Hi--

SpaceCowboy is right that we get the lower-quality teas in the Asian
food stores in the US.

I ordered "shincha" from several dealers in Japan recently, and I have
to say that o-cha.com is the one that impressed me with their high-
quality offerings for quite reasonable prices. I also order from
Itoen, but it's always matcha I get from them, and I order from them
'cuz I can get it fast (from New York City), and they have a grade
that I like (koi-cha-yoo; for "thick tea"). Hibiki-an.com was another
place I ordered shincha from... I ordered their top of the line
shincha from the Uji district. The leaves were beautiful, shiny, dark
dark green needles with no powder, no dust-- but flavorwise, it was
probably no better than stuff $10 cheaper.

Derek mentioned "sencha," then followed that with "shincha," then
compared them with first-flust teas? Shincha is a subcategory of
sencha, and *is* first-flush. Some districts call this "hachiju-hachi-
ya," meaning "88 nights" (meaning it was picked 89 days after some
particular season-marking day. Shincha has a distinctive flavor. It
becomes available in May, and many places sell out of it rather
quickly. It blends well-- I mix it with other sencha, but the
distinctive shincha taste is still obvious.

There are high-grade Japanese teas made with a special process and
called "Fuka-mushi-cha" (deep steamed tea). Shizuoka is the district
that developed this process, but a lot of other districts use it now
as well. It produces a leaf that is broken and powdery. The leaves
infuse very quickly, and produce a cup that is approaching opaque...
the drink's texture is distinct. I drink this a lot, though I highten
the amazing opaque color by adding a scoop of matcha to the leaf (a
trick often used when serving cheaper tea, but does nice things to
rather good tea as well ;) )

The web-site Melinda gave us lists lots of teas, and the *name* of the
particular grade of tea she got was probably written only in Japanese
on the packag