How to choose tea? Tea bags. Tea with additives. Real tea

  • 08 October 2018
  • Views: 4171


In our time, the tea market is represented by many varieties of tea. The price range is very wide - from the budget, sold in any supermarket, to the varieties that position themselves as "elite" - for all the money in the world. ;-)

Among such a variety is easy to get confused. But we will try to figure out what exactly today the tea industry offers us.

    Tea bags

Supermarkets offer us tea bags from 20 UAH. The price is very attractive, tea is convenient to brew at home, in the office, anywhere. And many of us stop our choice on tea bags.

Do you know what is inside the bag? Not? Well, I don't want to upset you ... but try breaking the bag yourself and study the contents. Most likely, you will find something inside, crushed to dust, that maybe when it was lying next to tea.

Sachets are usually packed in tea production, swept from the table. In order for this dust to have at least some taste and color, colors and flavors are added to it. Yes, it is the flavors in pure black or green tea. Fortunately, our chemical industry is up to the mark and can reproduce any aroma - even the aroma of tea is identical to the natural one.

By the way, the presence of dyes in tea is very easy to determine. You pour a tea bag with boiling water and instantly see the beautiful brown color of the infusion. Right now, instantly. Think, can a tea leaf give an intense color to a drink, if it didn’t even have time to brew it? Exactly.

When buying tea bags, we never know what is inside. Of course, talking about the health benefits and other virtues of the dubious contents of the bags is very difficult.

    Tea with additives

On the shelves of shops in abundance there are blends a la "Strawberries with cream", "Champagne splashes", etc.

According to the manufacturers, this blend includes natural black or green tea, dried pieces of real fruits and berries, real flowers. We will not argue, just do a little experiment yourself. Take a strawberry berry or a jasmine flower, or a piece of orange, apple - anything that can be part of such blends. Dry in the sun. And then inhale the scent. Well, do not smell so dried berries and flowers! Do not smell! When you open a can of tea, and from the powerful smell as much as tears come to light and blow out the spirit - it only says that chemical flavors are added to this tea blend. And in general, why is this neighborhood some cornflowers for real tea? The taste and aroma of good tea is self-sufficient, it does not require additives.

As a rule, low-quality tea needs additional ingredients. Or tea, which has lost its merits in the process of prolonged improper storage. For example, initially the tea was good. But three years passed, and he lost his taste, aroma and beneficial properties. What should the tea supplier do - not to throw it at a loss? And it is already impossible to sell - neither taste nor smell ... And let's add any garbage there, we will pack in a beautiful box and give a sexual name. ;-)

The exception is, perhaps, only natural jasmine tea. There will be no jasmine flowers in it, do not wait, and the presence of buds does not mean at all about the “naturalness” of such an additive. Real jasmine tea, traditional for China, is flavored by sharing it with fresh jasmine flowers. Freshly picked tea is stored with fresh flowers. Flowers are replaced with fresh ones as they wither. Green tea absorbs the aroma, after which the flowers are taken away, only the beautiful jasmine pearls from the tea leaves, saturated with the aroma of fresh flowers, remain.

However, you choose, of course. But if you want to drink cornflowers with flavored strawberries, then we will not talk about tea. Let's talk about grandma's compote. Although there are no flavors in it, and everything is natural. ;-)

    Real tea

Yes, yes, we bring you to the conclusion, so gently and cunningly, to drink natural tea without additives or flavors. But the problem is that in the tea market of "real Chinese tea," you too can easily be deceived. Many tea shops and online stores offer you a choice of green, red, white tea. And also puers, oolongs - right here from the plantations just collected by virgins. ;-) And the prices are so different ... The same legendary Te Guang Yin can be purchased from 50 to 500 UAH. for 100 grams.

How to choose?

Ideally, this is when you can try tea, taste it before you buy it. But in online stores it is not always possible. If the online store offers to buy tea probes - this is good, you risk nothing by purchasing a small amount of tea. Just follow the brewing guidelines.

    How to choose a good tea

If there is an opportunity to see tea "live" - ​​here are a few factors that are worth paying attention to.

    For green tea:

  • Tea leaf green or dark green (!) Color. If it is brown, then it is old.
  • Green tea does not smell like fish. If it smells, tea was stored incorrectly and it grew old.
  • Green tea leaves and buds are of the same size and color, you do not see crumbs, tea dust and other foreign inclusions.
  • Aroma - from piercing herbal to bright floral, depending on the variety.

    For oolongs:

  • Twisted flushes are even, identical, for light dark green ones, for fermented ones they are brown. No broken leaves and tea dust.
  • If there is a gray bloom - immediately abandon the purchase - the tea is corny spoiled. Aroma for light - from flower to sweet, for dark - nutty, honey, fruity.

    For red (black) tea:

  • Leaf in dry form can be large and small, and even crushed. The color ranges from sunny ginger (soft teas with a high content of tea buds) to almost black. Leaf same, without dust and crumbs.
  • The aroma is honey, fruity, nutty, maybe with a “smoke” - depending on the variety.

    For white tea:

  • Maximum tea buds - you recognize it by its light color and fluffiness. The more villi on the tea bud - the earlier tea was collected. A tea bush with the help of such a silvery “fur coat” protects the delicate tea bud from possible frosts.
  • The aroma is sweetish, flowery-intoxicating, without “fishiness”.

    For puers:

  • Here you can talk for a long time. The main criterion - Puerh should not smell like a mold, a grandmother's shed or something rotten. This indicates a violation of the technology of aging.
  • If Pu-erh is pressed, it should not crumble, or, conversely, be too tightly compressed.
  • Shu Pu-erh has a characteristic aroma of wood bark with notes of nuts and dried berries.
  • For Shen Puerh - dried fruit, floral, herbal. And, of course, no dust, broken sheet, crumbs. And tips — you remember, right? The more buds in tea, the tastier and healthier it is.

Ideally, of course, any tea should be tried. But we hope that our simple recommendations will help you choose a real tea in appearance, even on the photo on the site.

Enjoy real tea! Enjoy your tea with i-tea.club!