With so many varieties of Tea, it can be overwhelming to choose. How to pick the right tea is a common challenge. If you want to buy good quality tea, consider the following suggestions:
1. Avoid buying by “Famous Names”
In today's market, almost every tea bears a famous name, such as “Iron Goddess (Tiě Guānyīn), Frozen Peak (Dòngdǐng), or Great Red Robe (Dà Hóngpáo)” for oolong teas, “Dragon Well (Lóngjǐng), Da Fang” for pan-fired green teas, “Green Snail Spring (Bìluóchūn)” for slender green teas, and “Yellow Mountain Fur Peak (Huángshān Máo Fēng)” for plump green teas. Be aware that famous teas are not as common as potatoes.
2. Avoid buying by “Packaging”
Poor quality teas are often packaged extravagantly in gold-embellished or antique-styled containers, such as porcelain bottles, tin cans, and redwood boxes. They may look like gold on the outside but are like cotton fluff inside.
3. Avoid buying “Assorted Collections”
Dishonest sellers mix poor quality teas and package them as “Five Famous Teas,” “Eight Famous Teas,” or “Ten Famous Teas.” Be cautious; if you want to try all types of famous teas, you need to do some research.
4. Avoid buying by “Place Names”
When visiting tea-producing regions, especially tourist attractions like Mount Huang, Mount Lu, or Wuyi Mountain, be careful when buying tea from street vendors or supposed tea farmers. These teas might be substandard, fake, or overpriced.
5. Avoid buying by “Grade”
Terms like “Supreme,” “Divine,” “Grand Gold Prize,” and “Special Grade” are commonly printed on tea packaging. However, if these were truly top-quality teas, they would be worth millions. The grading of tea is officially regulated, but dishonest sellers have muddied the waters. Be careful!
Some tea merchants play with grading terms. For example, Taiwanese sellers grade Dongding tea from highest to lowest as: Supreme, Grand Gold Prize, Gold Prize, Silver Prize, Special Grade Competition Tea, Competition Tea, and Special Grade. In this case, what should be considered high-grade is actually the lowest.
How to select good tea?
1. Observe its shape
Evaluate the uniformity and consistency of the tea leaves, their luster, and the amount of broken leaves and stems. A good green tea should be green and glossy with visible white downy hairs (the presence of white down indicates high quality). A dull yellow, dead red, or dull color is inferior, while a bright tea infusion is preferred.
Some famous teas have unique shapes: West Lake Dragon Well tea is generally flat and straight with a rough rice-like yellow color and no visible downy hairs; Silver Needle, Shrimp Needle, Pearl Tea, and Chrysanthemum Tea each have distinctive “needle, shrimp, pearl, chrysanthemum” shapes; Yellow Mountain Fur Peak has abundant downy hairs and distinct peaks; Xinyang Maojian has a fine, straight, and round shape with many downy hairs; Biluochun has thin, twisted, and snail-shaped leaves.
2. Smell its aroma
The aroma of tea can also help evaluate its quality. You can smell dry tea or wet tea after brewing. Good tea should not have a grassy or unusual odor when dry. After brewing, good tea should have a fresh, rich, and pleasant aroma without any off-flavors.
3. Feel, taste, and observe
Feel the “identity” of the tea, which involves assessing the tightness, weight, and size of the leaves. Relatively heavy and compact leaves are better than coarse, old, and light ones.
While tasting, also observe the infused leaves. High-quality tea should have a rich, smooth, fresh, and sweet aftertaste, while low-quality tea will be bland and harsh. Look at the infused leaves; intact, soft, thick, and tender leaves with visible buds are preferred, while thin, hard, and dark leaves are inferior. Oolong Tea leaves usually show a characteristic pattern of being seven parts green and three parts red around the edges.
4. Ask questions
When purchasing tea, check the authentic origin and corresponding variety. For example, West Lake Dragon Well tea comes specifically from the Lion Peak, Mei Family Village, and Longwu areas around West Lake in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province; Biluochun is produced near Lake Dongting in Wuxi, Jiangsu; Iron Goddess Oolong originates from Anxi, Fujian.
Note the differences between real and fake tea after brewing:
To distinguish real from fake tea, observe the characteristics of the leaf after brewing. Real tea leaves have serrated edges, typically ranging from 16 to 32 pairs. The serrations are denser and deeper towards the upper part of the leaf and sparser towards the base, where the petiole is smooth. Most other plant leaves either have serrated edges all around or none at all. The lateral veins of tea leaves extend about one-third of the way to the edge before curving upwards and connecting with the veins above. In contrast, the lateral veins of most other plants run straight to the edge of the leaf.
For non-professionals, distinguishing the quality of tea can be challenging. When buying tea, stay vigilant to avoid being misled.