Innovative bag, good quality, low price.
As others here have mentioned, this is quite a good deal for the quality of the product. By making the bag out of nylon and by attaching the string to the middle of the face of the bag (instead of at the top edge like everyone else), they have made it so that more tea leaves get to touch the water and more tea leaves remain floating and loose in the water. That really seems to help the steeping process. Most tea bags compress the tea leaves together into a big wad which prevents the water from getting to all but the outer most leaves. The solution in that case is to use a spoon to press the tea bag against the cup in order to cause the leaves to separate and become exposed to the hot water. It works, but you end up having to do this a lot if you really want a really good cup of tea. Instead, this bag floats on its face, edge-wise. And that causes the tea leaves to stay loose and not bunch up as much. The result is that more leaves are exposed to hot water, and so the tea itself will be richer. You just need to use the string to tug at it to shake up the leaves every now and then. No spoon is ever needed. Another thing they've done is to add a little notch to the square paper thingy at the end of the string. The idea is that you can stick the paper onto the lip of your cup really easily that way, and it holds on to the cup instead of dangling outside of it. That's kind of neat. The tea this produces is very green colored. Some of my coworkers actually thought there might be food coloring added to the tea leaves. They've never seen truly green tea. I would compare this tea favorably with The Republic of Tea's "Double Green Matcha Tea". Both products combine a small amount of matcha green tea powder along with the green tea leaves. In my opinion, the Republic of Tea's product is a bit bolder (which I like) but also more bitter (which I don't like). The Kirkland Signature / Ito En Matcha Blend has absolutely no bitterness. I wouldn't call it "sweet" like others have, either. I think it's just more refined and maybe fresher than the Republic of Tea's version. No, there isn't a lot of matcha powder in this tea. I didn't expect there to be a lot of matcha. About 99% of it is normal green tea leaves. There's a powdery residue in the bag itself (which you should tap a few times to empty out into your cup as the instructions say). And there's probably some matcha powder mixed in with the tea leaves. But don't expect much. It improves the flavor of the tea, but it's not like pure matcha, nor does it advertise itself as such. About the only negative thing I have to say about the product is that the strings on the tea bags are too small for me. They're always falling into the cup. Then again, I don't use a standard tea cup to drink. And because my cup is thicker than an average tea cup, the innovative notch that's in the square paper thing at the end of the string is too small and won't stay on the lip of the cup. Bummer. As a result, I have to be careful to make sure the string doesn't fall back into the cup. But it's a minor thing. I'd also like to see a better way of packaging these tea bags. They're all individually wrapped in sealed plastic bags. This prevents oxidation and spoilage, which is great. But it also produces a lot of waste, which is a pity. Overall, I'm impressed with the quality of this green tea at this price. I will definitely order it again when I run out. It also makes a perfect gift for anyone you know who loves quality green tea. Hope that helps. Read more