A Few Ways to Select a Tea

Select a tea by category, region, taste or TCM character

At TeaHong.com, we try to put ourselves in our customers’ shoes. Different people have different priorities. Each sees the world differently. Naturally when it comes to selecting a tea, your criteria may not be the same as that of any other tea drinkers. That is why we group our tea products in different ways so you can see them in the context that is closest to how you think when selecting a tea.

Selection by
Tea Category

Selection by
Tea Region

Selection by
Taste Preference

Selection by
TCM Character

Our Tea Master’s personal favourites

Before doing your own selections, you may also want to check out what our Tea Master’s very own favourites here.

Or refer to his best loved oolongs here:

by random order

Selection by Tea Category

The most common way to group different varieties of tea is by the category of processing method with which they are produced. Some call it Tea Classification, others Tea Categorisation. We think the later label is semantically more accurate.

Many connoisseurs and tea specialists organise their collections with this concept.

The above chart shows the five main categories: Green, Black, White, Pu’er ( Post-Fermentation ) and Oolong teas. Click the pie chart to browse the category of tea, click on your choice and enjoy the browse!

Need more info about a category before seeing the products? Here are some articles:

Our tea regions

Fenghuang / Phoenix

Tea farmer withering tea leaves in the afternoon sun

Huangshan/ Anhui

Tea picking on the hill side terrace

Minnan-Mindong, Fujian

Wang's peak farm

Nepal, the Himalayas

Tea Regions of TeaHomg.com: Nepal / Himalayas

Taiwan

Master Li talks about ant problem in his wild Red Jade tea field

Wuyi-shan

A tea field in Wuyi

Yunnan

Thick linen are being put on piles of tealeaves for post-fermentation in Yunnan

Zhejiang

Tea Hong: Finest Hand-roasted Green tea: Longjing Spring Equinox

Selection by Taste

Teas are like raw gems. The true taste of each awaits the revelation made possible by the way you make it. Your personal need matters. It may change according to mood, time of the day, and occasions.

tasting

Tasting is the ultimate way to learn about a tea

Experience and explore

Begin by tasting a few selections using various infusion styles to gain more specialist understanding of the finesses and differences. Relate this with your personal preferences and you will gradually carve out a direction in building your own repertoire of tea. This will be your very own line that best suits your taste and your needs. With repeated usage your senses and perceptions will deepen. This will empower you with the connoisseur skill to easily master yet more varieties to continue to gain levels in the vast world of tea.

Selection by TCM Characters

This is for those who understand the needs of answering the voice of the body. A well customised and balanced collection not only helps to maximise tea’s health benefits, but also tea’s gastronomic qualities. At Tea Hong, we categorise our collection by traditional Chinese medicinal character.

Check out trending best sellers

If all these other ways of thinking about how to select a tea are not for you, perhaps you can see what other people are buying. These are some of what’s trending now:

Information on a tea page

Detail information on each tea page includes a description, taste profile, infusion tips and a few properties described with icons. This article gives a general orientation in case you want to prepare yourself before browsing.

Customer Reviews

Yet another way to get an idea is to see how other customers see our products. Read a few random reviews they have posted in this site, and click on the link to go to the product page:

  • Honey Orchid Supreme, classic Phoenix dancong oolong

    Your review is like a poem! Thank you for sharing your experience with us and so very, very happy that you like one of my personal most favourites. This is the very tea that totally converted me from my previous profession into advocacy for fine tea.

    Leo Kwan
  • Tieguanyin Classic, deep baked oolong

    The Whiz Kid

    I was told that it is not an easy tea to prepare nor to appreciate, so I was a little anxious when opening it.
    I choose to brew it with a low leave to water ratio and it immediately appeared that the real complexity of the tea is that it can offer a wide range of tastes.
    In these conditions, this tea develops very sweet and gentle taste of plum and date, brilliantly balanced by the woodsy aromas from the baking process.
    I am eager to prepare it again with other parameters, I am already amazed by its the wide range of possibilities.
    To summarize, to me this tea is not the wild child I expected but a more a whiz kid who can show you tons of wonderful tastes if you can guide him.
    Thanks to all Tea Hong staff for this great discovery!
    ( A paragraph is edited out for a discussion about another customer’s comment. Detail discussions are more suitable when carried out in forums, such as the one in TeaGuardian.com — note by Tea Hong )

    Elie MAGNON
  • Cassia Extraordinaire, Wuyi yancha oolong

    My most expensive tea ever, and loving it!

    I should have written about a few other oolongs I tried since my happy experience with Phoenix Bittersweet, but I have to share with you this one. This is the most expensive tea I have ever bought and so pleased with it. It has a great sweet wood taste and a very interesting spice to it. Not hot or pungent or anything like that, but very memorable character. Warm, refreshing aroma and very tasteful tea. I have stopped alcohol for 6 years now, this tea is like a very fine wine, except that this keeps me sober and feeling healthy 😉

    Brigitte Thompson
  • GABA Orange Extra, de-oxygenised oxidation Taiwan oolong

    We have tasted quite a range of GABA oolongs before finalising on this selection. As you said, in the beginning, we do not like this “GABA” idea at all simply because all that we have tasted were somewhat like what you described as “dirty socks” 😂. I have not gone through enough research papers on why the “reduction” process through the deoxygenated environment that results in the terrible tasting chemistry and why our selection has escaped from it, but clearly Mr Yu our GABA maker has developed a trick that not only increase the GABA content but also give a unique good taste as this. We have heard that a research is being done to understand this and hopefully we can get to read the paper soon. In recent years a couple of other producers are getting similarly pleasing results, and they are all Mr Yu’s friends. We are closely monitoring and happy for this development.

    Leo Kwan