Green Tea Feature Part 2: Powered Green Tea is the Perfect Gift to Take Back Home

Green tea represents the soul of traditional Japanese culture. It is also enjoyable for the pronounced sweet and bitter tastes together with its simplicity. And its reported positive effects on both health and beauty make it a very popular souvenir. However, you may well feel somewhat lost when choosing the right green tea product. With that in mind, I have decided to introduce the charms of green tea in all six upcoming issues.

In Part Two of our green tea series, ｗe would like to introduce what I think is the best kind of green tea to take home with you from Japan as a gift or souvenir. Green tea actually comes in all kinds of forms, including loose tea leaves, tea bags, and more. Plenty of people decide to buy genuine green tea leaves to take home with them, but these require a proper teapot, and not every family has one. Plastic bottles of green tea are too bulky to carry home. For these reasons, our editorial staff recommends instant powered tea as a great alternative. The brand we tried was Itoen’s Oi Ocha Sarasara Matcha iri Ryokucha (smooth powdered green tea with real matcha).

According to the package, the mix will readily dissolve in either hot or cold water. We were fairly sure it would work in not only hot but also cold water, despite our definite doubts about the cold. When we tested it, though, we were amazed to find that it worked just as it claimed. It even had that authentic, bright green tea color. Now for the flavor. When we took our first sip, we found it incredibly delicious—just as rich as if we had brewed it in a teapot. This surely has to do with it being made exclusively with Japan-grown tea leaves. The fact that it is delicious hot or cold makes this product particularly appealing.

With Itoen’s Oi Ocha Sarasara Matcha iri Ryokucha, anyone can quickly and easily enjoy authentic green tea—making this product sure to delight friends and family back home. And since you can easily pick it up at a convenience store, it only takes a few minutes in your busy travel schedule to take care of your souvenir purchases. The slim, lightweight packaging also makes its convenient for travel. Don’t forget to buy some extra for yourself as well!