EPTAlmost any refined drink has been discussed here already, so I wonder why not one about tea. There are literaly thousands (China alone has over 20.000 subtypes) of different teas you can try and find around the world during your travel, in your local city store dedicated to selling the better chocolate/coffee/tea or your eBay shopping. Common places to find them growing are India, Japan, China, East Africa and Russia. Tea originates from Asia (where the plant grows naturally). The scientific name of the tea leaf is camellia sinensis. In China and Japan they are highly appreciated for all its healthy benefits and are an important cultural element during ceremonies. It's just one of those great things we import from them, and have found it's use for throughout the ages.
Now you have the normal shop tea (in tea bags), which is usually processed alot and bombarded with flavors. And there are the loose and full leaf teas which are more expensive but generally healthier and more tasteful (people described this as a less watery taste (better infusion and more earthy/natural). People that have enjoyed tea for longer periods usually go for the full or loose leaf tea.
![[image loading]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/04/Tea_in_different_grade_of_fermentation.jpg/640px-Tea_in_different_grade_of_fermentation.jpg)
Types from left to right (White, Green, Oolong (not displayed), Black, Pu erh). From left to right is also light to strong flavor (although there are some exceptions). All these leaves came from the camellia sinensis plant.
A) Types of tea
A.1) Pu er / Pu erh
Much like good wine, this type of tea can (if all the quality variables are right) be aged to get a better tea. This tea is interesting for those that are looking for something beyond the usual tea flavor that stays identical and perhaps one-sided. Trying various Pu erh develops the senses of taste buds.
It's compressed into shapes (e.g., birds nest, cake and brick) to ferment over longer periods or sold as loose leaf to brew directly. Pu erh (wild/uncooked) is famous for having a complex earthy taste and being used throughout Chinese history. Pu erh changes it's complexion (taste) each 5 years when left to ferment in humid places for longer periods. It's however uncertain how a tea will develop exactly. Some develop a smoky undertone, sweetness or complex aftertaste. Older pu erh is recognizable because it has lost most of it's strong smell. Compressed Pu erh formed in birds nest shapes (aka Tuo Cha) generally are one or more grades below the cake type of Pu erh.
Some commercial Pu erh (cooked) will taste very much like ammonia or fresh fish. Pu erh is often times sold as a healthy drink which promotes weight loss. However, this is not always the case because commercial cooked Pu erh is usually of low quality (exposed to a lot of sunlight and having a speeded up fermentation process to resemble more expensive and better tasting Pu erh).
On December 27 2012 13:09 Thereisnosaurus wrote:
Just want to put in a holler for Puerh for those semi-pro tea drinkers who are looking to go from specialist mainstream suppliers like teavana or T2 to something more refined. Puerh is the red wine of teas in that it is often aged creating a cultural tradition similar to wine or scotch aging. There are several types of the tea, some Puerh is flash-oxidised in the same way as black tea before being aged, but the more sought after Puerh is compressed into bricks of green tea and slowly aged until after 6-10 years it has oxidised to a black tea slowly (though it's still technically a green tea). There are thus a whole variety of kinds from young greenish Puerh to ancient rich dark puerh like is showcased in the OP, meaning you can really go wild finding your niche.
All Puerh's I've tasted have a warm, earthy tone compared to the sharp, grassy flavour of japanese greens or rich, toasted flavour of normal black tea, though depending on the origin and age they can have notes of both.
Puerh is a fantastic social tea since the tea-bricks cause the tea to express itself slowly over several pots. The first pot of water is traditionally discarded, simply being used to wet and separate the leaves, after that you can get anything up to six or so pots out of a single set of leaves, with the tea being richest around the second or third pot. This means you can share a pot around a table for quite a long time. It's probably the reason tea drinking ended up as a social thing in the first place, it's pretty hard to drink through the full worth of a bit of Puerh brick by yourself XD.
It's important if you're going to try Puerh to go balls deep and invest in the good stuff, since as mentioned by the OP commercial Puerh is often kind of meh. Like wine, good Puerh is generally produced by small factories and hand-aged. Such Puerh is generally sold in a circular puck of around 300-400 grams that will make a truly ridiculous amount of tea since for single consumption you need about a third the weight of tea than is in a commercial teabag. You can also get samplers (small pucks) from some places that weigh about 20 grams and make about four pots (about 80 chinese style cups). You may need a letter opener or oyster shucker to dig tea out of the cake. A full sized premium puerh cake will set you back anywhere between $40-300. (I've had puerh that costs $40 a pot before, from a cake that was worth upwards of a thousand dollars)
You can also get lower grade teas in brick or loose leaf form, but custom dictates that these are mostly composed of stem and second-grade leaf, while the best leaves go into the teacakes.
Finally you can get Chagao, which is tea that has been brewed, then reduced into a concentrated tablet of solid essence. It is rebrewed by placing in a tea strainer over a pot and slowly pouring boiling water over it. Again this kind of puerh is comprised of offcuts and lower grade leaf, but it has its own charms.
Make sure when you prepare a pot to be careful how you do it. Don't let the puerh brew for long- fill the pot with water, swill it around for a few seconds (very quick at first and then lengthening by the 4th-6th pot) and then pour the tea into a decanter, leaving the leaves in the pot- make sure you drain all the water, don't leave a little lake at the bottom. Repeat until the tea becomes watery. The best flavour comes from the second or third brew as mentioned, since the leaves have by then fully rehydrated and any impurities have been washed off in the first brew.
For quick reference:
-Maocha is loose leaf green puerh, the cheapest and most astringent
-Aged, pressed green puerh is the highest quality puerh since it responds best to aging and can be aged for well over a decade.
-'Ripened' puerh refers to puerh that has been artificially aged quicker through flash oxidation. It still ages well, but is heavier than green puerh and cannot be aged as long without beginning to deteriorate.
-Tuocha is a form of highly compressed Puerh in a small bowl shape. You kind of need a jackhammer to get any tea off the cake, so probably not great for noobs. I'm not sure whether the compression style has any unique flavours that go with it.
-Don't make the mistake of getting a good quality young raw cake to try, since the qualities that make the best premium aged teas make those same teas often very bitter and astringent when young.
- Make sure you store the tea you buy well, away from things that might alter the flavour over time like spices or chemicals. A single cake of good quality puerh can last you several years if you drink it only now and then for social or special occasions.
For americans this is a good place to start if you're interested:
http://www.puerhshop.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pu-erh_tea
Just want to put in a holler for Puerh for those semi-pro tea drinkers who are looking to go from specialist mainstream suppliers like teavana or T2 to something more refined. Puerh is the red wine of teas in that it is often aged creating a cultural tradition similar to wine or scotch aging. There are several types of the tea, some Puerh is flash-oxidised in the same way as black tea before being aged, but the more sought after Puerh is compressed into bricks of green tea and slowly aged until after 6-10 years it has oxidised to a black tea slowly (though it's still technically a green tea). There are thus a whole variety of kinds from young greenish Puerh to ancient rich dark puerh like is showcased in the OP, meaning you can really go wild finding your niche.
All Puerh's I've tasted have a warm, earthy tone compared to the sharp, grassy flavour of japanese greens or rich, toasted flavour of normal black tea, though depending on the origin and age they can have notes of both.
Puerh is a fantastic social tea since the tea-bricks cause the tea to express itself slowly over several pots. The first pot of water is traditionally discarded, simply being used to wet and separate the leaves, after that you can get anything up to six or so pots out of a single set of leaves, with the tea being richest around the second or third pot. This means you can share a pot around a table for quite a long time. It's probably the reason tea drinking ended up as a social thing in the first place, it's pretty hard to drink through the full worth of a bit of Puerh brick by yourself XD.
It's important if you're going to try Puerh to go balls deep and invest in the good stuff, since as mentioned by the OP commercial Puerh is often kind of meh. Like wine, good Puerh is generally produced by small factories and hand-aged. Such Puerh is generally sold in a circular puck of around 300-400 grams that will make a truly ridiculous amount of tea since for single consumption you need about a third the weight of tea than is in a commercial teabag. You can also get samplers (small pucks) from some places that weigh about 20 grams and make about four pots (about 80 chinese style cups). You may need a letter opener or oyster shucker to dig tea out of the cake. A full sized premium puerh cake will set you back anywhere between $40-300. (I've had puerh that costs $40 a pot before, from a cake that was worth upwards of a thousand dollars)
You can also get lower grade teas in brick or loose leaf form, but custom dictates that these are mostly composed of stem and second-grade leaf, while the best leaves go into the teacakes.
Finally you can get Chagao, which is tea that has been brewed, then reduced into a concentrated tablet of solid essence. It is rebrewed by placing in a tea strainer over a pot and slowly pouring boiling water over it. Again this kind of puerh is comprised of offcuts and lower grade leaf, but it has its own charms.
Make sure when you prepare a pot to be careful how you do it. Don't let the puerh brew for long- fill the pot with water, swill it around for a few seconds (very quick at first and then lengthening by the 4th-6th pot) and then pour the tea into a decanter, leaving the leaves in the pot- make sure you drain all the water, don't leave a little lake at the bottom. Repeat until the tea becomes watery. The best flavour comes from the second or third brew as mentioned, since the leaves have by then fully rehydrated and any impurities have been washed off in the first brew.
For quick reference:
-Maocha is loose leaf green puerh, the cheapest and most astringent
-Aged, pressed green puerh is the highest quality puerh since it responds best to aging and can be aged for well over a decade.
-'Ripened' puerh refers to puerh that has been artificially aged quicker through flash oxidation. It still ages well, but is heavier than green puerh and cannot be aged as long without beginning to deteriorate.
-Tuocha is a form of highly compressed Puerh in a small bowl shape. You kind of need a jackhammer to get any tea off the cake, so probably not great for noobs. I'm not sure whether the compression style has any unique flavours that go with it.
-Don't make the mistake of getting a good quality young raw cake to try, since the qualities that make the best premium aged teas make those same teas often very bitter and astringent when young.
- Make sure you store the tea you buy well, away from things that might alter the flavour over time like spices or chemicals. A single cake of good quality puerh can last you several years if you drink it only now and then for social or special occasions.
For americans this is a good place to start if you're interested:
http://www.puerhshop.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pu-erh_tea
A.2) Black tea
Now you can go pretty wild with this. There are many flavors added to it, masking the original somewhat one-sided flavor of black tea. Now, most unflavored black teas taste quite bold and have a fairly high amount of caffeine. However, this is not always the case, there are some lighter teas such as first flush Ambootia darjeeling (one of the first leaf pickings). These kind of delicate black teas also cost more than your average black tea. And of course the more usual and immensely popular:
- Earl grey
- Assam
- English breakfast
- Ceylon
Many of you have probably already tried these. Not to mention the different types of chai tea from India, which is very common nowadays around the world. It has a very spicy flavor for those that want a strong cup of tea exploding with spices. Another popular tea is the Lapsang Souchong which is a fine grade of China black tea with a distinctive smoky flavor (many say: a campfire almost charcoal taste you either love or hate). Hints of bacon aroma can be found in this type of tea.
A black tea that you can brew many times, which develops in taste is called the Bai Lin Gong Fu. This tea has a strong body with a hint of caramel. It's particularly famous in China for use during the Gong Fu Cha ceremony. The ceremony is interesting for those that want to maximize their taste experience during higher grade tea brewing. Almost any High grade tea changes after multiple brews and can be used during this ceremony to fully experience its changing charateristics.
There is no question that black tea is healthy, recent studies have merely scratched the surface of how black tea helps protect you against cardiovascular disease and cancer. To this date I have not been able to find any negative effects caused by black tea (when drinking sensible amounts). A few studies (beginning of 2012) even indicate that black tea could be as healthy as green tea.
A.3) Oolong
Chinese and Taiwanese Oolong are really special types of tea (this type of tea is considered between green and black tea), depending on the flavor (aroma ranging from green and floral to dark and roasted with many notes in between) which can vary a lot. If you're looking for a nice Oolong tea, I would start looking the ones grown in Taiwan. For example, the popular and premium Formosa Tung Ting Oolong / Dong Ding Oolong, Alishan and Ti Kuan Yin have a warm, sweet (like caramel or honey) and subtle floral flavor and great almost roasted fragrance. Ideally a tea for those that are looking for something beyond the black tea but still favor a stronger flavor. If you're looking for a more subtle less strong tea you can also try the Pouchong Oolong, which has the lightest flavor of them all.
Taiwan and China have a rich history of Oolongs. Most types are grown in forest rich sections near high mountains and deep water streams which contribute to the development of a very rich, healthy and nutritional tea. Oolong teas also undergo a special process which involves curling and twisting, giving them a unique appearance and freshness. This is also why many types of Oolong have a very strong scent.
A.4) Green tea
Going for the refined taste - not everyone likes green tea's - but ones that do (like me) might enjoy a good relaxing:
- Japanese Matcha (takes skill and some specific utensils to prepare, you actually drink the leaves that are ground up, very healthy but also quite expensive. Used a lot in the Japanese Matcha ceremony, which consists of many excercises to brew the best Matcha tea, find the highest appreciation and become a respected host).
- Japanese Gyokuro (a fine hint of spinach almost, sweet, creamy/milk flavor, very exclusive tea, highly expensive)
- Chinese Dragonwell/Longjing (delicate and sweet with chestnut hint, known to be China's finest tea! Make sure to always buy this year's spring harvest, because there's a lot of low grade which taste very different)
On the other side there are the more simple to brew and usually cheaper:
- Japanese Sencha (more standard green tea, many qualities (a lot of which low quality) and thus flavors)
- Chinese Bancha (lowest grade tea because it's picked latest in the seasons - robust flavor, little caffeine, perfect for children and drinking all day long)
- Chinese Sencha (very popular tea, great flavor, the more standard green tea)
- Gunpowder (vegetal flavor slight smokiness and smooth mouthfeel)
- Yunnan (flavor reminds of herbs, quite strong and a little sweet hint)
- Young Hyson (sweet and refreshing taste)
- Kukicha (made from stems and twigs, has a mildly creamy and nutty taste)
- Genmaicha (usually low grade tea - very hearty green tea with brown rice)
- Pi lo Chun/Bi luo chun (similar to Yunnan but less herbal, more flowery and delicate. It has a more vivid refined taste. If you want to get the real deal, it's important to get this one fresh from this year's spring)
- Mao Feng (very light with subtle flavor, very close to white tea taste-wise, also known as spring dew)
- Hojicha (low on caffeine - very rich, smoky, nutty and earthy flavor)
Luckily green tea contains less caffeine than black tea, usually not enough to keep one up at night. It's not common to add anything to this type of tea, because many are purely going for the taste itself which should not be influenced. Green tea is very delicate and brewing takes special precautions (timers and thermometers). It can easily get too sweet or bitter if its steeped too long or at a too high temperature. Green tea benefits are known to include weight loss, prevent infection (this also works with periodontal bacteria), lower cholesterol, relieve higher stress levels and prevent cancer. It basically boosts your immune function, but more importantly it's not a cure to treat any disease. Many more benefits have been attributed to green tea, but I purely focus on the scientifically proven ones.
If you want to go for the best that green tea anywhere has to offer, definitely go for fresh Mao Feng, Kukicha, Lung ching/Longjing, Bi Luo Chun and Gyokuro. Generally tea experts and makers of the best green tea in the world lists agree with this. If you have tried grocery store green tea (which is usually the lowest grade of gunpowder or sencha you can pretty find much find anywhere), I promise you, this is something entirely different which can not be compared to it.
A.5) White tea
I think some might have tried the Pai Mu Tan (aka Bai Mu Dan). White tea is renowned for it's smooth taste. Starters might have a hard time differentiating the subtle tastes of some white teas from actual water. White tea is not nearly as popular as green and black tea. But if you are looking for an easy to drink yet rich in flavor (flowery) tea this is the way to go. This tea underwent the least amount of processing of all teas, but it is not necessarily the healthiest tea because of this. White tea are usually just as healthy as green tea. You can also find white tea combined with very nice fruit and tropical flavors such as pear, lemon, plum, and pomegranate which accentuate the tea amazingly well.
Another great white tea is the Silver Needle; which gives off a sweet very refreshing finish to your water. However, it can hurt your wallet in the long run. Good Silver Needle is considered the Champagne of tea. Because traditionally this white tea was only used by emperors in China. Truely a remarkable tea.
I find that it's very important to use the best water available to brew white tea because tapwater ruins the light but rich flavor.
A.6) Red tea
Red tea usually refers to rooibos (one particular kind of tisane) contains no caffeine and is grown in South Africa Cape Town. The word rooibos is translated as "red bush". This healthy drink is perfect for treating some discomforts (such as allergic rhinitis, other allergies and stomachpain) and can easily be drunk before sleeping. It could be described as having a sweet and nutty taste.
Red tea can also refer to black teas that have a red finish.
A.7) Yellow tea
Yellow tea refers to a small group of very rare green teas, but without the grassy taste of green tea. The art of making yellow tea is slowly vanishing. While already, it is very hard to find yellow tea available commercially. Some yellow teas to look for are Jun Shan Yin Zhen and Mo Gan Huang Ya.
A.8) Herbal tea (tisane)
Celestial seasonings has a wide variety of herbal teas which you can find here:
- http://www.celestialseasonings.com/products/wellness-teas
- http://www.celestialseasonings.com/products/herbal-teas
- http://www.celestialseasonings.com/products/sleepytime-teas
Most of them are functional (invoke sleep, calm or health benifits). I especially like the Detox AM variant, it tastes so well it should be forbidden (imagine a creamy vanilla with roasted chicory and licorice flavor) :D I've had at least 3 people try it, and they were basically sold after that. Another nice thing about these types is that they don't contain caffeine.
Some other types of popular tisane include Verveine (very unique and a bit sour taste resembling chamomille a bit), spearmint, chamomille and Yerba Mate (very intensive and a little grassy, earthy almost similar to green tea but stronger).
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Tea pick by 'peacenl-i'm-not-a-doctor' for common problems
I'm not a doctor, I did however quote a lot of scientific journal entries, so if you want any sources just ask me.
Cold, fever - Rooibos (vitamin C, good for getting some sleep too), full leaf green tea, the darker green; the better (vitamin C. EGCG and ECG are strong inhibitors of the influenza virus). Forget ginger, honey or lemon: you need to drink loads of these for it to have effect, you can use them to ease the symptoms though.
Stress and anxiety - Matcha is the number one beta wave reducing tea, excellent for meditation and creativity. Stops complex thinking patterns and when used around two times a day, doesn't inhibit sleep function. It beats any so called anti-stress tea with Valerian root or ginseng hands down, add to that that it doesn't make your body feel tired.
Overweight - Matcha has been found to increase your thermogenesis rate (rate for burning calories) up to 40% while normally 10% of your daily energy expenditure. During exercise this increases burning rate up to 25% of your body fat. Remember these two things stack onto each other, burns calories + burns fat at the same time.
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Brewing instructions
- https://www.harney.com/brewing-instructions
Common myths
- Heating tea leaves and throwing away the first brew quickly lowers the caffeine content for the second brew.
- Black tea comes from a different plant than the green or oolong tea.
- Green tea contains tannic acid
- Green tea should be prepared like any regular black tea
- Herbal tea contains tea leaves (camellia sinensis)
B) Tea tips
B.1) What to look for in high grade tea
A quality indicator is how neatly the leaves rolled up, flattened or twisted (e.g., needle or ball shaped) (this preserves the quality and unfurls when brewing the tea) instead of machine crushed tea, which oxidise very fast because air can easily get to all the parts of the leaf. Packaging that is air tight and doesn't let any sunlight shine through is also an indicator that the tea is looked after and as a result of higher quality. Tea that shines in the light because of it's natural oily layer is definitely an indicator of high quality tea.
If you realy want to look for the finest tea out there, you will immediately learn that it depends on the actual location something is grown, the time of year is it extracted, the amount of sunlight and the fermentation methods. These influence the taste a lot (you perhaps would not expect this). Another thing to look for is the history of that particular tea, different grades indicate how well the preparation is done (for example imperial high grade tea or tea plucked from the sun rich mountainside usually is more expensive but also higher quality, having a better taste and being able reuse it for multiple brews without losing flavor). Also having a tea which is harvested by hand without small branches (or just the buds) create a more vivid tasting experience, but also a significantly higher cost.
B.2) Storing and preperation
- Keep tea seperated from eachother in a dark and air tight place to maintain their flavor and health benefits.
- Only reuse high grade tea for another brew to get the full flavor.
- Try some additional flavorings such as mint leaf, jasmine or honey.
- Do not add milk to tea, it has been found by a German study that it counteracts the healthy antioxidants. source of the paper
- Instead of adding sugar to tea, which as we all know is bad for you, try agave nectar or maple syrup as a more healthy replacement.
B.3) Where can I buy the finest tea?
Do not expect the best quality tea from Japan or China in a store in the EU or US, it's a known fact that whatever tea is shipped to other countries is usually of less quality. The best stuff is kept at home and is not at our disposal, unless you manage to find someone who is well connected to suppliers.
-http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/ - An enormous amount of different flavored Matcha teas. Huge selection of other teas too.
- http://www.hibiki-an.com *** Most premium online green tea store available for non-japanese/chinese customers
- http://www.tealux.ca - Online tea store Canada
- http://www.teekampagne.de/en/thema/darjeeling Specifically the place to get genuine and affordable Darjeeling
- http://www.adagio.com One of the best rated tea stores, shows the tea production process and provides a very informative tea guide.
- http://www.teaspring.com (US)
- http://www.teatower.com (Europe)
- http://t2tea.com (Australia)
- http://www.o-cha.com - Highest Quality Green Tea & Matcha
- http://www.mariagefreres.com/boutique/UK/welcome.html (very exclusive teas)
- http://www.uptontea.com - High quality loose leaf imported tea
B.4) Large list of all the tea webshops:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ApCZ-sUhC2egdGtTVFNjMzFfZzdDUnVVTVgxQ2RxNVE&authkey=CJLgu5IL&hl=en&authkey=CJLgu5IL#gid=0
B.5) If you are new and want to explore the different kinds
I would say start with the cheaper sampling boxes (for example a few sets of many different teas from your local tea store or maybe eBay), these usually provide a good introduction to the types of flavors that are out there. Try to skip the flavored teas at first, because how these taste is very brand related. Go for the original tea flavor and then determine which ones you like the most. From there you can always check which added flavors there are that go with well your favorite basic tea.
Once you've found the ones you like, you may start to try out the different grades of quality. This is usually where the local tea stores can not provide any more, and you might have to look on the internet. Of course you might already be satisfied with your findings and can also stop at this point.
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So tell me which kind of teas you like, I would love to know if there's something I need to try :-). Or how you prepare them, because I know you can get rather crazy with the Chinese/Japanese ceremonial teas and all the different ways or preparation with bowls and filters.
Poll: I drink tea about
2-4 times day (200)
31%
a few days in the week (115)
18%
once a day (102)
16%
over 5 times a day (90)
14%
a few times a year (41)
6%
never?!??! (38)
6%
once a week (31)
5%
once a month (29)
4%
646 total votes
a few days in the week (115)
once a day (102)
over 5 times a day (90)
a few times a year (41)
never?!??! (38)
once a week (31)
once a month (29)
646 total votes
Your vote: I drink tea about
(Vote): over 5 times a day
(Vote): 2-4 times day
(Vote): once a day
(Vote): a few days in the week
(Vote): once a week
(Vote): once a month
(Vote): a few times a year
(Vote): never?!??!
Poll: I mainly drink this type of tea
Black tea (earl gray, english breakfast etc) (228)
45%
Green tea (162)
32%
Herbal tea (red/rooibos etc) (54)
11%
Oolong tea (25)
5%
White tea (16)
3%
Flavored black tea (13)
3%
Pu-erh tea (10)
2%
508 total votes
Green tea (162)
Herbal tea (red/rooibos etc) (54)
Oolong tea (25)
White tea (16)
Flavored black tea (13)
Pu-erh tea (10)
508 total votes
Your vote: I mainly drink this type of tea
(Vote): Herbal tea (red/rooibos etc)
(Vote): White tea
(Vote): Black tea (earl gray, english breakfast etc)
(Vote): Flavored black tea
(Vote): Green tea
(Vote): Oolong tea
(Vote): Pu-erh tea
![[image loading]](http://static.productreview.com.au/pr.products/144949_twinings_prince_of_wales.jpg)
Beats being all jacked up from the coffee doesn't it.
