Customer Reviews - JAPANESE GREEN TEA

These messages are from our customers. Thank you very much for your messages.
If you have feedback, requests, or questions regarding our site, please don't hesitate to contact us .

I just wanted to say thanks for your interesting and very informative newsletter, and for your wonderful products.
I found your company last year while searching online for a source for matcha. I developed a love for "real" Japanese green tea years ago when I worked for Kyusu Matsushita in their branch office here in North Carolina. A coworker's family owned a tea farm and he would bring me "fresh" tea from Japan. How amazingly different from the "green tea" available commercially here in the US! I was so glad to find your company and a new source for my beloved green teas. I respect and appreciate your natural approach to farming, and it makes your teas even more enjoyable for me.
Thank you again for your excellent products and your efforts to educate your customers.
A loyal customer,

Female, Age:47, North California, U.S.A.

I took some times to read your accurate reports on tea and its culture and I am speechless. To me, that experienced living and working sometimes in one of the most enchanting country (Japan), listening about such stories is like listening to some fairytale.. how to say. However I drink green tea regularly and I really appreciate the various tastes whereas behind I must say there are a full complex processing procedure that led to the taste and magic flavor that we can appreciate today.
Thanks again for your efforts.

Female, 43 , Terni, Italy

I just wanted to thank you for I recieved my last order very quickly indeed. It was Gyokuro superior and Gyokuro premium and Gyokuro super premium.
I'd opened and tried the Gyokuro superior right away when I received it and it was very good, but today i'd just tried your Gyokuro premium. And it was wonderful! To say the least. The color, the aroma and the taste...I can't wait for that special moment for me to try the Gyokuro super premium!
I love your tea,I had puchased some Gyokuro from a local store in New York previously, but I had to throw those away today against my own guilt of being wasteful! Thank God it wasn't much left! I just couldn't anymore, after sampling yours. I guess you've spoiled me. Thank you again such quality. I can't wait to try your sencha and I've telling all my friends about this.
Thank you again,

Male, Age:43, New York, U.S.A.

You have a good website with much helpful information for the customer and willing to assist outside of that. I am learning from you at Hibiki-an than from anybody elseThat's good customer relations that anyone can appreciate. I especially like the pictures of your tea farm. The ones sent in by another customer were just great! Having never seen one, it helps me understand better what they are like.
You offer a truly fresh product with quick reasonable shipping. The Gyokuro, especially the Premium is my favorite. When my package of tea arrived the first thing I noticed was the aroma that filled the air as soon as the bag was open - fresh. Interesting enough, I could compare it to two other samples of Gyokuro. Hibiki-an is a dark, fresh green and the other not quite so. The aroma on my other two samples I think was hampered by prolonged storage. The leaves were not dark and fresh looking either. Not to say the tea was bad, I was simply comparing what Gyukuro I had on hand. The taste was excellent due to the freshness of the tea. Delicate as the dew, your tea has surpassed all my expectations. If I have friends or guest over, this would be the tea I serve to them.
Very pleased to be doing business with you and looking to future orders.

Female, Age:53, Tennessee, U.S.A.

I just wanted to send you an e-mail to add to your collection of customer reviews of your products and business.
Firstly, your products. To those who are viewing your website I can recommend your products as being of the highest quality. I have ordered Premuim Organic Sencha from you for some time now and it is superb. I have also purchased a teapot, a pair of tea cups and a pair of airtight containers for storing my tea in. They are also of the highest quality.
Secondly, your business. It is no exaggeration for me to state that you quite simply have the best managed business I have ever dealt with. All my orders are delivered promptly and in correct order. Furthermore, the products that get mailed to me are always done so in the most tremendous packaging I have ever seen. This may be normal in Japan but I have never seen packaging of such quality in the west! You also respond to any quieries I have in an extremely speedy and accurate manner.
I hope my reccomendation is of some assistance to you and thank you sincerely for the impeccable service you continue to give me.
Sincerely,

Male, Age:35, Melborune, Australia

It is with great pleasure that I review the tea and tea products available at Hibiki-an. I have been looking for a credible source for green tea for a long time. Finally, after years of frustration, I have found a tea farm that produces tea with integrity and unequalled service.
My brother-in-law recently visited the Hibiki-an tea farm in Kyoto, Japan. The purpose of his trip was to visit his mother in Osaka, but he agreed to contact Mr. Yasui and inquire about a tour of the tea farm. Mr. Yasui graciously agreed to show him the farm and made arrangements to pick him up at the train station on September 1, 2005. My brother-in-law spent the afternoon touring the farm and observing how the tea is processed and packaged for shipment. He was very impressed with the hospitality shown to him during his visit and the overall operation of the farm. He sent me a pictorial diary of the 4-5 hours he spent with Mr. Yasui and his family. I appreciate Mr. Yasui's attempt to educate and inform his customers about the tea and products available through his web site. I now enjoy great service and fresh, delicious tea that arrives very quickly and nicely packaged.
I' m surprised that Mr. Yasui can send the tea for such a small shipping and handling fee. This is a first class operation. I would highly recommend green tea from Hibiki-an if you want a high grade tea coupled with excellent service. If you have any questions, email Mr. Yasui. He enjoys getting to know his customers and answering questions related to his line of products.

Male, Age:52, Georgia, U.S.A.

(You can see details of the tour above by clicking here)

I am so pleased with my recent purchase of the Sencha tea I ordered. The taste and aroma are sublime. I cannot praise your product enough.
I love tea and can truly say I have NEVER tasted a tea more satisfying and blissful than this one. You have a customer for life in me.
I thank you many times for this wonderful tea.
Sincerely

Female, Age:58, New York, U.S.A.

I have been purchasing from Hibiki since April, 2005 and have had excellent service. I used to buy from a tea supplier in the U.S. until they moved and I had to find another source for Matcha. Luckily I found Hibiki from a search engine and am glad I did. Your Matcha is the best I have ever tasted. In fact, even your House Matcha is better than I can buy here. Thanks for making such a good product available to the rest of the world.

Male, Age:50, Texas, U.S.A.

I just received the tea and I am drinking it now. The flavor is good and the quality is high so I am very satisfied.
I will be ordering more organic sencha from you again very soon.

Male, Age:34, California, U.S.A.

I am happy to report that I receive the merchandise today in excellent condition. I am impressed that you can deliver it so fast, even from Japan. (That's less than a week!). Thank you for an excellent service.

Male, Age:50, Alabama, U.S.A.

comment from Japanese Green Tea Hibiki-an

We are pleased received the message.
We always take great care to insure freshness. Generally Japanese Green Tea Leaves are deteriorated when they are transported out of Japan; due to time spent at the point of wholesale, transportation, to the reseller, and so on. Our teas are delivered directly to you from Uji, in Kyoto, Japan. Therefore, you can enjoy good quality Japanese green tea as well as in Japan.
Therefore we are proud of our quality and price.

I just wanted to express my admiration for your company. First of all an excellent and very quick service. I ordered my goods on a Friday and had my ordered items in my kitchen ready to use on Tuesday! That's four days between Kyoto and Sweden and including a customs check. That's quicker then many domestic shipments in Sweden.
When we opened the parcel we were amazed by the lovely hand crafted Kyusu called HOHRYU. One of the most beautiful tea pots we had seen. Please send our greetings to the master who created that pot!
We also liked the MATSUBA cups very much. Then rather late in the evening we had the opportunity to taste the organic Sencha Premium and we drank three cups and enjoyed each and every one of them. Best and most delicious tea we ever drank. We are not that experienced tea drinkers, but of all the green tea we had so far this was the best.
We are already looking forward to order more teas from you, so we can taste the gyokuro, the Matcha etc. etc. All organic of course, because we believe that we have to preserve this earth for many generations to come, and that is not done by distributing chemicals in the nature.
Organic and bio-dynamic wine is coming strong now, and we hope and believe that tea growing will follow.

Male, Age:57, Goteborg, Sweden

I just received the merchandise I ordered from you. It arrived in good condition. The matcha bowl is lovely and the matcha quite delicious. I have not tried the tea bags yet but I'm sure it is delicious. Thank you for offering such excellent products at such reasonable prices. I will be ordering from you in the future. Thanks again and Happy New Year to you and yours,

Male, Texas, U.S.A.

Dear Friends, I am very happy to have found your company. I ordered on July 26 and my tea arrived on July 29. An excellent service! In addition, I find your tea is superior to any tea that I can buy here and I recommend your products to all my friends.
Very best regards,
Fairport, NY USA

Male, Age:61, New York, U.S.A.

On 21 December, I placed my first order with your company: a Kyusu & a pair of Chazutsu containers. Today (30th) they have arrived at my home in Blackpool, England.
I am sending this e-mail to say that I am very pleased with the order. The items are of a superb quality; were well packaged; and arrived quickly.
Thank you for an excellent service.
Kind regards,

Male, Age:31, Lancashire, England

comment from Japanese Green Tea Hibiki-an

Thank you so much. We are delighted you enjoy our products.
Once you ordered, usually it will reach you in a week. The lead time is different from according to circumstances of the postal service and the customs clearance period in each country.
If you would like to send a gift, please place your order in a timely manner to allow for shipping.

Dear family Yasui,
with this writing I want to express my deep respect for your brilliant achievement as a tea farmer and merchant. I am a very satisfied customer. My family and some of our friends love drinking good teas. Customary we drink several pots of tea every day. From time to time we enjoy special teas too. We like the excellent quality of your teas very much. It is really nearly impossible to get such great tea in Germany. High quality Japanese tea sold in local shops is indeed more expensive and never tastes so fresh.
But our pleasure is not only about the tea itself. Your internet presence and the offered customer service are also very impressive. Your Internet presence is well structured; the information is neatly arranged and conveys the impression of an excellent customer service.
You did not disappoint me; just the opposite! Thank you very much for the excellent quality of both the quality of the tea and of the customer service - connected with a new order which to receive I am looking forward to.
With best regards

Female age:39, Muelheim-Kaerlich, Germany

I just wanted to give you some feedback about my order.
First, I want to thank you for your great reactivity despite my use of french characters. I post my order the 08/05 and recieved a nice packet the 08/11. It's only 3 more days than for an order passed in France !
I first tried the Sencha Premium and I discovered the true high quality sencha. I recieved a shock when I opened the bag and smell the plainfull and complex flavor. I understood why you insist on tea preservation. This great impression was confirmed by the infusion, followed by a very long finish. And the dream happened two times more. I fell on a world from which I will never return...
Today, I opened the House Sencha at work. I had a little fear to be disappointed after the great experience of the Sencha Premium. But the magic operates again. It's a different but nevertheless interesting magic. And it can happen every day.
As a conclusion, Ibiki-an succeded so well in touching my heart that I can't drink anymore the japanese green teas I used to buy in France.
So I want to congratulate you for your very professional service and for the quality and freshness of your tea.
Best regards,

Male age:32, Lyon, France

comment from Japanese Green Tea Hibiki-an

We are very glad that you have been content with our teas.
If we add to his comment, our all teas have met the EU Concentration Standard of Residual Agricultural Chemicals that may be the strictest in the world.
Although the Concentration Standard of Residual Agricultural Chemicals in the EU is stricter than Japan's, in Japan only the tea leaves produced in Uji, Kyoto have met the EU Standard since 2003.

We recently purchased 4 'Sohen' handcrafted teacups and my wife and I are enjoying them immensely. Mr Tanii's aesthetics and craftmanship are much appreciated. Would you kindly extend our gratitude to him.
Thank you.

Male, Age:67 Saskatchewan, Canada

comment from Japanese Green Tea Hibiki-an

Mr. Tanii was very pleased to hear the message.
We would like our site to be filled unique items thank to our favorable location, Uji in Kyoto for enjoyment to your hearts' content.
If you have any comment and request, can you please email us.

I am writing to let you know that the tea arrived today.
This evening we brewed our first cup of the Gyokuro premium and enjoyed it immensely.
It has a wonderful taste and is so fresh. We look forward to enjoying many more cups of the tea.
We are also pleased with how quickly the package arrived. Please thank your staff for doing such a good job.

Male, Age: 59, Washington, U.S.A.

Hello,
Thank you for making your teas available to the world outside of Japan. When drinking your teas, I will be reminded of my memories of when I lived in Japan. I very much miss Japan, and my Japanese friends. I will look forward to our future together.

Sincerely, and in friendship,

Male, Age:63, Iowa, U.S.A.

comment from Japanese Green Tea Hibiki-an

We are happy to know that you are satisfied with our tea.
We hope you will continue to enjoy our tea. Thank you very much.

Thank you for all your help with my order. I received it today (June 29,2005). I just wanted to take a moment and say a few words about my first experience with your company.
I visited many Green Tea web sites on the Internet, and I have to say that I was impressed with yours the most. The amount of information that you put behind your business and your product answered all of my questions as a first time Green Leaf Tea drinker.
I received my order in just over a week, despite a communication problem caused by the Internet. Everything arrived in good condition, and in attractive packaging.
The quality of the Sencha Super Premium was amazing. It not only tasted great, but I could also feel the difference from drinking a high-quality tea as compared to tea bags that I purchased from a variety of different companies. The quality of your tea leaves looked just as good, if not better, than the photos on your web site.
What impressed me the most was the service and the professional conduct in which my order was processed. There was a problem with my initial Internet order transmission and it was quickly resolved without any problems or inconvenience to me. Keiko Yasui of Hibiki-an actually took the time to personally assist me to get my order taken care of and sent out as soon as possible. I was treated not just as a customer, but more like a friend. It is comforting to know that you can trust the people that you are doing business with and that they value your concerns as well as your business.
I recommend Hibiki-an to my friends and to anyone that values drinking high quality green tea.
Thank you again,

Male, Age:33, Arizona, U.S.A.

comment from Japanese Green Tea Hibiki-an

We are completely happy to receive your e-mail. We were kind of busy and tired these days, you gave me a lot of energy.
Thank you very much! We believe the customer's service is most important. We are always thinking what we can do the best for our customers.

I am looking for loose, high quality green tea with gold flakes in it. My mother in law received a gift of this from a relative in Japan years ago. I would like to buy some for her if I can locate it. Do you have this type of tea? If not and you can tell me who does sell the tea with gold in it, I would really appreciate it.

Female, Age:45, California U.S.A.January 21, 2005

Yesterday we received our first order from your company.
As soon as we opened the package of your Sencha Superior, we immediately recognized both the aroma and visual appearance of excellent Japanese green tea leaves. Our high expectations were exceeded when shortly thereafter, we enjoyed our first cup. The flavors are deep and rich. We are not green tea experts, but we have been enjoying it for many, many years, and we simply know what we like. Frankly, I have not had such excellent tea since I last visited Japan a few years ago.
We anticipate that your Sencha Premium will be even better, and we will probably use it at least weekly and for special occasions, while your Sencha Superior will become our daily tea, at least for now. In the future, we will try some of your other products, particularly the Gyokuro varieties, Sencha Super Premium and Matcha.
With regard to marketing your products, I have the following questions:
Would it be possible for you to offer a "subscription service" so that regular customers will not have to take the time to make repeated orders? For example, perhaps there are customers who are buying the same products each month.
Separately, I was wondering if you might offer a sampler package, which would contain perhaps 3, 5 or 7 different kinds/qualities of your green tea, packed in small quantities (20-25 grams?). Because you have a variety of teas, this would be good way for customers to try and compare several teas and then order the ones they like in regular quantities. Further, this would make a wonderful gift product for almost any occasion.
Thank you very much for making such high quality teas available outside of Japan.

Male, Age:56, California, U.S.A.

comment from Japanese Green Tea Hibiki-an

We have added 'Golden Celebration tea'to our website product list on her advice.
And we are now studying subscribe and gift services on his advice, too.
Customer's service is important to us, and we will strive to fulfill your tea requests.
If you have any requests, please do not hesitate to contact us!