Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!

 

Why You Should Buy Tea Online

 


I always advocate buying tea from an online vendor, but I've had so many people ask me why I do so, that I've decided to write this. They tell me they go to grocery stores and see a large selection of tea. Or they go to Starbucks and there's tea everywhere. You can find tea in bookstores and sometimes even convenience stores and you can definitely find tea in Asian specialty stores. So what's wrong with these teas? Why are the teas online better?


In short, most of the teas you find near where you live are absolute crap. You might find some decent ones in Starbucks or in the occasional bookstore, but they will almost certainly be overpriced. Asian specialty stores occasionally have good varieties of tea, but it's hard to know which ones those are and they usually have a lot of terrible varieties as well. You'd think you could tell the difference by the price, but you can't, as often they will all be priced very low and sometimes the better teas will cost less than the lower quality teas.


The one type of brick-and-mortar store where you can get good quality varieties of tea are specialty tea shops. Unfortunately you won't generally find these outside the largest cities and even there, they're relatively rare. What's more, the prices are almost always higher than they will be at online tea vendors and you can't always be sure of the quality. Some of the stores have great quality teas, but others do not. If you have a store like this in your neighborhood then you should definitely sample some of the teas and see if they are any good. If they are, you one of the lucky few who has access to great teas. Of course, I'm assuming that the store charges decent prices.


For most of us, though, online tea shops are your best bet. You can get good quality teas and they're usually priced better than anywhere else outside of Asia. When I say Asia, I mean China, Japan and maybe Malaysia and Singapore, because the other countries in Asia don't really have great tea.


One problem with online tea stores is that there are so many, it's hard to know which one is good. Luckily, you'll find some sites that review online tea shops and can help you in choosing the best place to buy tea online. So if you're looking for a place to get tea, I suggest finding a site that compares online tea vendors and reviews them and give you some tips and suggestions and recommendations for buying tea online.


As with brick-and-mortar stores, you'll want to start with smaller sample sizes to make sure the quality is good, despite an online store having glowing reviews. It's always best to try for yourself. And once you've found a store you can trust and you are happy with their product, their service and the prices, congratulations you've just found a great place to buy tea. Now there's nothing holding you back from never drinking anything other than tea for the rest of your life. Except for beer of course.

 

 



Once You've Bought Tea, Use These Instructions for Brewing


When someone says to me they aren't keen on tea, I generally figure they've merely never tasted a properly prepared cup. With every variety of tea pretty much having a unique way of preparation, it's not hard to comprehend how it comes to be that people may not know the best way brew their tea. And when specific errors are committed, the ensuing tea tastes bad tasting. No worries, though, since any type you might get when you buy tea from an online store can be brewed by using pretty much any process. There are only a few essential elements to be aware of and I will cover those below for a number of the more widely consumed teas. For help buying tea from an online shop, see Let's Drink Tea.


Why don't we start with the easiest one. Almost all folks have no difficulty making a great cup of black tea. Basically, use boiling water and allow the leaves to steep for a couple of minutes. The widespread Assam tea is best made using this technique, plus the Chinese black teas, Ceylon teas and Nepalese teas. Darjeeling tea should not be brewed in this way, however. It should be prepared with colder water (80-90ºC or 180-194ºF), owing to the fact that it is only somewhat oxidized and basically just like an oolong tea.


With a large difference in the method of brewing among the various varieties of green tea, they are somewhat more tasking to prepare the correct way. The correct water temperature and the steeping times are the important two factors you definitely need to look out for. The majority of green teas should ideally be brewed with a temperature of around 80°C (176°F).


One important exception is the high quality Japanese tea gyokuro, which necessitates a colder water temperature of 50°C–60°C (122°F–140°F). The roasted tea houjicha is an additional exception. Perhaps the most difficult possible tea to brew incorrectly, it can simply be prepared using 100°C water. The instructions on the packaging will tell you a good time to start when it comes to steeping times. Otherwise, try beginning with one and a half minutes for gyokuro and two minutes for all other teas.


There is one green tea that is entirely unlike the rest and that shouldn't be made using the suggestions given above: Matcha green tea powder. As it is in powder form, it is prepared using unique implements and a very distinctive and fairly intricate preparation method. Matcha is the tea from the Japanese tea ceremony and if you've ever witnessed one performed, you have an idea of how complex it becomes to brew matcha. The method of preparation for this exceptional quality tea could cover many pages, so I won't worry about it here.


Also somewhat more challenging to brew well is white tea. It is made up of new leaves, which means they are somewhat more delicate and thus call for a lower water temperature than all the other types of tea. The two most popular kinds, White Hair Silver Needle and White Peony, are each best prepared at 75-80°C (167-176°F). 2-3 minutes is a good starting place for steeping times; modify from there according to your tastes. If you prefer a more bitter cup of tea, increase your steeping time; if you prefer your tea less bitter, shorten the steeping time.


The hardest kind of tea to brew perfectly, ignoring matcha, is oolong tea. The traditional Chinese way of brewing employs a ton of leaves and steeps them for a very quick period, but repeats the process over numerous infusions. You can get a delicious cup through the use of normal methods, however. If the water temperature is slightly below 100°C, the infusion will be good.

Buy Tea Online For Samples


I understand the instructions I've presented are pretty watered-down. It goes without saying, using the individual instructions for each specific tea will result in the perfect cup. If you don't have those, however, making use of my guidelines will give you a great cup of tea, no matter the kind. Tea is the most common drink in the world, excepting water and hopefully you will give it another chance, if you are one of those persons who have previously determined they abhor it. Tea is tasty and good for your health and well worth trying a bunch of times, until you stumble on a kind of tea and a method of preparation that is perfect for you.


For more information on tea, try these resources:

(1) Wikipedia Tea: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea

(2) Let's Drink Tea: http://www.letsdrinktea.com/

 



A Bad Experience Purchasing Tea Online


 

Let me get this out of the way immediately: I'm not going to name any names here. I got burned purchasing tea from a horrible vendor, but I can't be sure it wasn't just a one-time thing. I don't know if this tea shop is always as bad as it was this time and I don't want to make myself liable, so I will avoid naming them and simply make this a tale of caution. Whenever you buy tea from a new store, meaning a store you're not yet familiar with, make sure to buy a small sample first.


Now, I knew this advice. I've actually given it to many people before. Nevertheless, I ignored it for some stupid reason. I was trying out a new tea shop and their website looked great, so I figured why not just get a large order? I was planning on purchasing a large quantity of green tea anyways, so I figured I might as well just kill two birds with one stone. The tea I ended up getting tasted like it had both the birds and the stone mixed in with the leaves. But I'm getting ahead of myself.


First let's talk about the ordering process. This should have been my first clue to just bail and order from elsewhere. The website kept crashing when I was trying to enter my details and I had to fill out the form at least four times. It was pretty frustrating, to say the least. Eventually I got all my info entered, including the payment info and my order went through. Three years later I got my tea.


Okay, so it wasn't quite that bad. It did, however, take a long time for my order to arrive. They promised fast shipping within a few business days, but it took over two weeks. To make matters worse, they shipped it in some kind of soft packaging so that it had gotten crushed  en route and my tea leaves arrived as tea dust. Furthermore, that tea dust was extremely low-quality. I ordered what was promised to be a decent, if not high, quality sencha and got nothing of the sort. The disgusting tasting dust that arrived at my door could not even be called a bancha.


Naturally, I called the tea vendor using the number provided online to let them know I wasn't happy with my order. They never heard that complaint, because they kept redirecting me to various people and I never ended up speaking to anyone who mattered. I got the distinct feeling that even if I had, they wouldn't have cared. This seems to very much be the kind of online tea store that is making its money from people once. What I mean by that is they do not count on getting repeat customers. The relatively cool looking website entices people to make one purchase, a purchase they will definitely regret, but none of those people ever buy from the store again. They definitely seem to be just going for a quick buck; then once they have made all they can, I'm sure they will disappear.