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Supermarket Green Tea

The Japanese and Chinese have sipped green tea for more than a millennium. Suddenly, Westerners are drinking it, too. So which tastes best?

Published Aug. 1, 2011.
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Top Pick

WinnerCelestial Seasonings Authentic Green Tea

“Clean” green tea flavor with a “nice grassy quality,” “mild, toasty aromas,” and just “a bit astringent,” tasters said. In custard, those flavors offset the richness.
Price at Time of Testing: $4.99 for 40 bags
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“Clean” green tea flavor with a “nice grassy quality,” “mild, toasty aromas,” and just “a bit astringent,” tasters said. In custard, those flavors offset the richness.
Price at Time of Testing: $4.99 for 40 bags
Learn More
See Everything We Tested

What You Need to Know

The Japanese and Chinese have sipped green tea for more than a millennium. Suddenly, Westerners are drinking it, too, and even using it to give astringent, slightly bitter flavor to custard, ice cream, and even pork roast. (It’s made from the same plants as black tea but is unfermented, which accounts for its distinctive flavor.) Connoisseurs have their pick among high-end selections, but cooking with $14-an-ounce tea makes about as much sense as cooking with a $100 bottle of wine. We wanted a tea we could both sip and cook with on occasion. Supermarket green teas are affordable, but would any suit our two needs? We set the tea kettles a-boiling and gathered 21 tasters to sample five nationally available supermarket brands of bagged green tea, tasting each on its own (following manufacturers’ brewing instructions) and in green-tea infused custard. None dazzled us, but we did identify a few that were both drinkable and imparted nice flavor to recipes. We liked the mild grassiness of one tea best, sipped, infused, and rubbed on Kalua Pork.

Everything We Tested

Recommended

WinnerCelestial Seasonings Authentic Green Tea

“Clean” green tea flavor with a “nice grassy quality,” “mild, toasty aromas,” and just “a bit astringent,” tasters said. In custard, those flavors offset the richness.
Price at Time of Testing: $4.99 for 40 bags
“Clean” green tea flavor with a “nice grassy quality,” “mild, toasty aromas,” and just “a bit astringent,” tasters said. In custard, those flavors offset the richness.
Price at Time of Testing: $4.99 for 40 bags

Recommended with reservations

Twinings Green Tea

Tasters found the brewed tea “bitter,” “astringent,” and “funky.” It was the strongest tea we tasted. But in custard, this “harsh” tea mellowed and imparted a “pleasant, smoky” taste.
Price at Time of Testing: $3.69 for 20 bags
Tasters found the brewed tea “bitter,” “astringent,” and “funky.” It was the strongest tea we tasted. But in custard, this “harsh” tea mellowed and imparted a “pleasant, smoky” taste.
Price at Time of Testing: $3.69 for 20 bags

Bigelow Green Tea

While interesting, this tea’s “floral,” “mellow,” “savory,” “herbal” flavors are atypical of green tea. In the custard, we couldn’t even taste it.
Price at Time of Testing: $2.99 for 20 bags
While interesting, this tea’s “floral,” “mellow,” “savory,” “herbal” flavors are atypical of green tea. In the custard, we couldn’t even taste it.
Price at Time of Testing: $2.99 for 20 bags

Lipton Green Tea

What a few tasters described as “subtle grassy notes,” most characterized as “weak,” “bland,” and “watery without much green tea flavor.” Unsurprisingly, the tea imparted scant flavor to custard. It squeaked into its “Recommended with Reservations” ranking.
Price at Time of Testing: $3.79 for 40 bags
What a few tasters described as “subtle grassy notes,” most characterized as “weak,” “bland,” and “watery without much green tea flavor.” Unsurprisingly, the tea imparted scant flavor to custard. It squeaked into its “Recommended with Reservations” ranking.
Price at Time of Testing: $3.79 for 40 bags

Not Recommended

Tazo China Green Tips

This tea’s “harsh,” “strong,” “soapy,” “tinny” flavor earned it low marks as brewed tea. It fared only slightly better in custard, with many tasters finding it bitter.
Price at Time of Testing: $3.69 for 20 bags
This tea’s “harsh,” “strong,” “soapy,” “tinny” flavor earned it low marks as brewed tea. It fared only slightly better in custard, with many tasters finding it bitter.
Price at Time of Testing: $3.69 for 20 bags

*All products reviewed by America’s Test Kitchen are independently chosen, researched, and reviewed by our editors. We buy products for testing at retail locations and do not accept unsolicited samples for testing. We list suggested sources for recommended products as a convenience to our readers but do not endorse specific retailers. When you choose to purchase our editorial recommendations from the links we provide, we may earn an affiliate commission. Prices are subject to change.

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