How to choose a good tea

Tea is similar to wine in many ways. Just like grapes, climate and soil play a key role in growing tea bushes. The most famous tea countries are China, Sri Lanka, Kenya, and India.

Premium teas, like expensive wines, have names controlled by origin. Darjeeling, Assam, Kenya Milima – these and other premium teas delight with their taste and aroma and are very expensive.

The best varieties are grown in the highlands. After all, it is high in the mountains that the tea leaf grows slowly, and the extractive substances in it accumulate in higher concentrations.

The closer to the bud, the smaller and more valuable the tea leaf. It is the tea buds, or tipis, that give tea its enchanting aroma and delicate rich flavor.

The most expensive tea is made exclusively by hand, and the buds and leaves are harvested at a strictly defined time of year. For some varieties, even the time of day matters.

How to choose a good tea

First, like any product, high quality tea cannot be too cheap. Second, pay attention to the brand. And the most obvious way to understand how good the tea is is to buy and test the taste yourself. It's not so expensive that you can't deny yourself the curiosity of a researcher!

Tea: bag or bulk?

Tea in bags does not mean "bad" tea. Low-grade tea can also be loose leaf! When choosing tea, always pay attention to the grade. High-grade tea in bags is often specially crushed tea leaves for convenient packaging. After all, teabags are quick and convenient! And even in England, the most demanding country in the world for tea quality, tea in teabags is drunk everywhere.

Nowadays, tea in pyramids is also on sale – it's a terrific invention! Large leaves of tea, often with flavorings such as berries, flowers, pieces of fruit, are easily brewed in a pyramid. In other words, the pyramid combines the simplicity and convenience of brewing with the charm of loose leaf tea: it contains larger tea than in a bag, as well as whole berries and flower petals.

Another common myth is that if tea brews quickly, it means that dyes have been added to it. This is not true! No one adds coloring to tea, probably not a single manufacturer in the world! It makes no sense. Tea itself gives off a wonderful color. The natural coloring piment in tea is so strong that tea is even used (until now!) as an organic dye.

This explains why tea bags brew very quickly. After all, tea leaves in bags are small and give off coloring matter faster.

And, by the way, berry tea and karkade tea have the same effect. After all, no one is surprised if they accidentally drop a strawberry or cherry on a white blouse and the clothes immediately turn red! Therefore, berry and flower tea will also give their color to the drink, there is no magic or chemistry involved.

Another misconception is that large-leaf tea is high-quality tea. However, this is not always the case. There are exceptionally delicious medium-leaf teas. And there are large-leaf teas of low quality. That's why you should always look at the type of tea - it's indicated on the package. And if there is no such indication, it is better not to buy this product, but to look for tea that has all the necessary information on the package, including the type of tea.

Tea is a product that should be bought only of the highest grade. First-grade tea is already different in quality.

How to brew tea correctly

Most tea packages contain information on the method and time of brewing. But not everyone realizes that after the time is up, the brew or bag should be thrown away! This is very important. If you keep the brew in the cup for longer, the taste of the tea may deteriorate, for example, it may become bitter.

And most importantly, always drink freshly brewed tea. Do not keep the brew on the table all day: such a drink has little to do with tasty, aromatic tea! Enjoy your tea drinking!