Essential Tips For Picking Your New Favorite Tea

There are over 1,000 varieties of tea, and each tea is made from the leaves of the same plant, Camellia sinensis, according to statistics on MedAlertHelp.org. With a variety of tea options at your disposal, choosing the next tea to try can be overwhelming. Many people opt to try different teas before picking one they like.  You’ll probably want to follow this path, but even then, there are several things you need to consider, including your reasons for drinking tea. Keep reading to learn essential tips for picking your new favorite tea blend.  

Get To Know Different Tea Types

Gaining a deep understanding of tea types is essential to finding your next favorite. Therefore, spend a considerable amount of time researching more about common teas, like green, oolong, white, and black teas. Also, explore less popular options, such as yellow teas and pu-erh teas.  When studying tea types, consider what you’re looking for in a specific tea. For example, if you want tea filled with health benefits, green tea contains antioxidant properties. You may explore oolong to boost your metabolism, or choose black tea to keep you alert.

Trying lesser known varieties like pu-erh and yellow teas is also a good starting point to pick a new favorite tea, packed with health benefits, for example pu-erh tea is a fermented tea that improves digestion, cleanses free radicals and toxins, and prevents cancer. 

Joining a community of passionate tea drinkers and growers such as Tea Lovers can also be a great way to familiarize yourself with the best tea brands, themes and tea types.

Consider Tea Flavor

Tea flavors range from mild to strong, and they vary from one tea type to another. Naturally, black teas have strong flavors, but there are exceptions. Golden Monkey Tea, for instance, is a black tea with a pleasant mild flavor while Hojicha, a Japanese green tea, has a sweet and smoky flavor with a hint of cocoa. Remember, what you’re looking for in a tea matters a lot when tasting different tea flavor profiles. For example, if you want spicy tea, masala chai is your best option, as it offers aromas and flavors that never bore you.  Choosing a perfect tea flavor isn’t easy. Fortunately, there are tea subscription boxes for sampling different flavors.

The key is finding tea subscription services that provide steeping tips and tasting notes to help you identify tea flavors that fit your needs. With the right tea flavor guide, you can easily differentiate pure tea flavors like smoky, ripe fruit, and malt flavors from flavored teas. Examples of flavored tea include blueberry, vanilla, strawberry, roasted rice, and mint.

Caffeine Content Matters

Typically, black teas have high caffeine levels, while white and green teas have small amounts. Oolong teas can have high or low caffeine levels, depending on their oxidation levels.

Knowing the level of caffeine in teas will help you pick the perfect blend. For example, if you want high caffeinated tea, consider brewing matcha. Unlike many tea types, matcha is made of ground tea leaves. When brewed, you’ll be taking all the nutrients and caffeine. For mild caffeine, choose Golden Flower, a low oxidized oolong. If you want a low caffeine beverage, choose Jasmine Silver Needle, a low caffeinated tea made of jasmine flower and white tea.   Picking a new tea blend can be tricky because of the various tea types available.

However, you can choose your next favorite tea if you know  the characteristics and benefits of different tea types. Also, explore different flavors and caffeine levels.