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:

  • Alishan Guanyin, deep baked Taiwan oolong

    Ask Yourself

    When seeking evenness of mind and a better disposition, ask yourself which tea might help you face the day with strength and calm. No tea may be more suited to the task than Alishan Guanyin.

    Nine grams of this beaded beauty produce a liquor the color of an orange-amber sunrise. The vessel lid offers the smell of warm vanilla and a refined perfume of iris, oak moss and cedar wood – a scent worthy of dabbing onto the skin.

    This tea whispers balance; its gentle steam patiently waiting to be inhaled. Ask, and Alishan will deliver perfectly even doses of quiet insight to both nostrils. A fresh morning breeze wafts over with subtle, smoldering hints of a distant bonfire.

    Next is a fleeting mouthful of sweet summer peaches dissolving into a slightly smoky, spicy-clean aftertaste balanced on the tip of the tongue, mid-palate and throat.

    Notice the transformation of the tiny, toasty tadpoles as they make a magical metamorphosis in your mug. They swell into wild, squiggly creatures of dark slate green. Balance gives way to spontaneity as these friendly, appealing leaf-beings inspire your free spirit. If you don’t believe me, ask them yourself.

    Karen Ager
  • 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
  • Snow Orchid, bouquet Phoenix dancong oolong

    Aptly named

    I imagine if one picks a lovely, rare orchid out of the snow, this tea exactly mirrors that taste. Exotic florals finished by the sensation of a cool breeze circulating your olfactory system. Uplifting.

    Karen Ager
  • Danhu Old Bush Song Cultivar, Phoenix dancong oolong

    This is an extraordinary tea! To say that this Song Cultivar raises the bar what tea enjoyment and appreciation are all about is an understatement. Even an overly simplified comparison.

    The sensation and emotions of its bouquet, taste, aftertaste and mindfulness it affords long after the last sip surpasses one’s expectation of what a tea plant can achieve when nature is complemented with the passion of tea farmers/makers to augment an already extraordinary tea plant into a brew that is so ethereal and so exquisite. A Mona Lisa of Fenghuang dancongs.

    Jeffery Leong