The best green tea is herbaceous and flavorful without being bitter. We steeped more than a dozen bags of the best green tea brands to find the best you can buy.
Unless I’m at a Japanese restaurant, I don’t gravitate toward green tea. If I’m drinking tea, I either want the wallop of caffeine you get with black tea (I’m a Constant Comment gal) or the caffeine-free mellowness of an herbal tea (I’m 40, so you know I’m sipping that Sleepytime). Green tea exists in a liminal space between these two tea extremes, but there’s certainly a place for it in your pantry: It’s comforting hot, refreshing cold, and pleasantly flavorful if you buy the right stuff.
We picked up everything from floral green teas to earthy matchas, steeped the bags in little cups, and tasted them one by one. These are the best green teas we tasted.
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- 365 Organic Green Tea
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Whole Foods house brand 365 can be hit or miss, but they make an exemplary bag of green tea. This tea has an excellent, complex green tea flavor without being bitter—a lot of the teas we tasted were bitter, and this is proof that they don’t have to be. Some of the flavored teas might be more exciting and some of the matchas might have a bolder flavor, but if you’re looking for something simple and reliable, this is the best green tea you can buy. No surprises here—just good tea.
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- Choice Organics Jasmine Green Tea
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This green tea is super fragrant while it steeps, but don’t let that trick you into thinking that it’s going to go down like a bottle of grandma’s perfume. Of all the jasmine teas we tasted, this one had the most pleasant and harmonious floral flavor by far. Rather than masking the tea, the jasmine really complements the pleasant-tasting green tea. I definitely still want bath products that smell like this, but it’s nice that it doesn’t only taste like something you’d soak in.
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- Republic of Tea Be Well Teas Get Matcha
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I don’t drink much matcha, but this was a nice reminder that I’m a doofus and should seek it out more often. This has that excellent, herbal matcha flavor and a strong matcha smell, but no unpleasant bitterness. This feels super high quality, and not just because the packaging is cool (I love that this compact lil cylinder holds 36 bags)—there’s a powdery quality to the tea that is rich and really says “matcha.” This might be a little pricier than some of the other teas on this list, but it’s cheaper than matcha at the coffee shop.
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- Stash Premium Green Tea
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Stash describes this as a Japanese-style green tea, and that might explain its interesting and complex flavor. This one is different than other green teas—definitely in a good way. I couldn’t quite put a finger on what makes this one unique, but it sort of reminded me of a Korean barley tea. It’s almost savory. In my notes I wrote, “I’m a little confused by it, but I like it.”
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- Tazo Zen Green Tea
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If you like a green tea with flavor but don’t prefer jasmine (lots of jasmine green tea out there), this lemongrass- and spearmint-infused green is an amazing option. The lemongrass gives it a lot of brightness, while the spearmint keeps it from being too citrussy. Because it’s so flavor-forward, this probably isn’t for people who really like the flavor of pure green tea, but it’s definitely the best green tea for folks who want a little something else in their mug. This would be so, so good with honey.
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- Traditional Medicinals Organic Green Tea with Toasted Rice Matcha
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I absolutely love Traditional Medicinals teas (their Seasonal Sampler got me through a bout of COVID earlier this year), and this green tea is extremely on brand for them: delicious and different. This is savory kind of like the Stash tea we tried thanks to the inclusion of toasted rice, which gives it a nice roasty flavor. It has an aggressive aroma, but its mild flavor and alluring green color will keep you sipping.
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- Lipton 100% Natural Green Tea
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Lipton makes good tea. And while this may not be the best green tea, it won’t disappoint—especially when it costs less than nine bucks for 100 bags. That’s value, baby. Overall, this was a little more mild tasting than some of the green teas that ranked higher on the list (what can I say, we like flavor), but it still gets its point across and even has a little bit of a caffeine-y kick that’ll give you a boost in the morning.
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Best of the Best
Best Jasmine Green Tea
Best Matcha Green Tea
Best Savory
Best Flavored Green Tea
Best Roasty
Best Budget Green Tea
Other products we tried: Sprouts Organic Sencha, Bigelow Jasmine Green Tea, Swanson Organic Green Tea, Happy Belly Jasmine Green Tea, Bigelow Classic Green Tea, Good & Gather Organic Green Tea, Pukka Supreme Matcha, Twinings Jasmine Green Tea, Trader Joe’s Organic Green Tea, Lipton Magnificent Matcha
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