The Japanese drink almost exclusively green tea, but drink many different types of it.

In Japan tea can be drunk hot or cold, but hot is the most popular way. Hot tea is nearly always drunk plain. Other popular types include barley tea or "mugicha," oolong tea, black tea and mixed black and herb teas. All of these can be bought in vending machines.

There are tons of other types, too, that can be bought dry and are made from different varieties and parts of the tea plant: for example, "gyokuro" is the very top grade of green tea, "kariganecha" is made from the stems instead of the leaves, "hojicha" is roasted, and sometimes brown rice is brewed with tea to make "genmaicha." A basic type of green tea, common in Japan but less common in the West is called "bancha".