roasting the leaves adds a slightly roasted and nutty note. This is a popular method to make Chinese tea, and it gives a smoother and toastier flavor than the fresher taste of the steaming method, which is often found in Japanese tea.

🍵 Pan-fired types: Longjing, gunpowder green tea

3) Roasting

After steaming or pan-frying, some teas are roasted again. Or it can be roasted with other ingredients, such as brown rice. This roasting method gives a warm and round flavor. It also lowers not only the grassy or green taste, but also the caffeine levels.

🍵 Roasted types: Hojicha, Hyunmi-Nokcha (brown rice green tea)

4) Scenting

Some teas are scented with flowers or flavors after one of the processing methods above.

Some teas are scented artificially, and I try to avoid them. I see quite a few European teas scented with artificial scents, and although they might smell so nice, I try to avoid them. Good tea should smell naturally wonderful with real ingredients.

🍵 Scented types: Jasmine green tea

5. Organic

I try to buy organic products and produce as much as I can. Why choose organic? Every country or region (such as the EU) has different regulations for organic products, but usually, it means that the ingredients or the produce are grown without synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or chemical fertilizers.

I drink my green tea almost every day, so choosing organic is even more important to me. I hope you do, too!

Why is this important in choosing green tea? Well, the tea leaves are usually not washed after harvest. That means we are steeping the tea leaves just as they are, and we don’t get to wash them like we usually can with other fruits and vegetables! Not only that, but it is better for the environment. Organic farming protects the soil, water, and the ecosystem. And we are responsible for the beautiful planet we live on.

Best Green Tea to Buy in 2025 | Picks for Health, Flavor & Value

Ok, so we have gone through all the criteria to look for the best green tea! To make the best green teas available as much as possible for all of my readers around the world, I carefully looked through green teas on Amazon. They should be able to deliver to most places around the world!

Here are my four top picks based on the factors we talked about.

1. Chaganju Sencha Green Tea

• Certified organic
• Uji, Kyoto, Japan origin
• Loose leaf, 80g

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If you are looking for an authentic, high-quality Japanese sencha, this Chaganju certified organic green tea is great. Grown in the famous tea-grown region called Uji, Kyoto, Japan, this organic sencha offers a wonderfully fresh, vibrant flavor with the iconic fresh grass scents and light umami taste.

Carefully steamed and processed, I love that this sencha offers beautiful, bright colors! That is one of the most important things to check when you are looking for the best sencha green tea from Japan.

A cup of green tea from Jeju Island 🍵

2. Osulloc Jeju Pure Green Tea

• USDA Organic
• Premium pure green tea from Jeju Island, South Korea
• 20 tea bags, quality paper bags
• Clean, easy drink for beginners

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Osulloc is a famous premium tea brand from Korea. I love teas from this brand so much! They have a wide range of modern, fragrant teas to choose from. I just visited their tea house in Seoul, and enjoyed the malcha (matcha in Korean) latte. It was so wonderful. Osulloc grows tea in Jeju Island, a southern island in South Korea known for its wonderful nature.

This Osulloc Jeju pure green tea has 20 eco-friendly tea bags that make it so easy to make tea. If you are a beginner to the world of tea, this is a great green tea to start with! Just take out a tea bag from the package and steep it in the cold water, or pour hot water into the cup.

It also has light, pleasant, calm, and refreshing flavors and scent without bitterness. This certainly makes it one of the best green teas to buy for beginners!

3. Tomosan Organic Genmaicha

• Sencha from Kyoto, toasted brown rice, and matcha
• All organic ingredients
• Toasty, warm, full flavors

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If you are a beginner to green tea or haven’t been a huge fan of the grassy taste of green tea, this genmaicha is for you!

Genmaicha, in Japanese or Hyunmi-Nokcha in Korean, is a blend of green tea and toasted brown rice. A cup of genmaicha gives a warm, toasty, and richly satisfying green tea. The toasted brown rice in tea gives a round, umami flavor that is so loved in Japan and Korea.

This Tomosan genmaicha with matcha has high-quality green tea from Kyoto and roasted brown rice. It is mixed with a bit of matcha, which makes the tea even more nutritious. What I love the most about this tea is that the ingredients are all organic.

Tea balls, in my opinion, fall somewhere in between tea bags and loose leaves in terms of the simplicity of usage. And I love them for it!

4. Jasmine Pearls Green Tea | Tiesta Tea

• 100% Natural ingredients of jasmine flower and green tea
• Loose leaf in a pearl for simple brewing
• Floral, piney, sweet scent

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Looking for a green tea that feels luxurious? Jasmine green tea is the one that will take you there. I absolutely love making coldbrew Jasmine green tea – you can make it so easy by dropping this one pearl of Jasmine tea in a water bottle and storing it in the fridge overnight. I drink this cold-brew Jasmine throughout the whole day. It gives me a gentle energy boost without a crash.

This Tiesta Jasmine pearl green tea is a true gem! The green tea that has been naturally scented with fresh jasmine blossoms is rolled into a pearl, which makes it a perfect size to steep in a tea kettle at once. Try it both hot and cold.

Summary of the Best Green Tea to Buy

I hope you enjoyed this post about the best green tea. I hope this not only helped you to buy the best green tea that I’ve selected here, but also learned a lot about green tea so that you can find the best green tea yourself! Try lots of different green teas until you find your favorite. Also, you can add other ingredients to enhance flavors or nutrients of the green tea with these 7 types of natural ingredients.

These days, people don’t like to read long text; well, I don’t either. So I am very impressed that you made it to the very end of the article! Thank you so much for spending your time reading this article.

Until next time!

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