Tea? What tea?

Good quality teas are not cheap. When shopping around, you probably will confront with a simple question: 

Why the price is so different for a tea that has the same name? 

There are truths that you should first try to understand by asking questions.

The first and the most critical question is:

Are we talking about the same quality of tea?

There are series of questions to follow.  For example -

·        For each kind of tea, there are different quality classifications, from full leaves, to broken leaves to tea dust. So what is the basic classification we talk about?   

·        Are these teas coming from the same growing country, region or area?

·        In other word, are these teas coming from the authentic growing region or being faked?

·       Even for full leaf teas, different growing environment could create differences.  How much you know about the tea that you would like to enjoy? i.e. geographic location, latitude, climate and environment?

·        When teas were picked and processed?

·        How teas were picked?  Hand-picked vs. machine-picked?

·        How teas were made? Hand-made (or semi-hand made) vs. full automatic machine-made?

·        Are you aware even for teas growing from the same region but the annual weather factors can influence the production of teas?

·        Do you know how to brew tea correctly?

·        Are you aware there are many aromatic teas sold in the market?

·        Are you limited your choice based on the aroma and flavor from the first cup of tea?   

·        Are you aware good quality tea can be infused several times?

·        Can you tell the difference between authentic natural teas perfumed/aromatic teas?

……more questions to follow

The last question on the list perhaps is: 

Do you know each tea review can be very objective since people could interpret the same taste differently?