Tea 101

Tea Tasting

There is both art and science to tea tasting. I feel it is best to start with a consistent method and brew several teas exactly the same. This gives you a good baseline for understanding the properties of different teas. Then as you begin to learn more about the individual teas, try experimenting with different steeping time, water temperatures, additives etc. When "tasting" tea you should use more than simply your sense of taste. You should use your eyes to observe the tea before and after it has brewed. Take the tea out of the package and look at the leaves for size, shape and color. Smelling the dry leaves also can give you a good hint at their flavor. I prefer to brew the tea in white cups so that the liquor color is easy to see and compare. I also prefer to put the leaves loose into the cup so that I can watch to see how they respond to the water, do they remain tightly wrapped or do they unfurl. Once the tea has steeped observe the color of the liquor, the scent, and then the taste. If you are trying many teas at one time try only by the spoonful. I would recommend trying no more than 2 or 3 kinds at a time at first to get a more in depth taste of each kind.

Brewing Tea

Here are the basics which can of course be augmented to suit your own personal preferences. Start with filtered or distilled water if your tap water has a distinct taste or smell such as chlorine or minerals. Fill the tea kettle with freshly drawn water, considering water that has been boiled once already contains less oxygen and tends to have a "flat" taste. Bring the water just to a boil and remove from the heat. Temper the teapot or cup you are using by swishing some of the boiling water inside and then discarding. Add 1 teaspoon of tea for every one cup of water (note many tea cups actually hold les than 1 cup) Steep 3-5 minutes for black tea Steep 2-4 minutes for green tea You may use a tea ball or egg type infuser, but I prefer to put the leaves loose into the tea pot and let them steep. Then I simply pour the tea through a small kitchen strainer and I pour it into the cups to remove the leaves. As I said before these are just guidelines, a good way to get started, not the only way to brew tea. You will discover your own preferred methods for the teas that you enjoy most. And that's what it's all about...what you enjoy!

Tea Terminology

Acronyms: BOP: Broken Orange Pekoe CTC: Crush, Tear, Curl FNGS: Fannings FOP: Flowery Orange Pekoe G: Golden OP: Orange Pekoe T: Tippy Broken Orange Pekoe: As the name indicates this is not a whole leaf tea, it is broken and is in smaller particles. However it is important to mention that there is a significant difference in size between BOP and Fannings. Used in higher quality tea bags. Dust: Dust or very small particles of tea left over after processing. This is the lowest grade of tea. Fannings: Fannings is the second to the smallest leaf size. Fannings are used in tea bags because of their small size and economic price. Flowery Orange Pekoe: This grade includes the first two leaves and the bud of the tea plant. Golden: This indicates that there are yellow pieces of bud visible amongs the rest of the leaves. Orange Pekoe: Indicates that the second and larger of the two leaves and a bud are picked, these are whole leaves. Tippy: Indicates the whole leaf bud is present in significant quantity. Alphabet Soup - These acronyms can be combined to create very specific, descriptive terms for tea. For example: FTGFOP: Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe or SFTGFOP: Special Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe