Did you know that after water, tea is the most widely consumed drink in the world? In America alone, it is reported that more than 80% of households have tea at their homes.
But not all tea is created equal, so if you want the best kind, you need to know how to evaluate. If you are still a beginner when it comes to tea, check out the tips below that you can follow so that you are sure to purchase the high-quality kind.
- Check if they are full of stalks – if you will be checking the tea you will be drinking, you might see that it contains stalks. You might think that this is just common, but tea experts will tell you that the higher quality tea should actually be free from stalks. They say that the more stalks there are in the tea, it means that the manufacturers have resorted to extended plucking instead of fine plucking.
- The leaves must be well-rolled – one of the most important processes that tea leaves will have to go through is the rolling process. This is the manufacturing process where the leaves are rolled into a standard. Tea leaves that have been rolled properly are called wiry. If you see that some of the leaves are wiry but others are not, that means it has undergone a uniform rolling process. This means that the flavor of your tea will not be balanced and the tea is not of high quality.
- Look for lots of tippy tea leaves – if you are not familiar with the term tippy teas, it just means that they are teas that have leaves full of tips, which are silver or gold in color. When these are present in your tea leaves, you can be assured that you will have delivered flavor as the tips have more caffeine. The more tips you find in your, the better the flavor will be.
- It needs to be free from flakes – aside from being free from stalks, to be considered high-quality tea, it also needs to be free from flakes. Flakes are those brittle leaves that you see on your tea. This is another indication that the leaves were not finely plucked. When you brew the tea leaves, it should open and look like they were just harvested. The presence of brittle leaves or flakes means that the tea is not of high quality.
- Choose whether you want the loose leaf variety or tea bags – – now there are many people who debate over these. You can just factor in the convenience. Many would argue that loose leaf tea tastes better than the latter, but it would also require more equipment and time. Tea bags meanwhile, are very convenient, and you can bring them with you wherever you go, so you can satisfy your tea fix very easily. Bear in mind that you also need to evaluate the tea bags you will buy.