This is pretty much just for Christina.
Christina.  I’m supposed to be feeding Grailing green tea. Straight up, not steeped.  Though the nutritionist said that it was good for me, too, and if I wanted to simply brew a cup and share it with Grail, that would be justifiable but not nearly as good for him.
Well. Â I want it to be a good green tea, one I can trust not to have anything not-tea in it, so I thought I’d go to Adagio. Â I did .. and man, are there a lot of green teas.
Well, you’ve tasted them. Â Which one – or ones – would you recommend as being smoothest, mildest .. or, as I’m really asking, which one would a cat like to eat, unbrewed? Â This will be mixed with a whole host of other powders, mind you.
The Adagio pictures show a full leaf. It’s not sent that way, is it?  I know the herbal teas have readily identifiable herbal bits in them.  But for the tea, it’s all chopped up like tea, yes?
On reading their descriptions, I’m looking at: Dragonwell, green anji, green pekoe, gyokuro, sencha overture, or sencha premier.
Any suggestions?  Have you had any of those? Do your cats like any of those?
Thanks –
mmmm GREEN TEA!!!! yummay!!!
green tea is good for everyone…it helps with weight loss, health/immune system, all sort of goodness including being a known cancer fighter (I should have thought of this before…hangs head in shame….I’ve been after your mom to drink some green goodness too)
this link has all sorts of tea and health info…the cancer section is probably your focus at the moment…but a good lot of info
http://www.adagio.com/info/health_benefits.html?SID=20616dbe86cb395e115be5ba121dd1f9
the leaves do come whole…but you can “crunch” them up. real non supermarket tea is generally not pre chopped. i prefer not to, but grailing might find it easier.
My top choice for Grailing:
for a mild green tea…I might try the one of the Sencha offerings. The “Premier” is considered better quality-more special occasion, but honestly i like the overture for my everyday drinking. It tastes more “GREEN” and smells a bit like grass (not the kind you smoke). I think it is a good starter green. it is quite wonderful with just a little honey for humans.
I like the Dragonwell personally, but it has a smoky flavor that many do not like. I don’t know that Grailing would think it was appealing.
The others I’ve only had a cup or two and would not feel comfortable saying yea or nay at this point. I’ve not tried any of it on the cats…but I might.
There is a ground/powdered green tea called Matcha. At this time Adagio does not sell it; finding a supplier with the quality they want and issues like that….and the processing gives it an all too short shelf life (less than 1 month sometimes after opening). This is the tea used to perform the Japanese Tea Ceremony traditionally. I’ve never tried it, I’ve heard it can be combursome to mix…but I have seen it at the Taj Ma Whole Paycheck (OMG huge whole foods). Adagio patrons have been directing people to look at Paper Street Teas online. You also have to ensure that it is unsweetened, paper street is…it’s like 30 smackers a tin.
you know…if you have a mortar and pestle thinger you can grind up stuff for grail too… it’s really all matcha is