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:

  • Song Cultivar, Phoenix dancong oolong

    excellent

    This beautiful dancong has what, to me, is the perfect balance of sweet and bitter, with an enticing mouth feel and a lingering, tongue coating taste. The citrus bite is very apparent and pleasing.
    Overall, this tea has wonderful qi, leaving my spirit feeling lively and my tongue satisfied

    Brian Lindburg
  • Biluochun Supreme, traditional green tea

    It’s been a few years since I’ve had Biluochun and I figured, based on my experiences so far with Tea Hong, that I should pick up a bag and try it out. I’m glad I did – this is very good tea.

    To me, a good Biluochun represents a harmonious balance of seemingly-opposite forces. It should be a humble tea with a bold character. It should have small buds that pack huge flavor, a gentle body that imparts a powerful feeling, and a smooth mouthfeel with texture in the aftertaste. Good Biluochun moves softly across the palate, and sits heavily in the body.

    This Biluochun is all of those things and more. I find this tea to be very stimulating, but calming and grounding. The qi is powerful, but centering and not overwhelming.

    When brewing this tea, I avoid pouring water directly over the leaves … I find subtle details like that can make overt differences with special teas like this.

    NN
  • Gold Stallion, traditional black tea

    Liquid Gold

    Such a beauty to look at the dry leaves of black and gold. I didn’t expect the brewed tea to be so…..”harvest gold.” The aroma and taste are strong, clean and crisp, a la freshly pressed linen.

    Karen Ager
  • Honey Concubine, deep baked Taiwan oolong

    This is a very complex oolong, it took me a few sessions using both gong-fu and Western-style to feel like I had developed a sufficient enough understanding to leave a review.

    Take your time with these leaves, don’t rush them. They take a while to open up, and when they do, there are so many layers of flavor that you can peel back slowly and meticulously through a focused approach whether you’re doing gong-fu or Western-style.

    Push the leaves towards the end of the session, give them a nice hot bath and let them steep for so long that a timer doesn’t really matter anymore. This tea holds its composure very well and is graceful in its finish.

    The trick with this tea is to take your time with it. I can’t stress that enough – take the time to have a relaxed and steady session with it. Sip it slowly, pay attention to the evolution of flavors as the soup cools, and see what aromatics you can lift off the bottom of an empty cup as it cools. You’ll probably find so much that; like me, you’ll have to brew it up again a few times in order to understand it even once.

    I see why this is an award-winning tea.

    NN