The Edinburgh Japanese Green Tea Society is a privately owned importer and retailer of tea and other products. The aim of the Society is to provide genuine good quality Japanese Green Tea to people in the Edinburgh area and beyond at as reasonable a price as possible with expansion and development of the Society being the goal rather than profit.

A number of growers and blenders of tea in Japan already offer tea for sale on their websites, with free shipping for orders sometimes as low as 30 pounds sterling. (However, don't forget that your bank or credit card company will probably charge a significant percentage on such a transaction for currency conversion). We provide a list of recommended suppliers of Japanese Green Tea and other products with links to their websites and ordering facilities where available. The delivery time of products ordered from Japan is usually about 2 weeks. We intend to provide a service which will make available as many of the recommended products as possible at a cheaper price than that for direct ordering from suppliers, and to provide same or next day delivery in the Edinburgh area free of charge.

Our recommended suppliers...

Products available for direct order from The Edinburgh Japanese Green Tea Society...

As well as from Japan, green tea is available from most parts of the world where tea is grown, particularly from China, Korea, Vietnam, Ceylon and Darjeeling. The reason we focus on Japanese Green Tea, is that firstly, powdered green tea or "Matcha" tea is only available from Japan and this is the highest anti-oxidant containing beverage we know of. Also, other Japanese green tea varieties have been grown and prepared for sale in Japan for many years in a way that is suitable for the modern consumer market. This gives a consistency and range of products that we feel is particularly important in promoting high quality beverage consumption to other developed consumer markets such as in the UK and Europe. Whether you prefer one blend of tea over another is ultimately a matter of personal preference, but we most definitely recommend that anyone interested in green tea should sample the fine products available from Japanese growers.

In fact our interest in Japanese Green Tea extends beyond the actual product itself. Tea was first cultivated in Japan over 1000 years ago, and it may have been known in China as long as 5000 years ago. The history of tea culture is interwoven with the history of Chinese culture in general and the influx of many ideas from China to Japan (often from Fujian province where tea is widely cultivated). This is not only a fascinating field of study in itself but enables an enriched appreciation of modern tea products and the tradition of the tea ceremony in Japan and elsewhere.

More information about tea and tea culture...

We are also interested in the modern scientific understanding of flavanol chemistry and how catechins and other substances found in green tea can be highly beneficial for the health of the consumer. Not so long ago many substances such as tannins that occur naturally in tea (and other fruit and vegetables) were considered anutritional. Due to recent advances in biochemistry and nutritional science, some experts now consider the flavonoid substances such as EGCG (epigallocatechingallate - the main anti-oxidant found in green tea) so essential for good health that they should be classed as a vitamin.

More information about tea and health...