I began drinking Japanese green tea about one month ago. Almost every anime that depicts some semblance of normal life, whether it’s slice-of-life or not, the characters are shown drinking tea. Upon doing some research, I found that the most common green tea Japanese people drink is Sencha.
To become more infused into the Japanese culture, I decided to order some authentic Japanese green tea off Amazon. I picked one of the first few brands that showed up because there were so many I didn’t know where to start. The brand I ordered was Maeda-en (not sponsored).
Up until a month ago, I had never drank green tea in my life. Hell, I’ve only had tea a few times in my whole life, and each time it sucked. It tasted so utterly disgusting I refused to drink it, even sweet tea.
However, because some personal events happened in my life over the past three months, I was looking for any solution that could help curb my anxiety. Enter: tea.
The first tea I tried was some fruity kind that had a peach flavor. I have to say, it was quite delicious. I thought, “Hmm. This isn’t too bad. I could drink this.”
But deep down the otaku in me wanted more than just American-made fruity tea. I want the real shit.
I don’t want silly American green tea.
I want Japanese green tea.
After a couple days of waiting, my order from Amazon arrived in the mail. The package I received was a 100 pack for $15, which I thought was a good price. However, if the tea had any inkling of disgusting flavor, I knew I was out $15.
And so the day arrived. I opened the bag and took out a tea packet.
I heated the water on the stove.
After a few minutes of boiling goodness, the hot water was ready.
I poured the water into the cup.
Then in went the tea.
After steeping for about five minutes, it was ready.
I took a sniff.
It had a unique aroma.
And then, the moment came.
All my anime-watching of characters drinking green tea came up this point.
I took a sip.
Grassy.
“Don’t you mean assy, Nebraskan Otaku? Like it tasted like pure ass?”
“No, no, reader.”
*Look of horrible disgust on my face*
“It tastes like grass.”
I have to admit, it did not taste good at first.
“Just keep drinking it. Drinking this Japanese green tea makes you cultured,” I kept telling myself every to power through every time I drank the tea.
After two weeks of drinking the Maeda-en green tea, I have for the most part gotten used to the grassy flavor.
Upon doing some research on green tea, I discovered that green tea, while it has caffeine, has a chemical called L-theanine that helps improve brain function and productivity. You receive the alertness benefits of caffeine without the jitters.
I can tell that when I drink this tea, I do feel more alert but not overly alert. More like it’s gently stimulating my brain, unlike the extremeness of energy drinks.
I am feeling the benefits even while I’m writing this blog post.
So if you want to become more of an otaku, and have some good health benefits at the same time, drink the real shit. Drink Japanese green tea.
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