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:

  • Taiping Houkui Traditional, green tea of shidaye cultivar

    Beautiful and smooth

    I tried a few packs the other Taiping Houkui and my girlfriend liked it. The infusion process has been a show for my friends. Therefore, when this came out, I immediately gave it a try too. The leaves do not look as spectacular as the other one, because they are not as brightly green and not as translucent thin. They are still quite neat. I forgot about it after the show in the party and yesterday I prepared it like any other green tea except perhaps a bit hotter water, the freshness and delightful flavour are really impressive. The unique high class Chinese tea qualities, such as floral, sweetness, cereal, and umami are all there, and not that seaweed taste in the other version. The most impressive part is smoothness. I don’t think I have tried any other green tea smooth like this. Also there is a velvety (?) mouth feel that is also new in green tea for me.

    This is for me the most wonderful green tea.

    Manila Tran
  • Celeste Green Gaiwan

    This quickly became my favorite Gaiwan.

    The design is wonderful and reminds us to connect with nature. It is easy to decant due to the perfect shape of the lid.

    The only wish I would have is for a slightly smaller version of the same design, maybe around 100ml for smaller gongfu sessions.

    Tobias D
  • Orchid Gratus, Phoenix dancong oolong

    A BIG, BIG, TEA

    A vivid, but pleasant floral taste, fills the mouth and passes to the nose. A gardenia or orchid flavor is pervasive all over my mouth. Some mouth tingling activity, and thickness. A big huigan is present. This is really good tea that took me by surprise. I use less leaf as I don’t want the tea too over the top in sweetness. This is a tea that makes you take notice!

    Jeffrey Novick
  • Luan Guapian Supreme, traditional green tea

    I find it amazing that you, as such a committed oolong drinker, could adapt to the entirely different sensory dimension of an ancient style green tea to give an account of such detailed taste experience. Amongst all our green tea selections, Luan Guapian and Bamboo Leaf are two most “untamed” style of tea. Particularly for people who grew up in a culture of teabags, tea mixes or bottled tea, as I dare to point out cultural-incorrectedly, these teas can be nakedly too real in their embodiment of the raw tea-ness ( more so even than pu’er maocha in many ways ). Yet your words describe so intricately its wonders the same of which have convinced me to include them in my repertoire. I hope more could have the same open-mindedness in the epicurean sphere of tea. Maybe it will then be a much more peaceful world.

    Leo Kwan