The Average Color of Tea
This is a composite image from photos of 85 different teas spanning green, yellow, white, oolong, black, and post-fermented teas. The “average color of tea” if you will.
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What is a varietal tea?
The word varietal is one that is often misused in the tea world (and also in the wine world). It is often erroneously used interchangeably with the word variety. Here’s the correct definition: Varietal (adj) – a varietal tea is one that was made from a single variety of Camellia sinensis. Correct usage: Tieguanyin is [...]
read more »Tea Varieties and Cultivars
Plants are classified hierarchically by their division, class, subclass, order, family, genus, and species. They are also classified by variety and cultivar when necessary. Here’s how the tea plant shakes out: Division -> Magnoliophyta Class -> Magnoliopsida Subclass -> Dilleniidae Order -> Theales Family -> Theaceae Genus -> Camellia Species -> Sinensis [Source: http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=Casi16] Since [...]
read more »Tea Chemistry
Tea chemistry is complex. Just how complex? Well, on the bush, tea leaves contain thousands of chemical compounds, when they are processed, these compounds break down, form complexes and form new compounds. When we steep tea leaves, our senses are tingled by the thousands of volatile compounds (collectively known as the “aroma complex”) from the [...]
read more »Simple Classification Rules for Finished Tea
Tea has been categorized many ways: by the color of the finished leaves, the color of the tea liquor, and by the percentage of oxidation the tea has gone through during processing. I recognize 7 major types of tea as they relate to the processing methods that created them: green, yellow, white, oolong, black, post-fermented, [...]
read more »Beginner’s Guide to Steeping Japanese Green Tea
Did you know that green tea is the most popular type of tea in Asia? It’s the most consumed tea in China, and Japan practically specializes in it. Steeping Japanese green tea isn’t particularly difficult, you just have keep some points in mind. Aren’t Japanese and Chinese green teas the same? There is one major [...]
read more »I’m speaking at the 2013 World Tea Expo
I’m speaking at World Tea Expo this year, if you are going and you own a tea company or are thinking about starting a tea company, you should probably come. I’m going to be covering the trends in digital marketing for the year. This isn’t 100 level social media, blogging and seo stuff, this is [...]
read more »Tasting Tea: Taking it Deeper than “Vegetal”
One way that many people describe green teas (not just green teas, just using it as an example) is by using the word “vegetal” — meaning that the taste reminds them of the taste of vegetables. One quick tip to take your tea appreciation to another level is to see if you can figure out [...]
read more »Guest Post: Making sense of China’s Tea Harvest
In China the tea plant can be harvested anywhere from once to as many as 6 or 7 times per year. In addition, the first harvest- the first flush in Indian nomenclature- can occur any time from mid-February to end of May. Let us look at some of the factors that determine when tea leaves [...]
read more »Tea Cultivation, Tea Education
Posted on November 1st, 2012 Written by Derek Chew
Anxi Tie Guan Yin Oolong
Etymology: “Tieguanyin” translates to “Iron Guanyin,” Guanyin being the “Goddess of Mercy” Other Names: Iron Goddess of Mercy, Ti Kuan Yin, Ti Kwan Yin Origin: China, Fujian Province, Anxi County Taste: Overwhelmingly floral and slightly vegetal. Behind the Leaf: This tea is named after the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (“Guan Yin” in Mandarin), also known as the [...]
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