Davidson'sTea Bulk, Genmaicha, 16-Ounce BagUSDA Organic

I usually prefer black tea over green tea, but green tea has so many benefits that I wanted to try a new variety (for me). This tea is excellent when you prepare it as directed. It's delicious, full, and much more interesting than other green teas I've tried. It does have caffeine, so plan around that.

I love Earl Grey tea, whether the base is black, green, or white tea. I also love both the scent and flavor of lavender, which is fortunate as it isn't obvious from the name that this version contains dried lavender petals.The green tea leaves are a good medium-large size, not chopped bits or dust. The bergamot flavor tastes authentic and is not so strong as to overpower the green tea, and the lavender adds a nice depth.I've seen some reviews mentioning finding strange things in loose tea, but I've never had anything in a bag of Davidsons that wasn't supposed to be there, beyond the very occasional stem or tiny twig.I know people who greatly dislike the taste of lavender (they find it too reminiscent of soap or candles), so it would be helpful if Davidson's altered the name or otherwise made it very obvious that this tea does contain something more than the standard Earl Grey flavor. Aside for that, I wouldn't change anything.5 Stars, highly recommended.

Nice change from boring Green Tea.Keep water under boiling to steep.Very Jasminy, but lots of green tea too.If you like Jasmine, you'll like this.Easy to make, even reuse more often than most.I have with cream or none. Could work well cold. I use splenda. Better sweet to me. I think I'll need a break from the flo wer flavorsome days but its great for my green tea days. I have drank green tea for 10 years. Every morning almost, alternating with black.Can't find the perfect black. But Earl Grey is consistently good. Haven't tried their Green Early Grey yet. Decent price for quantity.

This tea is sticks that are much smaller than the ones I am used to from my local tea shop. Gives a darker, more bitter brew after 5 minutes steeping, but nothing honey and cream can’t fix.

Delicious tea

Delicious tea. We make it hot and it’s also very enjoyable cold. Great product. Large bag.

This is my second time buying the large bag of green tea. I really enjoy it, I drink a cup every morning. You can’t beat the price for the quantity and quality I would recommend.

I've been drinking kukicha for over ten years and love it - it's the only tea I will drink. Kukicha is THE reason I started to drink tea.If you're looking for traditional GREEN Japanese kukicha - this is NOT the tea that you want. It doesn't even taste like green kukicha.I made the mistake of thinking the pictured example was just a bad photo. I had been under the impression that kukicha was always green by definition, but apparently there are some varieties ",,,,available as a green tea or in more oxidized processing."I'm sure this tea is very good IF you like black, caffeinated teas, which I do not.**********UPDATED June 20, 2013 ************In response to L. Claire's comments on this review :" Posted on Jan 14, 2013 1:54:42 PM PSTLast edited by the author on Jan 14, 2013 2:01:47 PM PSTL. Claire says:Hey Friend - I don't mean to quibble with you, but I have to say that it is rather unfair of you to give this tea 1-star because it's not what you expected. The idea of a review is report (honestly) on your impression of the product. And yes, there are a multitude of green tea varieties. The pictures of this product clearly show a brown paper bag and a collection of brown sticks and twigs...my eyesight isn't the best, but it looks pretty clear to me. You said that you were "sure this tea is very good, IF you like black, caffeinated teas, which I do not."Please understand that roasted Kukicha tea is NEITHER a Black NOR is it a (strongly) caffeinated tea -- in fact, it is typically a brown-roasted, low caffeine tea prized because of its alkalyzing and healing effect on the body.Now, if you want to pay $90 a pound for a "green kukicha" you can plunk your $$ where your mouth is... it actually has "green" in the title! Green Kukicha Supreme Green Tea -- The Fragrant Leaf, Kukicha Supreme Green Tea - 8 oz. Foil BagYou will see quite clearly that the picture actually shows a GREEN tea, not a BROWN tea. Actually, I believe this should be just your cup of tea because the description says that it's "High grade Kukicha harvested in early Spring from leaves and tender stems. Fragrant and flavorful with a fresh, savory taste and sweet, mellow finish. Lower in caffeine than other green teas."Next time, please do your research and understand what you're ordering before you write another disparaging and unfair review.In the meantime, I'm ordering a bag right now! ;-)"MY UPDATED REVIEW :I'm not sure what L. Claire is talking about but I did do my research. Plus, in the 10+ years of drinking and ordering kukicha I've never had to specify between the so-called "brown kukicha" and the "green kukicha". Kukicha is ALWAYS green. Kukicha is ALWAYS steamed. There is no such thing as a "typically brown roasted kukicha". Oh, I double checked this with some friends who own a Japanese restaurant as well as checking with several Japanese tea companies.This Davidson "kukicha" tea is roasted - the Japanese call this kind of tea "hojicha" or "houjicha" - hoji meaning "roasted". Kukicha and hojicha are two very different types of drink. I've never liked hojicha, or roasted, or dark, or black teas.As far as caffeine, there's a big "CONTAINS CAFFEINE" label on the Davidson package. Although authentic kukicha does have a small amount of caffeine, I could find no labeling on any of my old kukicha bags that stated it contained caffeine. The way my body reacted - I'm very sensitive to caffeine - I would think the Davidson "Kukicha" contains a considerable larger amount of caffeine than authentic kukicha does. I can drink real kukicha all night without having any caffeine like reactions. Not so with the Davidson "kukicha" - one cup got me pretty buzzed, with sweating forehead and the jitters.I could obviously see that the tea was brown. Where I got confused was that I'd never seen any hojicha that was made FROM kukicha (kuki is Japanese for "stem"). I understand now that hojicha can be made (roasted) from bancha, sencha OR kukicha. So maybe this tea started out as kukicha but it became hojicha when it was roasted. Seeing what looked like kukicha (stems) and seeing that it was being advertised as "kukicha" made me think that it was just a bad photo of the tea. I was wrong.Do your research - there are several good Japanese tea companies on the web that explain the differences in types of tea far better than I can. And contrary to what L. Claire stated, a one pound 2 oz bag of authentic kukicha, direct from Japan in some cases, goes for about $48 - not the $90 per pound price that L. Claire stated. Remember, Google is our friend!I'm not sure what L. Claire's reasoning is - that L. Claire would rather pay less $ for an entirely different product? That's OK too. If you want to pay for a hamburger and then call it filet mignon, knock yourself out. But don't tell me that it's a filet. And obviously the bag was brown - is L. Claire suggesting that the product inside would have to be the same color as it's outer packaging? If so, the kukicha I've been drinking for many years should have been aluminum colored, because that's the color of the bags it comes in.I stand by my original review. And again, if you like hojicha, that's great - nothing wrong with that. But if you're looking for kukicha, do your research - the truth is "out there"!