Brief Guide to Leaf Tea
Posted by TEAS AU
Tea has a long history as the “elixir for the immortal”. Many love tea as their daily refreshment, a way to connect body and mind internally and inter-personally.
What is tea really?
“Tea” strictly speaking is referring to any liquid from brewing the tea plant, Camellia Sinensis.
Tea is grown in many countries – China, Japan, Taiwan, India and Sri Lanka are the well known tea production countries. Kenya, Vietnam, even New Zealand and Australia are now producing tea.
There are 6 tea types:
- Black Tea
- Oolong
- Green Tea
- Yellow Tea
- White Tea
- Pu-erh
Common tea types such as black tea and green tea are now serving in all corners of the world. While the “western” world is drinking more black tea, in the East side, green tea is more prominent.
Tea has caffeine naturally. Decaffeination will not ENTIRELY remove caffeine.
Other “teas” such as herbal tea like Ginger Tea, Mint Tea and Berry Tea are not tea to be exact as they don’t have the tea plant in the mix. Instead, it would be more correct to call them “infusion” or “tisane”, as they contain other plant components.
Tea is commonly sold in teabags and loose leaf form. Teas.com.au specialises in leaf tea. Here are some comparisons of tea bags and loose leaf tea.
| Leaf Tea | Tea Bag | ||
| Great tea aroma | Lacks tea aroma | ||
| Great tea flavour | Lacks tea flavour | ||
| infuser not a must, no taste barrier | Tea bag material forms taste barrier | ||
| Enjoy tea in its original, true form | Too much machine handling | ||
| Need more tea leaves to achieve the same strength | Easy to make strong | ||
| Helps you to slow down | Dunk and go | ||
| Easy to make (5 seconds?) | Quicker to make (2 seconds?) | ||
| Washing tea infuser or teapot | Less washing | ||
| Plenty of room to expand and release its flavour | Limited space even with triangular teabags = limited expansion of tea leaves to release full flavour | ||
| Leaves can be used for multiple brews | One hit wonder | ||
| Easy to carry around | |||
| Great compost for plants | No teabag materials so far are totally compostable | ||
| Endless varieties: Mix and match your blend to your desired strength | Governed by whatever is available in bag form |
Want to know more about tea?
Tea is the 2nd most drunk beverage in the world, next to water. There is so much to know about tea and so much fun you can have when your tea time becomes your tea time!
We send out news and free ebooks regularly to help you to learn more about tea – whether it is the most popular tea, unusual and exotic teas, tea brewing, making iced tea and more.
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