What we look for

While our tea selection process isn’t overly scientific, we do look at a few aspects when deciding whether or not to add a tea to our collection. 

FLAVOUR

Natural flavours, not the artificial, added essential oils kind. Quality loose-leaf tea, even subtle white teas should have a clear and clean flavour that is pleasant to drink and lingers on your palate.

DEPTH AND AROMA

Basically, it shouldn’t feel or taste like water. Real tea has great depth and the taste should match its aroma. Each sip should be satisfying and you shouldn’t be left wanting.

AFTERTASTE

Great quality tea leaves a lingering aftertaste at the back of your throat with the aroma travelling through the sinuses. This creates a very pleasant and calming sensation.

CONSISTENCY

Consistent leaf size and type is important for maintaining a consistent flavour throughout a brew. In general, we look for whole buds and leaves. With tea processing, it’s quite difficult to maintain whole, undamaged leaves and so as a rule of thumb, the more the leaves are in tact, the better the quality of tea.

TERROIR

The characteristics of quality tea are not only dependent on the producer but also the terroir (i.e. environmental characteristics of the land) and the climate conditions. Much like wine production, every batch will have slightly different characteristics from the last. When you taste quality loose-leaf tea from a particular year or season, you taste the characteristics of that place in that moment in time. One of the most exciting aspects of tea is discovering the differences in taste and flavour the same type of tea will have across different years.

Click here to explore our collection of teas.