A while back I bought a couple items from Ito En. One was the House Sencha, which I bought hoping for a good quality budget priced sencha. I was very disappointed. The House Sencha is basically about the quality I would expect to find in a supermarket at half the price. It has a nice astringency which reminds me of the first loose leaf green tea I ever had — a bancha from the local Asia Market — but zero flavor, and zero freshness. Price: $9 for 3oz. The first Japanese tea I’ve ever given away because I didn’t like it. (Since I started purchasing directly from Japanese tea companies, anyway.)
At $0.50/oz less than the House Sencha, the Bancha Suruga from Den’s Tea gave me the fresh, sweet, sencha flavor and aroma that makes Japanese tea the best green tea. It is not at all what I expected based on my previous experience with bancha, though the web site description does call this an “upgraded variation.” I didn’t think bancha could taste so much like sencha. Any way, $5 for a 2-oz package of this stuff makes it the best deal I have seen on quality Japanese tea. The perfect everyday tea. 