Jan

19

Fact:

January 19, 2008 |

leaf.jpg

You won’t find this in your teabag. I’m not being snobby about tea bags (many people are), and I don’t consider myself “anti-tea bag” (many people are). In recent years we have seen a lot of new versions of the tea bag. They’re made from all types of materials into all sorts of shapes. The thing is, sometimes it’s the bag and the packaging that people are selling and the quality of tea is a second thought. I’m not talking about the old classics like Lipton, Bigelow’s Constant Comment, etc. Many of us remember these as the teas our parents or grandparents always had in the cupboard; maybe they still do. Maybe you do, and there’s nothing wrong with that. These teas can offer a familiar comfort. Also, when you consider how tea is so affected by climactic conditions and a host of other factors, it’s amazing these teas have tasted the same year after year. It’s this consistency that takes us back to the familiar, which most of us love. But like anything else, once you get into tea pretty seriously you begin to crave the new and unfamiliar.

I like the variations in certain teas from year to year. Flavors can undergo subtle changes even if the tea is picked from the exact same location, at the same time of year, and using the exact same processing methods. The journey a tea leaf takes from plant to cup is an amazing one. Like wine, tea’s natural variations keep the aficionado constantly enthralled by the search for what’s new this year. This is only one factor that sets the world of loose tea apart from most bagged offerings. There are a host of other factors that we’ll talk about in time.

Regardless of what anyone else says, drink whatever you like in any manner you enjoy. That’s ultimately what’s most important.

- James


Comments

Name (required)

Email (required)

Website

Speak your mind

1 Comment so far

  1. A Better Use of the Teabag : Halcyon Tea on April 28, 2009 4:40 pm

    […] one too. But, James, you guys have tea bags? I thought you were all about loose leaf teas? Yes, but remember we’re not snobby about it. And, all I have to do is use a T-Sac full of loose tea. We sell a […]