The Tea Detective
Uncovering and Exploring the Facts About Tea
Uncovering and Exploring the Facts About Tea
| What to Look For When Buying Loose Leaf Teas |
| With so many teas available today, the problem becomes choosing what you want to buy. I always advise buying small amounts of any new tea. Some companies even offer small sample packets so you can do a taste test on several different teas inexpensively. New advances in technology such as vacuum packaging, and air freight, have given us access to a cornucopia of teas we didn't have a decade ago. We now can sample from teas pro- duced in small batches, from small, local tea farmers, from some of the best tea producing countries in the world, such as China, Japan, and India, delivered fresh to our doorstep. So don't be afraid to try new teas often, or you'll be missing out on so many delightful, flavor- ful, and healthy teas that are now available to us. As always, Enjoy. |
| Cleanliness - Next to Godliness |
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| For years buying tea meant grabbing a box of Lipton black tea bags from the shelf of your local supermarket. But today it's a different story. We have nearly unlimited choice of not only loose leaf teas, but a variety of styles and flavors of bagged tea as well, all available from specialty tea shops, online tea sellers, and by mail order. |
| Unfortunately with the myriad of choices, comes the dilemma of what to buy and how to know what you're getting is good, fresh, quality tea. Although there's no surefire 100% guarantee, I have a few tips and suggestions on what to do and look for, both in person and online, or by mail order, to help you get the best teas possible. One of the first things you should do before sett- ing out, is to familiarize yourself with the types of tea you're interested in buying. Get an idea of what the tea should look like. Is it round, shaped like a small pellet, like Gunpowder tea, |
| one of China's oldest tumble dried green teas? Or are you searching for Bai Hao Yin Zhen or Silver Needle, one of China's white teas, that gets its name because it is covered with soft silvery hairs and rolled needle thin. You may also want to check on what the tea's growing cycles are, for ex- ample, is it a spring or fall harvested tea. You also shouldn't see stems or debris in the tea, (with the exception of kukicha tea) and the leaves should all be of a similar size and shape. Smaller pieces of leaf brew faster than larger, so all tea leaves should be of a uniform size and quality. Another step you might want to take before heading out, is to research the average price of the teas you're planning to buy. Go online and compare several different sources, and you should be able to get a good average ballpark price, for the same size and type of tea you're shopping for. |
| If shopping in person, take note of the clean- liness, assortment, and staff. Are you greet- ed with a smile, and does the staff seem eag- er to help you? At first glance, is the store clean and does the merchandise pop, or does it look tired, and dusty? Is there a smaller assortment of well tended teas...or a huge assortment of musty looking packages that look as though they've seen better days? A large assortment of teas in which to choose from is nice, but if it's not turning over and current and selling well, with steady buyers, it's just a big waste for every- one. And, while we're on the topic of freshness, as a rule of thumb, proprietary brands - tea bought in bulk by independent tea merchants and packaged under their name in tins, foil sacks, and tie bags, is generally fresher than branded teas, packaged by the big tea companies. Now, moving on to mail order and online tea merchants. One of the first things you should do is to check out their catalog or website. Is the information easy to understand and are the prices clearly marked? Or, is their catalog or website a cluttered mess, filled with marketing lingo and self-promotion and hype, rather than useful information about their products? Whenever I order online or by mail order, I like to call and talk to a "live" person the first time ordering. You can learn a lot about a company by talk- ing to them in person. First off, is the staff friendly and seem genuinely interested in helping you, rather than just pushing for a sale? Secondly, they should be able to an- swer any questions you have and be knowledgeable about all their products (I usually ask a few general questions I already know the answer to, just as a little test). But you should feel free to ask about anything and get a clear answer. Ask about the growing cycles and when a new crop of fresh tea will be available. If you don't understand the grading terms, or markings on tins and packaging, ask about it. You've heard the saying - the only stupid question is the one not asked. So true. Another useful way to check out an online tea vendor, is by reading their customer testimonials. If they have plenty of positive customer testimonials backing up the products and seller, chances are they're a good choice. Testimonials are given voluntarily, so if someone takes the time to praise a product or seller, it's pretty safe to say you can trust that. And conversely, if a tea seller has few or no testimonials, well, that kind of speaks for itself, too, don't you think? (Unless, of course, they're a brand new company). |
| For a great selection of quality teas, gifts, and accessories, visit: The Tea Detective's Gift of Tea Store |
Receive A Guide To Tea, an 88-page book on the history and enjoyment of tea free with your first Adagio Teas order of $19 or more.
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