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:

  • Bing Dao 2014, matured Pu’er shengcha cha bing

    Like an octopus that can change both the color and texture of its skin, so too does this tea represent a dynamic experience that shifts and flows in ways which seem impossible to capture… yet here we are.

    And like Mike Tyson, this Bing Dao has a powerful punch to it – it’s insanely strong and unbridled, drinking this tea makes me feel like there’s a balloon swelling in my brain. I can feel my heart beating behind my eyeballs. This really should come with a warning label – not for the faint of heart, but certainly for those who want to blast off to the moon.

    In terms of its overall flavor profile, it’s a bit more introverted and subtle than it is in-your-face, but the evolution of flavors is quite remarkable, and the clarity of the individual flavors is excellent despite their somewhat shy and introverted nature. I might not drink this for its flavor, but I definitely would drink it if I needed to melt a glacier in Antarctica with nothing but my body heat.

    The difference between how this tea opens up versus how it finishes is a beautiful thing to witness. The huigan is amazing, it’s planted firmly in the throat and sits there for a very long time. Make sure you sniff the bottom of an empty cup as it cools, especially in the first half of a gong-fu session… it’s sublime. It presents a totally different set of aromatics than what the broth contains.

    A whole cake is but a single sample – this tea really is that complex.

    Did I mention this thing is a qi monster? This is a completely different realm of sensations and feelings than what most teas are capable of achieving. Bing Dao is known for that, and this particular offering from Tea Hong really hits the spot. Pun intended – I’m tea drunk, in case you can’t tell.

    Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go sprint run a marathon in the middle of winter.

    NN
  • Lapsang Souchong Pristine, traditional black tea

    Restocking

    Hello Minh, thanks for the question. The current harvest is in maocha state and still needs some work and resting. I guess it will be May, if not late April. Will update in newsletter.

    Siu PB
  • Alishan Guanyin, deep baked Taiwan oolong

    Indeed the baking work done onto the tea is masterful, like that in the good old days when I started to develop my humble hobby of tea drinking when I began my earlier career in teaching in the early 1980’s. It was a time when mastery in tea baking was already a fading craft as the market was beginning to push for the dominance of green style oolongs. I was too young and too much an outsider to know whether it’s the decrease of good baking that cause the rise of green oolongs or whether it’s the push for green oolongs that dwindled the market for master tea bakers. As you said, green style oolongs are a fantastic category in itself, but a properly baked and fine oolong is something special to cherish, a sip that is like a hug in the soul.

    Leo Kwan
  • Yiwu Large Leaf 2013, partially post-fermented Pu’er shengcha

    Very strong Qi, flavours are dark profiled but complex. Not the thickest tea but still thick enough to be enjoyable! Good everyday sort of tea! Dark enough to be enjoyed late at night, and very easy on the stomach.

    Shinzo Shiratori