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:

  • Bell Shape Utility Gaiwan

    Awesome!

    I thought I was going to be the first one to write a review for this one but found someone else ahead of me 🙁 Anyway, this is the best quality I can get for this price, even when compared to the shops I know in China!

    Amadeus388
  • Cold Peak, matured Taiwan oolong

    The roast on this Dong Ding is exquisite, and exemplifies what mastery in roasting is capable of achieving. This tea initially presents itself as being roast-forward, with the aroma of the wet leaf suggesting a charcoal-heavy experience awaits in the cup, but the broth itself is remarkably soft, round, and silky smooth all the way through, with very well-defined flavors that exist in perfect harmony with each other.

    It’s floral, it’s fruity, and it gets a bit nutty with hints of sweet roots & dessert spices (licorice and cinnamon), especially in later steeps, but all the way through the body remains very supple and oily. It resists turning bitter or losing clarity in its flavor profile, even after a very long steep in freshly boiling water it remains incredibly thick and each individual flavor remains well-defined. The aftertaste lingers for a while and mouthfeel remains complex long after the soup has been swallowed.

    The element which stands out most to me is just how sweet this tea is. It may be roast-forward in the aroma of the wet leaf, but it’s very much so sugar-forward in the cup, and all of the individual layers of flavor are held together by an element of sweetness that is pervasive across the tea, from the initial sip to the lingering sensations of the aftertaste.

    NN
  • Shèmen Dancong Double Baked, Phoenix dancong oolong

    Another Exquisite Dancong!
    Enjoyed Honey Orchid Supreme and Shemen Dancong Double Baked, and both are exquisite. Former is like a young, fresh and exuberant princess with playful joy, an unbridled celebration. Latter is of an adult princess, mellowed but still resplendent, a quiet assurance.

    Jeffery Leong
  • Danhu Old Bush Song Cultivar, Phoenix dancong oolong

    Indeed, no words can describe the experience of this tea. Thank you for saying it so poetically and in such a wonderful way. I am so very happy that one more person appreciate the meticulous work behind the making of this. It is only with people who care to understand such quality that this beautiful tradition can propagate. Thank you!

    Leo Kwan