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:

  • Red Jade, Taiwan TTES#18 black tea

    Brief (few seconds) steeps in 90 Celsius water.
    Liquor is of a clear deep caramel in tone.
    Taste is smooth, earthy/woody spiced sugary sweet, with a minty finish.
    It has a long brown sugar sweet aftertaste that lingers in the mouth.
    No tartness nor bitterness.
    Medium mouthfeel, slightly dry and sticky, encouraging salivation.
    If you let it cool down a bit, you’ll get a more pronounced earthy sweetness with a hint of astringency.
    Wet leaves are an even dark brown in colouring and large in size, giving off a minty spiced sugar aroma.
    This tea withstands many steeps.
    I think this would make a great iced tea.

    rudi hermawan
  • White Peony Classic Long, traditional white tea

    This is a delicious white tea, totally different from Fuding Bai Mudan. It has a much deeper and rounder body with less of the floral notes that are characteristic of Fuding, and none of the sharp green herbaceous notes that seem too prevalent nowadays. The broth of this Zhenghe Mudan Wang is much thicker across the palate, it’s full and sweet with an aftertaste reminiscent of lightly fermented apricot jam. There is some good umami here, with undertones of whipped honey and heavy cream with caramel that become stronger as the soup cools. This is the type of white tea I would brew up hot during the night time, and let it cool overnight so I could drink it first thing in the morning.

    I am a Fenghuang fanatic, so to me the flavor profile of this white tea isn’t super complex, but it’s deeply satisfying and comforting. I find myself reaching for this tea late in the evening, when I want to drink something that doesn’t stimulate me too much but hits the spot for my tea-drinking soul. The kind of stimulation I get from this tea is one that is very calming and focused, even if that focus is on winding down for the evening before bedtime. I feel like I sleep better after drinking this tea, and I wake up feeling more refreshed.

    NN
  • Black Leaf Special, Phoenix dancong oolong

    Wonderful Aroma

    I received “Black Leaf Special” as a sample, I thought should be this one. Infused it using gongfu parameters and I got a cup of wonderful aromatic tea. It resembled the green Tieguanyin (maybe because they are both green oolongs), but richer complexity with more pronounced honeylike sweetness and fruity fragrance. It is rather light in the mouth but leaves an immediate tangy fresh aftertaste. And based on the feel in my stomach, it really has a rather cool TCM properties. A very wonderful tea especially for the complex aroma.

    Teddy
  • Jianzi Tall Foot 150

    Beautiful and very good materials

    Crystal clear sound and very sharp edges for real gungfu tea making. The size is large enough for bigger cups and fits my hand very well so I don’t feel difficult to control it. Most important is it looks very pretty and modern on my tea tray. Love it!

    Ai Han Ngau