SPEAKER (British): We Brits drink a lot of tea. That wasn’t always the case, but from about the 1800s onwards, when tea trade between China and Britain really took off, tea has become an essential part of English culture. Mostly black and red tea, mind you. And some statistics are showing a quite significant decrease in tea consumption in the past few years due to the increasing popularity of coffee. But, well, we are still a tea-drinking nation.
Oddly enough, though, few tea drinkers know how to distinguish quality tea from, well rubbish. And to be quite honest, most of what you purchase in stores is so poor in quality that it’s not worth buying. The good news is that equipped with just a bit of knowledge, you can learn to be a savvy tea shopper, and to enjoy all that this fabulous beverage has to offer.
There are a few ground rules we can start with. Like, uh, that you should always buy loose leaf tea. Bagged tea is, without exception, of lesser quality than loose leaf. The leaves are not as fresh, and the tea company has likely diluted the bag’s mixture with cheap herbs. This is why bagged tea is more often than not,
significantly cheaper than buying loose leaf tea. But don’t be fooled by their seductive pricing.
Um, another basic rule is to only purchase tea produced in geographical regions where tea naturally grows. With a now global seed trade, many types of plants are being harvested in unnatural environments. This of course affects the product of the harvest. So, make sure that your tea comes from a growing region with high altitudes and plenty of rainfall. Some of the best tea climates have cooler mornings with light mist that shields the tea plant from the sun.
Also look on the package to see if the harvesting method is indicated. There are two major types of harvesting used today. One is fine harvesting, in which the tea plants are hand plucked, first by harvesting only the bud and then moving onto the leaves. And you don’t take all the leaves…just a few from each plant. The coarse plucking method, on the other hand, is done by hand or machine, and involves pulling both the bud and the leaves at one time. The latter will result in not only poor quality tea, but will also destroy the plant from which it was picked.
But let’s say you walk into a teashop or other store selling loose leaf tea, and you have to judge the tea itself. No worries…there are some pretty good indicators of high-quality tea to watch out for using a few of your senses. Uh, sight, taste, and smell.
Let’s start with sight. You want to first check to see if the tea is powdery. That’s no good. You’re aiming for whole leaves that are not cut, torn, or crushed. The less whole the leaf, the more bitter the taste, which really isn’t very pleasant. There are some black and oolong teas that are purposefully cut to produce that stronger taste, but otherwise, you want to stick with whole leaves for the best taste. Broken or crushed leaves also indicate that the tea was harvested by machine…something else to avoid.
That’s how you judge dry leaves, but you’ll get even more information from wet ones. A properly harvested and dried leaf should return to its original form and colour when brewed. Another sign of good tea is the colour of the water that it’s brewed in. Black tea water should be bright reddish gold, and should leave a ring in the cup. Oolong tea water should be golden yellow or dark brown in colour. Green teas, you might expect, will produce green water.
Um, about the taste...taste is relative, of course. So you have to find whatever suits your palate. However, you’ll find that poor quality tea tastes flat, stale, or flavourless. And trust me, you’ll know the difference. That’s why you always sample tea before purchasing it.
Finally, good tea emits a pleasant aroma that, uh, really permeates the air. Green teas will have a leafy grass or chestnut smell. Black teas are going to emit a sweet and floral, yet earthy fragrance. And oolong tea can usually have a slightly fruit scent. If there’s no smell, even with the dry leaves, do not buy the tea. You’ll regret it.