Tea - Varieties, Brands, and Buying Tips

True teas are made from the Camellia sinensis plant.  These include:

• Black tea - The typical "tea" in most of the world, black tea is a fully-oxidized tea, giving it a rich, dark reddish-brown color, and a bold flavor.
• Green tea - The most popular tea in much of China and Japan, and elsewhere in Southeast Asia, green tea is heated to stop the oxidation that would lead to the creation of black tea.  Green tea has a green color to the leaf and produces a lighter-colored cup.  It often has a grassy or vegetal flavor.
• Oolong tea - A complex type of tea popular in China and Taiwan, oolong teas range in oxidation from very light, like green teas, to very dark, like black teas.  They are also roasted to varying degrees.
• White tea - The least processed of teas, white teas are a little mellower in flavor than green tea.
• Pu-erh and other post-fermented tea - Pu-erh and other so-called "dark teas" are aged, or post-fermented.  Whereas most teas are best consumed soon after their production, Pu-erh is often rather edgy and too strong to be enjoyable shortly after it is made, and it mellows and becomes more desirable with age, like a fine wine.

 For more info on varieties of tea, you can visit RateTea's pages on styles and varieties of tea.

Herbal teas are distinct; they are made from any plants other than the tea plant, and they include mostly caffeine-free infusions, but there are a few caffeinated examples, including Yerba mate and Guayusa.

There are hundreds of tea companies in the U.S. alone, even more when you look globally.  How do you decide which companies to buy from?

My first advice to people serious about drinking high-quality tea is to look beyond the brands commonly available in mainstream supermarkets.  For most people, this necessitates looking online.  Because tea is relatively lightweight, it is easy and relatively inexpensive to ship, so virtually all tea companies sell their product online.

Here are some of my favorite companies:

• Upton Tea Imports - If I had to pick a single favorite tea company, it would be Upton.  Their prices are extremely reasonable, and the company offers affordable sample sizes of each and every one of their offerings.
• Rishi Tea - Rishi is one of the leading tea companies in terms of sustainability.  A huge portion of Rishi's catalogue is both fair-trade and organic certified, and the company has also been at the forefront of the development of new varieties of artisan tea.
• Adagio Tea - Adagio is one of the tea companies with the largest online presence, being the company behind TeaChat and a variety of other interactive websites.  My favorite aspect of Adagio's teas is the fact that their samplers (which are also reasonably priced) come in adorable little metal tins, which are immensely useful.  Their teas are also quite good, and the company's website has one of the better user experiences of any of the online tea companies.
• Arbor Teas - Arbor teas is a newly started company that is another leader in sustainability.  The company uses compostable packaging, and has some interesting offerings, with a high portion of organic and fair trade certified offerings.

I also do buy teas in stores.  Some of my favorite brands of tea to buy in stores include:

• Ahmad Tea - A London-based company, Ahmad tea specializes in middle-eastern style teas, selling a variety of pure black teas and some flavored teas, as well as a few green teas.  Ahmad Tea is one of the most popular teas in Iran, and is also widely available in middle-eastern grocery stores.  Its straight black teas are, in my opinion, the best black teas available in their price range, offering exceptional value.
• Foojoy Tea - Foojoy is best known for being a brand of inexpensive Chinese teas in teabags, widely available in Asian markets.  However, the company also sells high-quality loose-leaf tea as well.  If you're lucky enough to come across its loose-leaf tea, I recommend buying it.

I've sampled over 700 teas from a wide range of companies, from the largest mainstream brands to tiny, one-person businesses run as side operations.  You can read my reviews on RateTea if you want specific recommendations.  Over time, I've learned how to easily locate and discern the quality and value of tea from different retailers.

Here are some of my basic tips for selecting high-quality teas:

• Try different types of teas.  You can't tell the difference between good tea and bad tea if you always drink the same type of tea.  Start experimenting...buy your favorite but also try new kinds.  Trade with friends.  Read reviews online to get ideas.  Find a company that you like and start sampling all their teas.  My favorite companies selling loose-leaf tea offer all their teas in small, affordable sample sizes.  Buy these samples and try them!  But experiment with different companies as well...you will find that some companies are better priced than others, and some cater more to your particular tastes.
• Buy from a company's strengths, not their weaknesses.  There are many different types of tea culture, which can be somewhat disjoint.  British companies don't do the best job of selecting green teas, and a Chinese or Japanese company is unlikely to sell the best English Breakfast or Irish Breakfast blend.  Find what a company is good at, and buy those teas from that company.
• Consider getting into loose-leaf tea.  There are reasons why most tea connoisseurs frown upon tea bags and drink exclusively or almost exclusively tea brewed from loose-leaf.  Not only are you saving money and promoting sustainability by reducing the amount of money spent on packaging (and to a degree, marketing), but the best teas are usually only available in loose-leaf form.  With loose-leaf, you get both the best value and best flavor!