How to Identify High Quality Tea
There’s nothing like sipping a good cup of tea. If you are a tea connoisseur or aspiring to become one, you need to learn how to identify high quality tea before purchasing them. The wonderful flavors and aromas associated with tea are usually ascribed to the quality of it, so it is crucial that you know your teas. Although, tea auctioneers use a rather complex system to grade the quality of tea, all you need are the good use of your senses to be well on your way to becoming a tea expert.
Keep reading to learn how to master the art, and dazzle everyone with your knowledge of tea at your next tea party.
Look:
Not to be vain, but when it comes to tea, you should always judge them by the appearance. The shape of the tea leaf and the color could tell you a lot. The best tea in the world has a distinctive shape, with a pleasant luster as they are always handpicked so as to not damage the leaves. You can also know whether a certain tea is of high quality by watching how it expands in the brewing process. If it is good tea, it should expand uniformly and sink slowly as they are infused. Then, take a look at the color of your tea after it is done brewing. Great black tea should be a bright red color, which is almost golden and green tea should be a bright yellowish green. Oolong tea should be a lighter shade of green, just as advertised.
Touch:
If you’re buying high quality loose leaf, look for ones that do not crumble to the touch or disintegrate when you handle it. If it’s dried tea leaves, they should feel the way they look. The texture of the tea leaf should determine the feel of it. Once the tea is steeped, the leaves should feel smooth and slippery.
Smell:
The next step of checking the quality of tea is channeling your olfactory senses. The fragrance of the tea is directly connected to the taste. The aroma of teas depends on the terroir in which it was grown, and the degree of fermentation. If fertilizers were used in the production process, that would take away from the natural smell of the tea leaves. Pure Ceylon Tea such as Dilmah uses no harmful fertilizers, so the tea retains its wonderful fragrance. Black tea should contain a floral fragrance that is sweet and earthy, whereas green tea should be soothing, light and fresh.
Taste:
The ultimate quality-tester is taste! Drinking a great cup of tea is unparalleled. Good tea should have a pleasant herbal taste to it, and a sweet aftertaste, whereas low quality tea would be bitter and moldy. Great black tea has a full bodied, fresh taste that will leave you feeling refreshed. Green tea should taste refreshing, light and soothing. Oolong tea should taste like the perfect combination of the two.
Now, that you know everything there is to know about high quality tea, your tea experiences from now on would be an absolute delight!