There are a myriad of teas on store shelves. But how to choose a truly delicious and healthy tea from the many well-known and unknown brands.
Tea selection by appearance and taste
The most important criterion for quality tea is its appearance and aroma. Due to this, granulated teas and tea bags should be avoided. Typically, they are made from either low-grade tea or waste. At the purchase stage, you should study the composition and give preference to tea without additives, flavors. When opening the package, the aroma of the tea should not be harsh. The color of the leaf is not dull, if this does not apply to varieties with deliberate aging, but also not bright. Also, tea leaves should be about the same size and not have sticks in the impurity.
When brewed, high-quality tea will have a rather pronounced aroma and taste. Depending on the variety, they will go into "honey", "nutty", "floral" or "milky" aftertaste shades.
How to tell fresh from old tea
Fresh tea without additional flavoring will have a fairly rich aroma. Old tea has a smell of "dust" and musty. In addition, when rubbing a leaf of fresh tea in your hand, it will seem "alive". The old tea will turn into powder.
When brewing fresh tea, the water acquires a beautiful rich amber color. The leaves open completely and you can see the shape, veins, denticles. A cloudy shade of water or a film on the surface means that the tea is either old or inferior.
Which manufacturer to give preference to
Of course, quality tea is expensive and not for a wide range of people. In contrast to the advertised teas, which are aimed at the mass consumer. And already, proceeding from this, they, by definition, cannot be good. Companies buy tea leaves in large wholesale, which does not allow tracking the quality of the goods. In addition, such a quantity of tea does not allow selling it immediately and it can be stored in the warehouse for a long time. That is why many well-known companies dilute their assortment of stale tea with all kinds of additives and flavorings. Suppressing in this way the unpleasant smell and taste of old tea. Nice names and well-placed advertising increase consumer demand for tea with additives. But not everything is so bad, and you can find a “pearl” in general demand stores. The main thing is not to chase well-known brands. Better to give preference to a new brand. Until the "name" is promoted, the manufacturer tries to monitor the quality in order to attract and retain potential buyers. Among other things, you should take the time to look at the manufacturer on the packaging. It happens that the manufacturer of a well-known tea and tea of an unknown brand is the same. In this case, it is better to look for something else.
