Why it does not taste like the green tea you know
Most green tea sold worldwide comes from Camellia sinensis var. sinensis, the small-leaf Chinese plant. Assam tea comes from var. assamica, a larger-leaved, higher-tannin plant that evolved in this valley. Process assamica as a green tea and you get something fuller and rounder, with less of the marine, grassy note people expect.
Whether that is better is a matter of taste. It is certainly different, and most people who say they dislike green tea have only ever met the other one.
Brewing, and the mistake everyone makes
Not boiling water. 75 to 80 degrees. If your kettle has no temperature setting, boil it and wait three minutes with the lid off.
Two minutes for the first steep. The leaf is good for a second and a third, each slightly longer than the last. Boiling water on green tea pulls the tannin out immediately and the result is bitter, which is why so many people conclude they do not like it.
