Green tea. I want to like it....

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Trying quite hard to reduce caffeine intake. I really want to like green tea but the couple of ones I have had ( just from supermarket nothing special) have tasted so bitter. Is this just one of those things that you either like or don't or is there is BIG difference between brands? Any advice please. I really don't want to have to add sweeteners ( since that is just replacing one bad habit for another).

Clippers green tea with ginseng is the only one I like. Everyone I have tried it has liked it.

I can't do green tea. I've tried.

My better half only drinks de-caf tea (his favourite is clipper - worth trying several brands if you are trying to find one that's ok). I like the roobush vanilla one - typhoo maybe ? - with or without milk (but I'm weird).

But my favourite is liquorice - it's really sweet, and if you can find peppermint with liquorice, well, that's my kind of herbal-tea heaven (not the average smells nice, tastes like bath water herbal tea experience).

Yorkshire Tea do a very reasonable decaf - you might need to buy online.

Get yourself a nice cuppa and a and stop fooling about with this la-di-da stuff. Green tea tastes like mud.

ANd I llved in S.Korea where it is the best green tea - tasted like refined mud.

Yorkshire Tea do a very reasonable decaf - you might need to buy online.

No, every supermarket I know of stocks it. Think most have Clipper too.

Have a look at teapigs. Their super fruit tea is lovely as is peppermint, and the spiced winter tea is amazing! Oh and the caramel one but not sure if caffeine free

Here you go

www.teapigs.co.uk/tea/caffeine_free_tea

I didn't think I liked green tea, on the basis of drinking various kinds of it in teabag form. But then a Chinese friend made it for me out of some very hardcore mix of what looked like sticks and leaves. And it was delicious. I can't give you a brand name I'm afraid, but maybe if there are any Chinese foodstores near you they'd be worth checking out?

I thought you meant the perfume!

Was going to suggest L''Occitaine!

ooh yes, Yorkshire tea decaff is the one my neighbour has (I just went round to "check").

As others have said, don't overbrew it or it will be bitter. Also, the water should not be as hot as for making black tea. So let the kettle boil and then wait a couple of minutes before making your cup of green tea.

The exact temperature for the perfect cup of tea will depend on the tea you are using, but just letting the water cool a bit will make enough of a difference.

It should be pale - you're not trying to make it look as strong as a black tea or it will be awful. You can re-use the tealeaves if you like; I usually make several cups of tea from one set of green tealeaves. (This won't work so well with teabags as the quality of the tea is different).

Here's what you need to know:

GREEN TEA NEEDS TO BE MADE WITH COOLER THAN BOILING WATER.

I love green tea but it needs to treated with respect. Switch the kettle off before it boils- just as it starts to fizz IYSWIM then wait a couple of mins. Or boil the kettle and WAIT 5 MINUTES before adding the tea/ teabag. If you don't believe me I challenge you to try a direct comparison with green tea made with boiling water. Then steep for NO MORE THAN 2 MINUTES. The difference is astounding and you should get none of the bitter elements.

Please try this and report back. As I said I love green tea but never order it when out as cafes never manage to treat it properly. Honestly it gives me rage! Green tea is delicate and beautiful and very different from our regular black-tea cuppa.

After the first (cooler 2 minute steeping) please take the tea bag out and KEEP IT. YES, KEEP IT! The SECOND STEEPING will give you a sweet delicious cup with no bitterness at all. My Chinese FIL introduced this to me. I didn't believe him at first- then I tried it. Result is sweet delicious beautiful green tea.

Please people give it a go and report back!

I love green tea but it has to be loose. For everyday I like Clipper Loose Green Tea. Green tea in teabags is horrible IMO. Better value for money to buy it loose too.

I like green tea with pomegranate.

I agree the water shouldn't be too hot (I sometimes add cold water or ice though suspect doing so might be frowned upon by purists!) and just dip the tea bag in or else use loose leaves so that the colour is a pale green. Over-brewing makes it taste foul.

Redbush, on the other hand, tastes better the longer you leave it IMHO.

I have a red bush green tea whuch is really nice, its by tick tock

Love green tea
Drink gallons of the stuff, better ease off and try something else.
I do like mint from the garden with boiling water, to make fresh mint tea, same with rosemary....lovely

Try making it in a tea-pot, strange but it seems to take the bitterness out. it always made me pull a face when I drink it (not v often) but it is so good at shifting my bumpy thighs it was almost worth it! since making it in a pot its a bit nicer... Nettle tea is nice and that is a cleanser, I have nettle and peppermint, or a slice of lemon and ginger in a cup of hot water is also really refreshing

Any green tea is an acquired taste. I usually drink QI teas. I don't work for them or sell their products, promise, but they are the nicest I've tried and they're in most healthfood stores. As someone else said, the white tea is lovely, a bit more delicate. Don't put freshly boiled water in, wait a few secs before pouring. Don't squeeze the bag hard, makes the tea too strong. As I type I'm drinking their Green Tea Plus, which has blueberry pomegranate and red grape, and is a nice kind of flowery taste. I think there's a lot less caffeine in green tea than in coffee, but I haven't a clue why I think that!

Ooh I love green tea :)

Don't scald the tea with boiling water as it tastes horrid. I add about an inch of warm water from the kettle before reboiling and topping it up.

Green tea has about half the caffeine content of black tea.

Add a squirt of lemon juice, tastes nice and helps your body properly absorb the antioxidants.

White tea has a milder taste and more antioxidants. yy to redbush, totally different taste, no caffeine and loads of antioxidants.

Sainsbos do an excellent own-brand green tea, tastes very nice (as good as Twinings or Clipper) and only 99p :)

I really want to like green tea as it is so good for you, but it makes me feel really sick. A nutritionist told me that it is the high tannin content which causes it, and that you do get used to it. My DIL drinks only green tea, and had exactly the same problem at first, but now loves it. And she is really beautiful, so maybe it works. Perhaps I should try again? (Eternally hopeful)

How do you prepare it? It makes a huge difference! Most good green teas are prepared with water no hotter than 70 degrees and you let it brew for a couple of minutes only!

I love jasmin tea, but don't leave it to brew too long, it should be pale yellow, gently perfumed. Lovely and delicate and not bitter at all.

I keep the bag in