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:

  • Shiguping Wulong, rare Phoenix oolong

    A very special experience for a seasoned tea drinker who has been around the block with both Fenghuang and Taiwanese oolong.

    The experience this dancong offers is one that extends far beyond just what is possible to perceive in the cup. You may smell and taste one thing, but if you understand what this is, it will open your mind up to a completely unchartered territory that no other dancong can access, and no other vendor can offer. I have yet to find Wulong genetics elsewhere in a Western-facing market; and even if I could, I sincerely doubt the quality would be the same as what Tea Hong offers.

    In other words, this dancong is ridiculously good. What we have here is a genetic fork-in-the-road which represents a thousand-ish year old evolution of genetics that are separate from what normally defines Fenghuang oolong. This is not a Shui Xian hybrid… this is entirely different, and it shows across the full session.

    Creamy, buttery, exceptionally round and smooth with tons and tons of exquisite nuances, this harmonizes the subtleties that only the highest caliber dancong and Taiwanese high-mountain oolongs can bring into existence.

    It has the powerful minerality and complex mouthfeel that defines premium dancong, coupled with the graceful elegance that make Taiwanese high-mountain oolongs so desirable and expensive, in perfect equilibrium that both balances each other out and accentuates the differences in such a profound way that it becomes impossible to describe, and only possible to experience.

    You simply must try this.

    NN
  • Honey Pearl Pekoe, fresh jasmine scented green tea

    方知此茶原貌

    我有十幾年做茶友的經驗,自然會去不同地方買茶。最初見到這隻小龍珠価錢計起來要70多元一両,有點貴,便沒有理會。上星期要送禮給一女性友人,知她喜歡茉莉花茶,見這裡可一包配二筒可成一盒小禮物,便買了一包桂花香單樅、一筒我最喜愛的龍井、及一筒這個小龍珠送她。打開禮物後她開心到不得了,說從未見過這樣大方簡樸又環保的茶葉包裝。雖然她沒有先開我最想向她介紹的正宗口味龍井,而是先開了小龍珠,但我反而連自己也覺得驚喜。因為我沒有想到原來茉莉花茶也可有這樣樣優雅品味的。那香不但沒有一般花茶庸俗的感覺,清香甜美而又持久,茶湯亦是出人意表地順滑豐富。早年初為茶道時,試過了不少類似東西,到今時今日,方知此茶的原貌。Leo, 謝謝你!

    Longjing 43
  • Taiping Houkui Traditional, green tea of shidaye cultivar

    What an amazingly beautiful and supremely delicious green tea! I follow the brewing suggestion, adding 3-4 ice cubes on the bottom of a tall clay cup and brewing the leaves up with freshly boiled water. I’ve been brewing Taiping Houkui (and a few other teas, such as a green tea made from the “Zi Juan” cultivar) this way for 6+ years with no problems, the clay does not crack, and it produces a unique flavor profile that cannot be replicated any other way.

    Tea Hong’s version is exquisite – a pinch less floral than what I’m used to, but the mouthfeel is much fuller and rounder, with an apricot-like fruitiness balancing out the notes of steamed vegetables & mung beans. There are undertones of spinach & broccoli, with some volatile aromatics that are pretty earthy and deeply satisfying.

    The cha qi of this tea is powerful – it’s very invigorating and direct. Maybe all of the love and hard work that goes into producing every meticulously-crafted leaf of Tea Hong’s Taiping Houkui Traditional is captured within the leaves themselves, and somehow released once again during the brew, so that the drinker may enjoy a glimpse of what it took to create this one-of-a-kind of experience.

    I particularly enjoy the detailed information that is available about this tea in Leo’s blog post. It’s amazing to contemplate the level of skilled craftsmanship required to manifest this tea while sipping on it simultaneously.

    NN
  • Blue Shiiba, Nepali semi-oolong

    I forgot to mention that I actually used 3 grams for my 150 taster mug, which made 2 gram per 100 cc water. Brewed for 5 minutes or more. I think people may like to try that too. To me it was much more delicious

    James Lang