Healthiest Green Teas You Can Find
Green tea is an acquired taste, but acquiring it is a smart move. While all tea contains benefits for your health, this particular brew can fight cancer and heart disease and lower bad cholesterol, so maybe it’s time you develop a palate for its delightful grassy flavor. While green tea originated in China, it is now grown in many East Asian countries and even in America.
GAYOT’s list of the Best Green Teas was created after taste-testing our way through countless varieties to bring you the best for your drinking pleasure. Green tea specifically has many health benefits, but if your prefer a more traditional brew, find more favorites on our list of the best black teas. And if you’re among the more than 85 percent of tea drinkers in the U.S. who prefer it iced, be sure to check out our guide to the Best Bottled Iced Teas.
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1. Taylors of Harrogate Delicate Green Tea
You can’t have a “best tea” list without an English tea!
Price: $25
Taylors of Harrogate Green Tea is a refreshing offering. Infuse for three to five minutes in just-under-boiling water to create a refined and revitalizing light green tea. Just remember since this is an English-style tea there is no tag, so you’ll have to scoop out the teabag with a spoon.
2. Numi Organic Gunpowder Green Tea
Here is one of GAYOT’s favorite offerings of the gunpowder tea variety.
Price: $18.66
The leaves are steamed, then rolled into pellets that explode with flavor once they’re steeped in hot water — the smaller the pellets, the higher the quality of tea. These organic, halal-certified and kosher beads from Numi deliver a kick of vegetal flavor that is perfect when you’re craving a tea that’s not sweet.
3. Tealyra Gyokuro Kokyu
Gyokuro, meaning “jade dew,” hails from the Uji district of Honshu, Japan, and is considered one of the country’s premier teas.
Price: $22.99
It’s no wonder this is a highly sought tea from Japan. Twenty days of shading by bamboo prior to harvesting increases the tea plant’s chlorophyll content, resulting in dark green leaves and more antioxidants for your health. If you can get your hands on these teabags (this particular tea often sold out), you should steep for two to four minutes to produce a pale green color and a sweet and balanced flavor.
4. American Classic Tea Island Green
Located on Wadmalaw Island, South Carolina, Charleston Tea Garden is America’s only tea garden and is owned by one of the biggest names in tea, Bigelow.
Price: $8.95
The plantation’s American Classic line is made using 100 percent green leaf tea grown on the estate grounds. Smooth, earthy and refreshing, Island Green is the perfect daily cup of tea.
> For more information, visit Charleston Tea Garden official website.
5. Harney & Sons Kagoshima
One of GAYOT’s favorite tea purveyors, the family-run Harney & Sons, makes this splendid green tea from a blend of leaves.
Price: $29
The leaves are harvested in Kagoshima, the Southern port of the Japanese island, Kyushu. The blend gives the tea notes of fresh lemon, spinach and bell peppers and is pale green in color.
6. Steven Smith TeamakerNo. 39 Fez
Get your fez on with Steven Smith Teamaker No. 39.
Price: $17
We like the brand’s clean, streamlined packaging but we love what’s inside. The Portland-based company’s No. 39 “Fez” features spring-harvested Mao Feng full-leaf green tea from China with just the right amount of spearmint and myrtle. The result is a nice vegetal blend that’s ever so subtly fresh and minty, making it distinct from other green tea flavor profiles.
7. Mighty Leaf Organic Green Dragon
Also known as Lung Ching or Longjing — meaning “dragonwell” — this classic green tea is traditionally wok-fired.
Price: $17
To best enjoy this Chinese green tea, pour boiling water over tea leaves and keep covered, steeping for two to three minutes to create a yellow-green color. You’ll enjoy sipping on this slightly sweet tea that’s punctuated with a delicate toasted-chestnut flavor.
8. Teavivre Premium Dragon Well Long Jing Green Tea
One of the most popular teas in China, this soothing beverage offers a medium body with sweet notes and nutty character.
Price: $29.90
Teavivre specializes in organic teas from several different Chinese provinces such as hilly and subtropical Zhejian, where Premium Dragon Well Long Jing Green Tea comes from. One of the top-selling teas in China, it’s served to high-profile visitors such as heads of state. When brewed, its flattened, dried leaves produce an orchid-like aroma and sophisticated, complex flavor.
> For more information, visit Teavivre official website.
9. Grape Green Tea (Budou Green)
Started in Japan in 1994 as two separate shops, one specializing in black tea and the other offering green varieties from China and Japan, Lupicia became a purveyor of world teas in 2005.
Price: $10
Today, the company has stores around the world. Lupicia steams the leaves of this tea three times longer than normal, giving it a smooth and full-bodied flavor, ideal for green tea aficionados.
On the palate, this elegantly flavored green tea displays the sweet and savory aroma of the famous Japanese “Kyoho” grape. Its refreshing taste makes it ideal for iced tea.
> For more information, visit Lupicia official website.
10. Dammann Frères Yunnan Vert
Damman Frères opened in Paris in 1692, sourcing teas from around the world.
Price: $18.59
As the name suggests, this rare and delicate green tea is grown in the Yunnan province of China. Steep three to four minutes to produce a bright yellow drink that offers fruity notes with a strong finish.
