Poised as the world's leading supplier of green tea, ITO EN is dedicated to the promotion of the fine taste, traditions, and benefits of green tea.

Generally speaking, Americans are not fond of drinking unsweet tea. Although (blessfully) many restaurants in the south offer it, you're not actually supposed to drink it that way. It always comes delivered with a collection of sweetener packets and with a big spoon sticking out of the glass, and I've gotten my share of odd looks from waiters when the first thing I do is pull the spoon out and then proceed to drink the beverage au naturale.

You're supposed to drink corn syrup. Coke in some areas, Pepsi in others. In the south sweet tea is an accepted substitute and unsweet is offered merely as an accommodation to diabetics, who are expected to load the beverage up with their artificial sweetener of choice if they aren't willing to drink one of the high tech "diet" beverages the cola companies are pushing. Don't believe me? Try to buy unsweet tea in a can. Good luck with that. I really wonder what the hell diabetic people in the United States drank before artificial sweetener was invented.

The recent popularity of green tea has resulted in a number strange iced green tea beverages hitting the market here. They can't just sell iced green tea in a bottle. No way. Americans aren't going to drink that! Often these green tea concoctions are so loaded with corn syrup that they are worse for you than cola! Diet versions are offered with those same high tech sweeteners, or honey. This is not what green tea is supposed to taste like!

The reason people in Japan are healthier than you isn't because anti-oxidants in green tea have some sort of magical power. Its because for every corn syrupy cola or rat poisoned diet beverage you've slugged away in your life they have chosen to drink a natural beverage without any sweeteners. And it tastes better that way! Fortunately the company that makes a significant portion of Japan's unsweet green tea does bottle and sell their product in America. You can order cases of it off of their website, but I ran into two liter bottles at Target recently.

It tastes good, its good for you, and its got plenty of caffeine. Please pick up a bottle and keep them in business over here so I don't have to go back to trying to brew the stuff myself!

Ito En