Japanese Vending Machine Green Tea PET Bottles
Japanese Vending Machine Green Tea PET Bottles
Overview
In this episode, John Daub conducts a comprehensive taste test of five popular green tea PET bottles found in Japanese vending machines. Standing on a Tokyo street corner, he compares brands from industry giants like Itoen, Kirin, Coca-Cola, and Suntory. John delves into the science behind green tea, explaining how water temperature affects caffeine and catechin levels, and why bitterness is valued in Japanese culture.
The video serves as both a consumer guide and a cultural lesson. John ranks the teas based on taste, health benefits, and label transparency regarding catechin content. He highlights the disconnect younger generations feel from traditional tea culture and the efforts tea masters are making to reconnect them. The episode concludes with a walk to nearby vending machines to showcase the variety available, including hot tea options perfect for winter.
Highlights
- 00:00:33 John explains how water temperature controls caffeine and catechin release.
- 00:02:55 Introduction of Itoen Oi Ocha claiming to reduce body fat with higher catechin content.
- 00:06:51 Kirin Nama Cha reviewed; noted for being cloudy and unfiltered.
- 00:10:32 Coca-Cola's Ayataka brand discussed; smoothest taste with subdued bitterness.
- 00:15:38 Suntory Iyemon with matcha tested; noted for texture and Kyoto origin.
- 00:21:44 Final ranking revealed: Itoen Oi Ocha takes first place.
- 00:24:04 Discussion on tea masters teaching kids to reconnect with tea culture.
- 00:26:52 Cultural insight: Japanese value bitterness while Westerners often prefer sweetness.
- 00:48:28 John purchases a hot tea (atatakai) from a vending machine.
- 00:51:47 Comparison of coffee vs. green tea: chocolate vs. vegetables.
Timeline / Chapters
- 00:00:33 Intro & Science of Green Tea (Catechins & Temperature)
- 00:02:55 Itoen Oi Ocha (High Catechin) Review
- 00:06:51 Kirin Nama Cha Review
- 00:10:32 Coca-Cola Ayataka Review
- 00:15:38 Suntory Iyemon (Kyoto Matcha) Review
- 00:21:44 Final Rankings & Diagnosis
- 00:24:04 Tea Culture & Youth Education
- 00:44:44 Vending Machine Walk & Hot Tea Purchase
- 00:51:47 Closing Thoughts & Coffee Comparison
Japan Travel Tips
- Vending Machine Variety: Almost every vending machine in Japan stocks multiple types of green tea. Look for labels indicating catechin content for health benefits.
- Hot vs. Cold: In winter, look for the word atatakai (hot) on the button. Hot tea releases more aroma and can be more comforting than cold PET bottles.
- Reading Labels: Check the bottom of the bottle for catechin (milligrams) and sodium content. Higher catechin often means more bitterness but better health benefits.
- Price Range: Standard PET bottles are usually around 100–130 yen. Premium versions may cost up to 200 yen.
- Sweetness: Unsweetened tea is the norm. Sweetened tea is considered a dessert item and is less common in vending machines.
Japanese Language & Culture Notes
- Bitterness (Nigami): Unlike Western palates that often seek sweetness, Japanese culture values bitterness in tea and food (e.g., vegetables). It is seen as refined and healthy.
- Catechin (Katechin): A compound in green tea released by hot water. It acts as an antioxidant and is linked to beauty and health benefits.
- Tea Types:
- Sencha: Standard green tea, first flush, grown in the sun.
- Gyokuro: High-grade shaded green tea, often from Uji, Kyoto.
- Matcha: Ground powder of gyokuro, used in tea ceremonies.
- Hojicha: Roasted tea, lower in caffeine.
- Tea Culture Disconnect: John notes that younger Japanese generations are losing touch with traditional tea culture, knowing tea only from vending machines. Tea masters are visiting schools to remedy this.
Food & Drink Guide
- Itoen Oi Ocha (Baseline): 00:00:33 The standard benchmark. Balanced bitterness and sweetness. Guinness World Record holder for most sold green tea in a PET bottle.
- Itoen Oi Ocha (High Catechin): 00:02:55 Brewed at higher temperature. 960mg catechin vs 40mg in baseline. More bitter, better for health/caffeine kick. Rank: 2nd
- Kirin Nama Cha: 00:06:51 Cloudy appearance, unfiltered. 100% from Japan. Refreshing taste, less bitter. Rank: 2nd (Tied)
- Coca-Cola Ayataka: 00:10:32 Smoothest taste, subdued bitterness. Brewed at lower temperatures. Rank: 4th
- Suntory Iyemon (Kyoto Matcha): 00:15:38 Contains matcha powder, cloudy texture. Leaves a texture in the mouth. Rank: 5th
- Hot Green Tea (Vending Machine): 00:48:28 Purchased for 100 yen. Warm cap indicates heat. Aroma is intoxicating when hot.
People
- John Daub: Host and narrator. Provides expertise on Japanese culture and food. Conducts the taste test and explains the science of tea.
- Dean Newcomb: Mentioned as a friend and collaborator (Runaway Japan channel).
- Watanabe-san: Mentioned as a fifth-generation chashi (tea master) in Fuji City.
- Honda-san: Mentioned as a tea expert who compared green tea regions to wine regions.
Key Takeaways
- Health Benefits: Green tea is loaded with vitamin C, catechins, and amino acids. Higher brewing temperatures release more catechins but increase bitterness.
- Palate Adjustment: Bitterness is an acquired taste. John encourages viewers to fight the initial reaction to bitterness to appreciate the health benefits and depth of flavor.
- Label Transparency: Not all brands list exact catechin content. Itoen is praised for clearly labeling high catechin versions.
- Cultural Shift: There is an effort to reconnect Japanese youth with traditional tea culture amidst the convenience of vending machine tea.
Notable Quotes
- 00:26:52 "Just like I think Westerners don't like the bitterness of the tea the Japanese don't like the sweetness of the drinks it's too sweet."
- 00:27:40 "There's a beautiful poetry in bitterness... different tastes release different thoughts and different feelings."
- 00:37:21 "Tea is not as sexy and marketable as coffee coffee just has that appeal."
- 00:42:30 "If you want to live forever you should be drinking matcha man not those other drinks like the big sports energy drinks."
- 00:51:47 "Coffee is like that chocolate bar... This is like vegetables you can't really market this it's not exciting but when you do have it it tastes so good."
Related Topics
- Japanese Vending Machine Culture
- Shizuoka Tea Production
- Traditional Tea Ceremony
- Health Benefits of Green Tea
- Japanese Soft Drink Industry
Search Tags
#only-in-japan-go #tokyo #travel #vending-machine #green-tea #ocha #matcha #itoen #kirin #coca-cola #suntory #taste-test #japanese-culture #health #catechin #winter #hot-tea #pet-bottle
Full Transcript
00:00:33 John Daub: Boiling water they use more of a 50 to 60 degree water because the water temperature controls the amount of caffeine and catechin inside of it. Catechin is this really great compound inside of green tea that's released when you add hot water and this is the one that gets rid of the free radicals and also helps you with beauty. I need a little bit of that these days but this one is really good. This is the baseline and so I'm gonna put that here. It's just a little bit bitter and slightly sweet so it's a pretty good balance here.
00:02:55 John Daub: All these started construction over there. I picked the reason why I didn't go to the riverside is because there's a little bit of wind and this I thought would block it down. I'm really bad with picking the areas okay. This one is also by Itoen and yeah this is the same company and the same brand except that this one is called Oi Ocha (delicious tea) and it claims to reduce body fat. The price was actually the same as the one I just showed you. This you can also find in the vending machines. The reason why it might not be as popular is because it's a little bit more bitter. They use a higher temperature to boil it and the catechin amount is 960 milligrams. The baseline regular Itoen Oi Ocha has 40 milligrams.
00:04:19 John Daub: This one's going to be a lot darker than the Oi Ocha right here the baseline. Yeah there's a little bit more color to it. This is the normal Oi Ocha and this is the one that's been brewed at a higher temperature. It's a bit darker but this one has more of the catechin and it also has more caffeine in it. Let's try these two. Oh yeah this one is definitely a lot more bitter than this one. This one has a sweeter taste this one has a bitter taste but in terms of health and in terms of caffeine this one will keep you awake and make you look more beautiful because the catechin and caffeine and green tea kind of have similar impacts. If you don't want to drink any caffeine probably don't drink any green tea or brew it with cold water or cooler water this does not release the caffeine or use what we call hojicha (roasted tea).
00:06:07 John Daub: The first time I tried green tea I did not like it. I remember coming here 23 years ago going to a vending machine and just got a green tea out of a vending machine and it was sweet it wasn't sweetened it was just full all out bitter. How did I pick the absolute worst spot to do this they just came right now the construction anyways. This one is unsweetened just like the other one a little bit too bitter for most people but I can tell you this one here is a little bit better sweetened it has more. Probably gonna like this more if this is your first time having it.
00:06:51 John Daub: Next up is Nama Cha (raw tea). This one is called Nama Cha and Nama Cha is made by Kirin beverages. Kirin of course is famous for the Kirin beer but this there's also. It doesn't tell you a lot about the amount of catechins or caffeine in it all it does say is that it's 100% from Japan. Nama Cha was one of the first ones that I had 20 some years ago. It wasn't actually Itoen it was this one and I actually was very partial to this brand. I was buying a lot and then I found that Itoen more to my liking there's just a little bit more natural sweetness to it. Nama means raw and apparently they use raw leaves meaning unprocessed no processing whatsoever.
00:08:32 John Daub: Wow this this reminds me of beer it's cloudy. This Nama Cha is actually cloudy it looks like it's got some of the juice of the tea leaves or something it's more than just brewed unfiltered maybe. It reminds me of beer you know you find some unfiltered beers this would be the unfiltered one and this would be the filtered one. Let's try to see which one is better and this is the normal Itoen Oi Ocha. Kirin Nama Cha I like them both actually I can't taste much of a difference. This one is not as bitter of course there's a slight bitterness this one's even less so has more of a just a refreshing taste to it.
00:09:56 John Daub: I think with the bitterness if you're not used to it and that's most people in North America are not used to the bitterness of green tea it's actually people are like what is this stuff give me some honey. You can get used to it and when you do it's really refreshing you kind of just like you do with the sweetness you can get addicted almost to bitterness. The Nama Cha is definitely high on my list to recommend to people.
00:10:32 John Daub: Next up I'm gonna be looking at this one here and you've got background music from construction about 20 meters away. This is Ayataka. Ayataka is made by Coca-Cola and Coca-Cola has been brewing tea for a long time this might come to a shock to some people in North America. In Atlanta where Coca-Cola is headquartered in Japan their best-selling product is not actually Coca-Cola it's the teas that they sell from the vending machines and Georgia coffee they also make canned coffee in the Coca-Cola vending machines. This one doesn't actually tell you any of the information about this tea except that it's authentic. All the green teas that I'm showing you here they're loaded in vitamin C as well it's not just caffeine and catechins and amino acids there's lots of things that give it a lot of health benefits.
00:11:57 John Daub: I have a video that I just released and I'm going to share it with you guys and I'm really excited about this video if you like it share because if you these just some of those small things and the green tea you can really taste. If you don't know about the new Only in Japan channel I'll put a link in the description here go check that out. I travel to Fuji City to Shizuoka prefecture and I talked with some tea masters about the taste and the health benefits of green tea. It's an amazing edited video with some fantastic drone shots of the Fuji tea plantations around Mount Fuji. So you're definitely going to check that out. If you have any questions you can hit me up on the discord server because I'll be looking at that tonight.
00:12:30 John Daub: Arsenic thank you for welcoming welcome to the travelers arsenic 101 and the Beatles longtime. No see John looking forward to these as not normally a big fan of these drinks. I've been there too you know air to the Ron kanpai looks good and looks cold. It's actually a pretty warm day here in Tokyo. Thanks for the support guys and surprise cat tea is also a new member thanks for that. All right let's try this Ayataka and we're gonna compare it again with the base. Our base tea if you're joining us for this episode is this one this is the Itoen Oi Ocha the Guinness Book of World Record holder the most green tea sold in a PET bottle.
00:13:20 John Daub: Ayataka from Coca-Cola let's see this one here interesting so this one looks cloudier than the Itoen version but it's not as cloudy as Nama Cha from Kirin. That is interesting so it is definitely cloudy I'm not sure about the process this is something I'm gonna ask next time I go for part two the video. Wow the bitterness is so much more subdued in this of course all of these are unsweetened teas. This is the first time in the 23 years I've been living here that I've actually done this where I've compared the tea tastes to all all other ones. This one definitely is the smoothest almost I don't want to say no bitterness but it's definitely a lot more subdued. It's just this is a good balance between the sweetness and the bitterness but both sweetness and bitterness are at a very low level. In order to do that they have to brew these at lower temperatures.
00:14:56 John Daub: Again if you brew your green tea at over 70 degrees Celsius which is what 150 degrees Fahrenheit maybe boiling water of course is 212 degrees Fahrenheit. If you boil it at a lower temperature you reduce the bitterness because the caffeine and catechins don't come out they kind of stay inside the leaves but you kind of want that to come out a little bit because it has a lot of health benefits. This is the baseline Oi Ocha from Itoen there's a definite bitterness here. John Wakamatsu is in the house how are you doing John.
00:15:38 John Daub: Let's try the last one here this one is really interesting this is from Kyoto all right it's actually from Suntory Beverages. This is green tea and it says here with matcha and you can see again the color is more along the lines of Nama Cha it looks like it's unfiltered. All vending machine teas are all natural from grown here in Japan so nothing is imported. It says here that there's catechin 29 milligrams here on the bottom there and of course loaded with vitamin C and just point zero two grams of salt which I don't understand unless it's maybe they do that to make you thirstier so then you drink more of it. This one has matcha inside of it so let's see how this tastes.
00:17:09 John Daub: Now matcha is I learned in Shizuoka they don't actually make a lot of matcha they mostly grow sencha. Sencha is the first flush of a type of green tea that's in the sun. Gyokuro (high-grade shaded green tea) is more an Uji in Kyoto and it's covered meaning it doesn't have direct sunlight so it produces a different taste but it's the same bush it's the same tea plant. In Kyoto they have the gyokuro and that's the one that they grind into matcha so this is all from Kyoto this is not from Shizuoka. This one is not as filtered as the other green teas very interesting. I think if I compare this to Nama Cha I wonder how much more unfiltered they are that might be a future livestream.
00:18:14 John Daub: So this is the baseline Itoen and the last one from Kyoto let's give this a try. There's a different kind of bitterness to this one that's really interesting. I probably don't like this one as much it doesn't taste as clear it doesn't have that clear green tea taste to it. It leaves a texture in my mouth I'm making a face but it doesn't mean it's bad I can feel it's leaving something behind maybe that's from the powder from the matcha. Matcha is a key word that makes everybody kind of excited because you get that in ice cream matcha you know it's more famous maybe than ocha or ryokucha (green tea). So I could see why they would add matcha to sell this but all the PET bottles are not 500 milliliters but they're actually 525 milliliters. I'm not a big fan of this one I definitely like the Itoen one.
00:19:43 John Daub: I'm ready to give you a final diagnosis of what are they doing I don't know. The cloudiest one might have been this Nama Cha so let's see how they compare here. Nama Cha and Iemon you can see Nama Cha just is a little bit greener. This one has a little bit of green this one has the matcha in it and this one is Nama Cha by Kirin so you can see this one probably is cloudier darker and might have more natural goodness to it I'm not really sure.
00:20:47 John Daub: I'm ready to make my final diagnosis here this is kind of fun. I didn't know that I would be so impacted by this green tea episode that I just uploaded. A big shout out by the way to my friend Dean Newcomb who uploaded a video I'm actually collaborated with Dean whose channel is called Runaway Japan. You might want to check that out I put a link in the description of this video and check out Dean's episode I think he only had like 900 views which is a travesty it's pretty interesting and a behind-the-scenes look at that episode that I made in Fuji City.
00:21:44 John Daub: Here's my final diagnosis prognosis so I'm going to put the green tea here in a line up here I'm going to pick it from last to first. This one which is Iemon from Suntory this would be fifth place okay. Next up for me would be this Ayataka from Coca-Cola would be in fourth place which doesn't mean it's bad it's just got some pretty steep competition. In third place the Koicha (thick tea) which is part of the Itoen brand here of Oi Ocha this Koicha is in third place and I'm going just by taste alone. Next up is Nama Cha and Oi Ocha here is the winner for me.
00:23:00 John Daub: These are the five bottles here and you know it's interesting because the best and healthiest one for you is this one and this one is the same price in all the vending machines. All they did that was different and this one is just I believe just boiled it with hotter water. This created more catechins which is what you want to decrease free radicals in your body which are anti-aging and it says it has double the amount of catechins that you need than this one. What is interesting to me is that these other teas Kirin's Nama Cha Ayataka and Iemon do not actually tell you how much catechin is in it they give you like an estimate between 9 and 29 or something that's not good I want that information written on the label.
00:24:04 John Daub: This is just the reason why I wanted to do this episode and I'll take some of your questions. The important thing to me was when I was in Fuji City a lot of the tea masters told me that people are starting to become disconnected with the tea culture in Japan I'm talking about Japanese younger Japanese kids only know ocha green tea from the vending machines and that part of the culture is starting to get lost a little bit. A lot of the tea masters are making an effort they didn't have to do this in the past making an effort to go to schools and travel around Japan to teach kids about the culture of green tea how to make it what the temperature does some of the stuff that's in it that's good for you. Because coffee if there's a battle coffee is fighting pretty hard here in Japan so I thought it was pretty important for me to make this episode in Shizuoka last month.
00:25:04 John Daub: Air to the Ron Duke Nukem I love the random comments like John Wall. Natasha Zdenov thank you so much it's nice to see Pearman Jennifer French is here it's always great Food Loaf I never thought you'd do bungee jumping. It's kind of the mysterious ending of the main channel episode go check that out. Michael Sassano I love your tea adventure with Dean always wondered how tea culture was cultivated and produced in Japan looking forward to part two. Do they make sweetened tea that's a good question and the answer is they do but it's not green tea because that wouldn't resonate very well with Japanese.
00:26:07 John Daub: See the sweetness is something that we kind of look forward to and savor but for Japanese it's the opposite actually sweetness is not something that they look for in a drink all the time it's like dessert. That's why there's a vending machine just over there I'll take you to a vending machine at the end of this livestream. The Coca-Cola sometimes comes in cans that are only six ounces the reason why is it's too sweet for Japanese they prefer bitter. So there's not a lot of sweetened teas because actually they just don't sell that well the sweeter a product is the more they see it as dessert and they don't like it. Just like I think Westerners don't like the bitterness of the tea the Japanese don't like the sweetness of the drinks it's too sweet.
00:26:52 John Daub: This is one of the things that I discussed with some of the tea masters up in Shizuoka as well bitterness and sweetness are two tastes that we should value. But for some reason maybe it's because of when we were a kid the bitterness is just too strong and our palates are not used to it. However after living here for 20-some years my palate is now adjusted to the bitterness and I actually look forward to it I actually love it it's just an acquired taste. The first couple of times that you try green tea you might not like it without sweetener I'm going to tell you just try to drink it without the sweetener for a little bit give your mind a few days and then you're going to start to like the bitterness of it. It's just something that you're just not used to like lima beans and broccoli and stuff like this.
00:27:40 John Daub: There's a beautiful poetry in bitterness Toro Poco exactly I think bitterness is one of these flavors and if you start to release it also I think plays an impact on your mind different tastes. This is what I love about Japanese cuisine different tastes release different thoughts and different feelings so green tea releases a different feeling and it's a different bitterness than coffee. If you get a chance to drink green tea try it bitter and try to fight through that initial reaction like this is gross keep drinking it not just because it's good for you that bitterness you will find some sort of happiness inside of that and it will expand your palate. This will open up new foods to you and you'll have a greater appreciation of it if you can appreciate the bitterness of something and you won't give those sugar and high fructose corn syrup corporations your business and that's a good thing although by buying Coca-Cola I kind of just did.
00:28:57 John Daub: Spike021 didn't love green tea much till visiting the first time hot bottles of green tea are especially nice in the konbini in the cold morning yes. When I'm waiting for trains and this is when I was riding the Seishun 18 Kippu (youth 18 ticket local train pass) to get around here in the winter it is so chilly and you always want to get an early start. Waiting on the train platforms out in the countryside I would buy the cans of hot tea or milk tea and I would put it in my pocket and I'd buy one or two to stay warm and then I would drink it on the train. Buying the hot teas from the vending machines is definitely the way to go especially up in Hokkaido.
00:29:47 John Daub: By the way if you become an insider I'm going to be doing after this in a place that's not so loud I got two new KitKat flavors this one is called ume (plum) and this is matcha tiramisu. I'm going to be doing a special secret insider livestream right after this one about five minutes after I find a better spot and I think the construction is going away I timed this so bad. Patreon postcard club members and I will also get a chance to take a look at that so you don't have to do that if you're a postcard club member. Speaking of which I do have a postcard this is going Ron in Houston Texas thank you Ron. This is this month's postcard and I put food stamps on the back of it every month I do on Patreon a postcard club sending a new image from Japan. This is a sushi episode that will be coming in early February from the chef who did micro sushi with me a couple years ago Yuki-san from Takasago Sushi she's a very very creative chef.
00:31:19 John Daub: Any questions let's see if we can go through this Brandania is here welcome Brandania. Food stamps made something completely different here in Japan a food stamp is a stamp with food on it and there's a lot of them because Japanese cuisine is so good. The mystery Kit Kat for me the mystery Kit Kat will always be the aged-barreled whiskey Kit Kats which I just can't get a hold of. Is there a fermented version of tea when you kind of put enzymes in the tea that's when you get oolong cha and black teas and China a lot of the tea comes from the same bush. They add an enzyme in China that changes the taste of it so you get all sorts of different kinds of teas that open up your palate which is so interesting how diverse the tea bush is.
00:32:33 John Daub: Waste Future writes love you John Dog thank you Waste Future is there expensive tea this is a good question. When I was in Shizuoka I did ask about the price and this is part of the next episode of Green Tea there's a whole world of this I only scratched the surface. The prices of the tea have a little bit to do with the branding but also with the tea themselves. Watanabe-san in the video with the link in the description is a chashi (tea master) fifth generation tea master and he's one of the people in Fuji City who blends tea. The more expensive teas the masters have found each flush has some power to it and it's that balance between bitterness and sweetness when brewed at 70 degrees Celsius which is 158 degrees Fahrenheit. The amino acids create the sweetness in green tea and the catechins and caffeine create the bitterness so you get both of those.
00:34:32 John Daub: The hotter the water is the more the catechins come out and the more bitter the tea becomes but the more expensive teas come from more prestigious places and also have that flush just has a very good balance to it. In Uji and the location also does matter different temperatures the same as wine. Honda-san in the video told me that different regions of Japan because of the weather also have different tastes too so there's a subtleness to it he compared green tea to wine there's Pinot Noir it also really depends on the region. Shizuoka makes the majority of green tea especially sencha in Japan but there are some really pricey teas in there also the blends of the tea do make it more expensive. In general I don't buy the cheapest one I'll pick something like around for 250 grams maybe a thousand yen 800 to a thousand yen and that'll last quite a long time.
00:36:32 John Daub: Cheaper teas are okay too just the taste of it is controlled more by the temperature and knowing that should give you a leg up on other tea people. What is the most expensive that you've bought actually for a PET bottle Itoen has an even higher grade this is the healthiest tea for your body Itoen has an even higher grade and they can go up to about $2 for a PET bottle. I've never tried really super premium high-grade expensive tea yet and that's something that I'm going to be doing in the next episode really kind of expand on what we've built in the first episode.
00:37:21 John Daub: Tea is very much like coffee in the way that there's different brews there's different ways there's like nitro brewing coffee there's cold brewing coffee. Tea is not as sexy and marketable as coffee coffee just has that appeal I don't know why coffee houses you don't get the same kind of love you get when you say the word tea houses it just sounds kind of boring. If you brew your Sencha at 100 degrees at boiling water you will get a heck of a lot of caffeine out of that you can make your own sports drink. Green tea actually can be a thirst quencher they don't put in salt Coca-Cola puts in a lot of salt to make you even more thirsty so you drink more Coca-Cola they use sugar to mask the saltiness of it.
00:38:38 John Daub: I was surprised that Suntory put some sodium there's sodium in their tea but I don't think Itoen has any sodium and tea makers would do that to make you more thirsty but maybe to add a little bit of minerals in it. There's a trace amount of salt so I don't know why there's any sodium in this at all drink makers might add it in there because it makes you thirsty to drink more but if you're drinking this as a replenishment that's not a lot electrolytes maybe. If you're an athlete and you're active you might want to have a little bit of salt anyway so it's not a bad thing to have the salt and maybe to curb some of the bitterness perhaps but then again Japanese love that bitterness.
00:39:56 John Daub: I picked again the worst spot for doing livestreams I do apologize for this it does help you hydrate too so maybe it's a very good balance. Again like I do think you should read the labels and if you do come to Japan and you're interested in this try buying a bunch of green teas and find the green tea that works best for you. The way I taste it is probably going to be different from the way you taste the things this is just part of the experience and drink it from a champagne glass give it some respect you know what I mean.
00:40:32 John Daub: Any last questions again you can go on the Discord server here our moderators will put that that's a free server with 24-7 you can talk about anything you want and we have a section on food and drink so I'll be posting some of the pictures of the green tea in there. Matcha yeah you know matcha has the most caffeine of all of them when you're actually consuming the particles of the tea it really increases the amount of caffeine. The first time I drank matcha was 22 years ago and I went to a tea ceremony and they passed the bowl around and I was the first one big mistake. I took the bowl and it's quite a large bowl because they mix it up for the group and I turned it three times and I drank it all because I thought it was just like a mug and I was supposed to drink it all. Everyone looked shocked like why did you just do that I said I never did the tea ceremony before now I know don't when it comes in a big pot it's for the community.
00:42:30 John Daub: The end result was that I was so caffeined out I didn't sleep I think for two days the next day I was pretty wired and the next day I couldn't sleep but I chalk it up to the strength of matcha. If you drink it in a quantity like that it is more powerful than energy drinks I think if you're a gamer and you need to be buzzed matcha man and it's healthy just know that they don't put chemicals in it. If you want to live forever you should be drinking matcha man not those other drinks like the big sports energy drinks drink matcha drinks just advice from somebody who's living in Japan.
00:43:30 John Daub: Chunky Monkey thank you for the green tea experience and education you're so welcome Chunky. Mr. Das would not approve of all this tea drinking I'm afraid. I'm going to take you to a vending machine and just show you some of the options over there and then hang out and if you're an insider come back in about five minutes on the Only in Japan Go channel and I'm going to have another live stream eating some Kit Kats it's a top secret live stream only for us.
00:44:44 John Daub: I once spent a day looking for Sprite I couldn't find it so every single Japanese vending machine has some tea in it. There's the flux capacitor why'd they put that on peach interesting. This is an Asahi drink and they seem to have their own Nihon Cha (Japanese tea) called Nagakata which is long way I guess the long way and it looks like it has some matcha in there. All of them say no sugar and that's right none of them have sugar in it they wrote in English because everybody knows that there's no sugar in it but for tourists that go bleh it's so bitter what's up with that. And then there's Juroku Cha (16 tea) which is really good popular tea but that's not green tea.
00:45:48 John Daub: Oh here it is so you can get the oh that's not Itoen they like totally ripped off the label what it says O-cha. This company Sangaria totally ripped off Itoen's Oi Ocha this is the same so they have this one with more catechin in it look it says it has more catechin in it that's so funny that's just like the same darker color as the Itoen one. Itoen is the brand leader and this company totally ripped it off but it's so much cheaper. This vending machine seems to have a bunch of other good stuff here this is the first UCC just an interesting side note you see here 1969 they made this before the 1970 Osaka Expo it's a pretty interesting story this milk coffee coffee in a can came about right before the Expo as an innovation here in Japan and they haven't changed the recipe since.
00:47:03 John Daub: Here's another vending machine oh wow okay they got that Kyoto one this one is 130 yen that's interesting but I don't see a bunch of other drinks. I'd say about 10 years ago you'd see a lot of choices but most of them would be green tea this one doesn't so you can see that the time is changing people don't want just green tea. Here's another one wow okay so we got the Nama Cha this is the one that we tried from Kirin they're boasting to buy this one because they just come in bigger bottles. Nama Cha is an easy sell for me this is a Kirin vending machine it's one of the favorite ones because it has a very good balance to it and it's unfiltered so makes you feel like you're getting more good stuff in there.
00:48:28 John Daub: This one is atatakai (hot) which means that this is actually a hot tea what do you guys think should I try this one. These are a little bit smaller than the PET bottle but heck it'll keep me warm so I think it's got some value. Let's get it oh it was only 100 yen oh it's nice and warm you can see the cap is on there so maybe this will release the catechins nice.
00:50:08 John Daub: That's so warm I got the change thanks for looking out for me. Again read the labels on the bottom of it on the very bottom it says here that there's 0.03 grams of table salt and 27 to 56 milligrams of catechin and that is a lot actually so there's some really good stuff in here Iemon. This is from Suntory yeah this is the one that I picked for fifth place let's see oh wow the thing with hot it's actually different when it's hot. On a summer day you're going to want cold green tea just it's so much more refreshing than hot tea but when you get a cup of green tea that comes like hot just the aroma of it is so intoxicating.
00:51:47 John Daub: I like to compare coffee and green tea like this coffee is like that chocolate bar you know you just mentally I'm always thinking about coffee because it's got that rich chocolateness to it like it's just good. This is like vegetables you can't really market this it's not exciting but when you do have it it tastes so good it's got this and it smells like Japan to me. Slight bitterness no sugar at all refreshing slight bitterness it's a lot better you can taste more of the flavors when it's not this hot I think. When it's cold you can taste more of the flavors because you don't have the heat messing around with the insides but when it starts to cool off you start to taste some of the other flavors in it a little bit this is good and it'll keep you warm this is fun.
00:52:55 John Daub: Thanks so much for watching everybody if you have some questions leave them in the comments below I encourage you to go check out in the there's a link in the description check out the video that I just uploaded we're close to 500 comments and I do read the comments if you leave me one that's a question I will answer it. It's interesting to read the other comments in the video because there's a lot of people I asked the question would you make the switch from green tea to coffee and there's some really interesting points of view on some people that have done that and how they reacted to it was interesting for me to really read. I also want to tell you about an Easter egg in that video if you've already watched it there's a section in it where I'm telling people about the amino acids and the catechins in Watanabe's Yamadain tea shop and inside the music I go like this I actually was singing in the background sencha and kukicha yeah it's really geeky totally cheesy complete nerd cringe move it works.
00:54:04 John Daub: You might want to rewatch it just to see that it works I like it when there's an Easter egg and there's some cheesiness in a video chalk that up to only in Japan that's my style there has to be something that makes you smile and something to make you watch it again. Thanks to all of our members here I'm going to go live in about five minutes now to try this one this is green tea tiramisu and ume ume taste so we'll get a chance to see if these are really good just a really short stream for insiders we call this a secret stream it's not secret anymore. I do have another video on the main channel coming really soon I'm filming a couple of episodes one was at Ueno Station two days ago and that was a really interesting shoot that I'm doing there with in collaboration with Japan Rail.
00:55:14 John Daub: If you're traveling in Japan you're living here in Japan do check out the JR East Welcome Pass it's not the best time to be traveling especially with the state of emergency and telling us not to travel but if you do and you have to travel then travel on the JR East Welcome Pass. If you are a YouTuber and you're watching this please do be safe I know you're traveling around YouTube and you should probably be staying home a little bit but just stay safe and try not to go into crowded places. For the next week or so I'll be doing my best to do just that I'm taking precautions and you stay safe too. See you on the Insider live stream and another live stream either tonight or tomorrow for the rest of this month I'll be doing a live stream every day pretty exciting. Thanks so much for the support everybody see you in the next live stream later Gator. If you're drinking if you're going to bed right now do not drink green tea because you'll stay up that's my advice bye.