Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Click on any of the FAQs below to view the answer. If you can't find the answer to your question here, feel free to e-mail Customer Service at cs@mellowmonk.com.
How is Mellow Monk® different from other green teas?
Will I be able to taste the difference between Mellow Monk® and other green teas?
If Mellow Monk® tea is so good, why isn't it more expensive?
Where does the name "Mellow Monk®" come from?
What are the differences between green tea and other types of tea?
So why not just pop green-tea pills?
How much caffeine does green tea have?
Is ordering online secure?
How much brewed tea does a packet of Mellow Monk® tea make?
I've never brewed loose-leaf tea before. How do I do it?
Why doesn't Mellow Monk® tea come in tea bags?
Does Mellow Monk® guarantee its tea?
How is Mellow Monk® different from other green teas?
All of Mellow Monk® teas are:
- 100% natural—no sugar or artificial flavors or coloring added.
- Grown, harvested, and processed into authentic green tea by family-owned and -operated, 100% percent independent growers in the Aso region of Kyushu, Japan. Tea is what they do, and they do it well.
- Unblended, single-estate teas. Our growers sell only what they grow and harvest themselves, and we don't mix tea from one farm with tea from another.
- Chock full of antioxidants. Our growers harvest only what they can process that day. This locks in the antioxidants before oxidation has a chance to destroy them. (Prompt processing also seals in the smooth flavor and earthy aroma that green tea lovers just can't get enough of.)
- Vacuum-packed for freshness by the growers immediately after processing.
- Imported into the U.S. directly from those growers.
- 100 percent guaranteed.
What makes Mellow Monk® unique is that we buy our tea directly from small farms in Japan. These farms are all family owned and operated
and certified ecologically friendly. Our growers have also been
growing tea for generations, so they know their stuff. The soil and climate of the Aso region, where our tea is grown, are perfectly suited to green tea, just like the soil and
climate of California's Napa Valley are suited to wine grapes.
Our growers vacuum-package their tea immediately after processing
and ship it directly to us. We know our growers personally
and know their operations. We don't just sell someone else's
tea. This is the essence of Mellow Monk®'s mission.
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Will I be able to taste the difference between Mellow Monk® and other green teas?
You'll taste the difference from the very first sip. And once you get used to green tea this good, you'll wonder how you every put up with that other stuff.
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If Mellow Monk® tea is so good, why isn't it more expensive?
It's simple—we buy our tea directly from the growers. It's that age-old, time-tested technique for keeping prices low: cuting out out the middle man. Our growers may be small in scale, but they have many different ways to keep their prices competitive. For instance, they use old-fashioned, tried-and-true farming practices. Because our growers have been in the tea business for generations, they can draw on the expertise of their predecessors. In addition, tea plants thrive naturally in the Aso region because its climate and soil are ideal for tea.
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Where does the name "Mellow Monk®" come from?
"Mellow Monk®" is a loose translation of the name
of a Japanese Buddhist monk who lived in 9th century Japan.
This monk, Saicho, was one of the first to bring tea plants
to Japan from China and introduce the Japanese to the most
mellow art of brewing and drinking green tea. "Saicho" literally means "supreme
tranquility." With a name like that, how could he not
be a most mellow dude? We at Mellow Monk® aspire to continue
this tradition of mellowness by bringing you the finest of
mellowness-inducing (and supremely healthy) Japanese green
tea. Who knows—perhaps the tea plants that yielded the leaves
in your Mellow Monk® tea are direct descendents of the tea
plants that Saicho himself planted twelve hundred years ago.
(Please note that Mellow Monk is not affiliated with, and
does not endorse, any religion or religious group.)
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What are the differences between green tea and other types
of tea?
Green tea, black tea, and Chinese oolong tea all come
from the Camellia sinensis plant. The differences are in
how the
leaves are prepared after harvest. Green tea is steamed or
roasted immediately after harvest, which locks in much more
of the healthy catechins and other good stuff. Black tea
and oolong tea are fermented, which destroys much of the
antioxidants.
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So why not just pop green-tea pills?
Because there are two
ways that green tea is good for you: (1) chemically and (2)
emotionally. Brewing and sipping green
tea forces you to take a break. To get your mind off whatever
you're doing, if only for 5 minutes. But that's 5 minutes
of stress reduction.
Another reason to choose brewed green tea over extracts: Scientists are learning
more and more about the benefits of green tea every day.
They already know about the antioxidant effects of catechins.
Who knows what other health-promoting compound they may find
in green tea some day? Pills only contain what's already
been identified as healthful.
Finally, drinking brewed green tea is also a healthy way to keep your body properly hydrated.
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How much caffeine does green tea have?
Brewed green tea has
60% less caffeine than coffee does. If caffeine bothers you,
brew your tea a little on the weak
side, and spread a couple of cups over the course of the
day. If you need caffeine (especially in the morning), you
can either brew strong tea or drink more of it.
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Is ordering online secure?
Mellow Monk® uses PayPal Website Pro to process
payments, so your credit card transactions are eminently
secure. However, that's the
limit to their involvement—Mellow Monk® imports and
stores the tea and ships it directly to you when your order
is received.
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How much brewed tea does a packet
of Mellow Monk® tea make?
A
100-gram (3.5-ounce) packet brews about 45 cups of sumptuous,
mellowness-inducing tea.
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I've never brewed loose-leaf tea before. How do I do it?
We
have a lot of information in the How
to Brew section of this
web site.
Some day, brewing your own loose-leaf tea will become the hip thing to do, just like coffee aficionados discovered the benefits of grinding their own beans in the late '60s and '70s. Those "early adopters" were the vanguard, the coolest of the cool. At first, people thought, "Why go through all that trouble when you can just drink ground coffee?" Eventually, once people realized they could get better tasting coffee at home than at any restaurant, they saw the light.
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Why doesn't Mellow Monk® tea come in tea bags?
Let's just
say that operations that produce bagged tea emphasize the
bag over the tea. In fact, they probably spend more money on the
bags and the bagging equipment than on what's inside. It's
like the difference between instant coffee and grinding your
own beans.
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Does Mellow Monk® guarantee its tea?
We certainly do.
At Mellow Monk®, our goal is your complete satisfaction. If you are not satisfied with our tea for any reason, simply return the unused portion to us, and we will refund your purchase price. Period. No questions asked. That's how important your satisfaction is to us, and how confident we are in the quality of our tea.
To receive your refund, simply send us the unused tea in its "Mellow Monk®" foil packet, along with your name and email address and a record of your purchase (either the packing slip that came with the tea or a printout of an email from us about your purchase). Mail the tea to:
K4 Enterprises, LLC
1227 Rebecca Drive
Livermore, CA 94550-3563
A couple of caveats: Mellow Monk® will refund your original purchase price, but not shipping costs. In addition, refunds will be paid through PayPal, so be sure to give us an email address that is connected to a PayPal account.
If you have any questions about our guarantee, don't be shy—drop us a line.
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