All About Tea for Beginners

"There is no cup of tea big enough or book long enough to suit me."
- C. S. Lewis

Make time for tea! That’s how we welcome customers to our online tea shop. Slowing down and taking a break is so important in today’s fast-paced world, yet few of us realize it. We lead complicated lives, under constant pressure, buried in information, living in a competitive atmosphere that pushes us daily toward greater performance and an ever-faster pace to reach our goals. In that race, we have no time left to truly enjoy life. Drinking tea won’t save us, but it can show us the way, teach us to relax, reflect, and share time with friends…

Tea Bags vs. Loose-Leaf Tea

After water, tea is the most consumed beverage in the world. For many, it is synonymous with a white tea bag on a string, dipped into a mug of hot water and topped with sugar or lemon. Compared to the long history of tea, tea bags are a relatively modern invention. Thomas Sullivan, a New York tea merchant, first used them in 1908, originally as packaging for tea samples. People quickly took a liking to this method.

The practicality of this "invention" is obvious. Up to 96% of all tea consumption consists of classic tea bags. They are fast, convenient, and clean. The truth is, however, that tea sold in tea bags is rarely of high quality. Most often, it contains tea dust—the product left over after sorting higher grades of tea. Using tea dust in bags has only one advantage: the tea infuses faster.

This method of preparation easily fit into the fast-paced lifestyle of modern people. The tea bag eliminated everything that could be called a tea ritual—a moment of pause. Preparing tea from a bag is easy. However, the enjoyment of such tea is usually poor. A tea bag won’t replace the sight of unfolding tea leaves, and bagged teas are far from delivering the delicious taste and aroma of loose-leaf tea. Like wine, loose-leaf teas have a distinct character, an endless array of flavors, aromas, and colors. Yet, preparing loose-leaf tea is not complicated at all. In the following paragraphs, we will describe the journey from selecting and buying tea to preparing and drinking it.

How to Choose Tea

There are many reasons to drink tea. Most avid tea drinkers appreciate the deliciousness of this beverage, its variety, and diversity. That very diversity can be an obstacle for those of you who lack experience with preparing and selecting loose-leaf teas. That is why we have prepared this guide, where you will learn the essentials about tea. We dare say that after reading it, you can confidently dive into the endless offer of teas and herbal infusions and find the drinks that best suit your taste.

True Tea

Let’s start from the beginning—what is tea? True tea consists of the leaves (and sometimes stems) of the Camellia plant, which has two main varieties: Camellia Sinensis, the original Chinese tea plant, and Camellia Assamica, the Assam tea plant. We often use the term "tea" for infusions of other plants and herbs, but we will cover those in a separate chapter: Herbal Infusions. Teas are basically divided into black and green, but you can also encounter white, oolong, dark, or yellow tea.

Although teas come from the same plant, they have different flavor and aromatic properties. A major role is played by:

• The plant variety
• The place of cultivation—altitude, climate, soil quality
• The time of harvest (depending on the season and the vegetative stage of the plant)
• The method of processing the leaves and their subsequent oxidation
• Tea preparation—amount of tea leaves, water quality, temperature, and steeping time

Black Tea

Black tea is the most widespread. Its production consists of four steps: withering the tea leaves, rolling (usually done by machine, by hand for very high-quality teas), oxidation (often referred to as fermentation), and drying. Drying stops the oxidation process, and the final quality of the tea depends on this process—oxidation must be stopped at the right time. Subsequently, the tea leaves are sorted by size, and leaf size can be one of the guides when choosing tea. For illustration, here is the scale for whole-leaf black teas:

SFTGFOP - Super Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe (highest quality)
FTGFOP – Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe
TGFOP – Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe
GFOP - Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe
FOP – Flowery Orange Pekoe
OP - Orange Pekoe - long, thin, fibrous leaves, sometimes containing tips—tea leaf buds
P – Pekoe – shorter leaves than OP
PS – Pekoe Souchong - larger and harder leaves
S – Souchong – coarse, round leaves

Scale for broken teas:
FTGFBOP – Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe (highest quality)
TGFBOP – Tippy Golden Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe
GFBOP - Golden Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe
GBOP - Golden Broken Orange Pekoe
BOP - Broken Orange Pekoe
BP – Broken Pekoe - broken leaf
BPS – Broken Pekoe Souchong

Designations for tea dust/fannings:
TGFOF (Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Fannings)
TGFOPF (Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe Fannings)
BOPF (Broken Orange Pekoe Fannings)
BOPD (Broken Orange Pekoe Dust)

Black teas are most often named after the leaves that compose them, the region of cultivation, or the name of the plantation. For example, if you buy English Breakfast, it is a blend of different types of tea from various regions. If you buy Assam or Darjeeling, it is a blend of teas from those areas, and if you buy, for example, Margaret’s Hope or Jungpana, these are specific plantations in Darjeeling. Such teas are usually marked with a grade, for example, Assam Banaspaty Organic FTGFOP (tea from Assam, from the Banaspaty plantation, carries the Organic quality certificate, and consists of FTGFOP leaves, i.e., the highest quality).

There are also many flavored black teas, such as Earl Grey or Kashmir. These are usually lower-quality teas scented with non-tea ingredients (spices, herbs, etc.).

Red teas are also worth mentioning; they generally differ from black teas in that they provide the same number of infusions as green teas.

Green Tea

Green teas are sometimes referred to as unfermented. Their production is very diverse, but generally, unlike black teas, they do not undergo the oxidation process. The enzymes that cause oxidation are destroyed by heating the tea. There are basically no universal quality scales for green teas; each producer usually uses their own designation, but generally, the first harvest is the highest quality. Price is usually the measure of quality. Most green teas come from Japan and China.

Yellow Tea

Yellow tea, often called imperial tea, is essentially green tea that is repeatedly moistened and dried while wrapped in paper or cloth. This extracts the bitter notes from the tea, leaving only a sweet taste. A whole series of chemical reactions takes place, creating a unique tea. The production process is secret and lengthy, so only a limited amount is produced, which is reflected in the price. In the past, the highest quality teas sent to the Chinese imperial court were labeled as yellow.

White Tea

White tea is made primarily from downy buds and the first few leaves. We distinguish four quality classes for white teas:

• Yin Zhen (Silver Needle) - tips and the first leaf
• Bai Mu Dan - White Peony - second and third leaves
• Gong Mei - fourth leaves
• Shou Mei (Longevity Eyebrow) - fifth and sixth leaves.

After brief withering, the leaves are slightly damaged by shaking in trays, which leads to weak oxidation, which is soon interrupted by steaming or drying. Due to gentle processing, white tea retains most of the chemical substances and vitamins of fresh tea. White teas age and can be archived.

Previously, white tea was obtained from wild-growing tea trees (the original location is around the city of Fuding, Fujian province). High-quality white teas are produced in Yunnan, but also in Taiwan and Nepal.

Oolong

Oolong Oolong (an Anglicized form of the Chinese name Wu-lung - black dragon) undergoes oxidation of varying lengths during processing. The degree of oxidation can range from about 10% to 70%, creating a wide range of teas with different flavors and colors. We can divide them into light, which usually have curled leaves and often contain stems, and dark (more fermented), which have a looser leaf. Oolongs that are more than 50% fermented are sometimes referred to as brown or five-colored teas.

The production process of oolong is as follows: the harvested leaves are left to wither in direct sunlight and then mechanically damaged. Oxidation occurs primarily along the edges of the leaves, and the rest of the intact cellular structure retains natural polyphenols.

Pu-erh

Pu-erh is a post-fermented (naturally or artificially) tea. The tea is named after the city in the Chinese province of Yunnan and is made from the large-leaf variety of the Yunnan tea tree. It is sun-dried, kneaded, and then oxidation is interrupted in large heated pans. Finally, the tea is steamed and pressed, which starts post-production fermentation, thanks to which the tea ages.

We distinguish two main types of Pu-erh - Shu (dark) and Sheng (green), which differ in the method of post-fermentation.

Flavored Teas

It is very common for teas to be flavored with essential oils, flowers, fruits, or spices. So-called scented teas are usually flavored with natural aromas—by drying with flowers. We label as flavored those teas that contain essences of natural or chemical origin. If the tea contains dried fruits or spices (orange peel, dried cherries, apples, cloves, ginger…), we label the tea as spiced.

Combinations of the above are also common, but if a tea is labeled as scented, it should not be flavored with any essential oil; otherwise, it is considered flavored.

Herbal Infusions

We can collectively label as herbal infusions all drinks that are not made from tea leaves and in most cases do not contain caffeine, but are full of other beneficial substances. These are various plant and herbal blends from all over the world.

Honeybush is a shrub from Africa, where it is still harvested as a wild plant. After harvesting, it is soaked, oxidized, and dried. It has a clear honey color and aroma. Indigenous tribes attribute healing properties to it. It contains no caffeine and is suitable for children and people suffering from heart disease. It is popular due to its aroma and many minerals; it is also easy to prepare, and even longer steeping is not a problem—quite the opposite.

Rooibos is related to honeybush and is also grown in Africa. It is made from the plant Aspalatus linearis either as unfermented green or fermented red rooibos. Rooibos leaves resemble pine needles and are often supplemented with other herbs and fruits in various blends. Rooibos contains a number of beneficial substances, antioxidants, and vitamins. Among its good properties is that it cannot be over-steeped and contains no caffeine.

Lapacho is a South American drink from the inner bark (bast) of the Tabebuia serratifolia tree, containing iron, calcium, copper, manganese, potassium, magnesium, and many other elements and health-beneficial substances. Of the aforementioned drinks, it has perhaps the most proven effects in the prevention of cancer and other diseases. It contains no caffeine.

Maté is made from the leaves of the Yerba Mate plant. Most production comes from Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina. Although the taste of maté is earthy at first and it takes a while to get used to it, this drink has perhaps the strongest stimulating effects of all the aforementioned teas and herbal infusions and can restart you even after an exhausting day. We most often encounter its pure or roasted variant. It contains caffeine.

Fruit and herbal teas are very popular here. They are healthy, tasty, and easily accessible. Their ingredients in most cases do not come from the tea plant unless tea is added to them. Here, herbal teas are traditionally mint, chamomile, or nettle and are associated with healing effects. Fruit teas contain pieces of pulp, and their main ingredient is most often rosehip, accompanied by hibiscus, orange peel, apples, and other dried fruits. They are suitable for children and pregnant women.

Tea Preparation

The key to enjoying tea is experimentation. Each of us has different tastes; everyone likes different teas and prefers different preparation methods. Some like stronger teas, others weaker; some look for black teas, others prefer green…

It is essential to find a taste in tea that suits you. Don't be discouraged if an expensive tea doesn't please you and, conversely, a lower grade suits you better. On the other hand, don't write off a tea that you didn't like the first time; try other preparation variants—for example, a different water temperature or a different steeping time. Don't let anyone tell you that you are preparing tea wrong if you like it that way!

So, what will you need to prepare tea? Basically, there are two basic ways of preparation—either put the leaves directly into the water or use another container or device that allows for easy removal of the leaves from the water afterward. This includes, for example, a classic tea infuser or various immersion strainers. However, this method has certain disadvantages—with finer teas, small leaves often remain in the water, while whole-leaf teas don't have enough room to unfold. Infusers are also harder to fill (especially with whole-leaf teas) and sometimes difficult to clean.

An interesting alternative is therefore the use of so-called tea makers, which are heat-resistant glass containers from which the tea is poured through a strainer after steeping. In a tea maker, you can also admire the color of the drink or the appearance of the unfolding steeped leaves, which is especially interesting with so-called flowering teas, which open into flowers during steeping. For teas that you prepare for only one infusion, it is also popular to use tea filters, which are immersed in a teapot with hot water along with the tea, and then it is not necessary to strain the tea.

Summary

Water for preparation should be fresh and, if possible, soft. Tea water must always be boiled. Keep the water at a boil for a short time so that the acidic substances that influence the release of the distinct tea aroma do not disappear.

Temperature - different teas need to be poured with water of different temperatures. Generally, it can be said that white teas are poured with 75°C water, green with 80°C, oolong with 85°C, black with 95°C, and Pu-erhs with 95-100°C. These are very indicative figures, as each tea is individual and can be prepared in many ways—according to the combination of water temperature, steeping time, and amount of tea.

Amount of tea - generally, use 2-3 grams of tea leaves for 200ml of infusion (that is approximately one teaspoon).

Steeping time varies for individual teas. We usually steep green teas for 2-3 minutes, black for 3-5 minutes. Some Japanese teas can be steeped for less than one minute.

Further infusions - high-quality teas can usually handle two to three pourings and still taste great.

Tea Accessories

You don't need any special dishes or accessories to prepare tea, yet they exist. For example, a tea sea is a wooden, usually bamboo, tray with a top plate with holes. It is used when preparing tea in the Gong fu style and catches all the spilled water.

Gong Fu is a method of preparing tea that uses a small teapot and a large amount of tea. The tea is first poured for 10 seconds; this wakes up the leaves. Then the tea is poured with hot water, always for a short time. High-quality teas can handle up to six infusions this way.

Traditional Yixing teapots are handmade from unglazed clay and acquire a special valued patina over time.

Zhong, or Gaiwan, is a tea bowl with a lid and saucer originating from China, used for preparing green tea.

Tea and Caffeine

All teas coming from the Camellia plant contain caffeine. Its amount varies in individual teas; many factors influence this. It is therefore impossible to say generally whether there is more caffeine in black or green tea—it is very individual. One cup (200 ml) of tea contains approx. 40 mg of caffeine (for comparison: a cup of coffee contains roughly double that amount). Unlike coffee, it occurs in tea not in a free, but in a bound form, which results in its gradual and milder effect on the human organism.

If you are more sensitive to caffeine, we recommend limiting tea consumption to the morning or forenoon, or focus your attention on herbal infusions, such as Rooibos, which do not contain caffeine. Tea can be partially decaffeinated by pouring hot water over it before the actual steeping. To ensure the tea does not lose its flavor properties, we recommend pouring for max. 30 seconds; the tea will thus get rid of approx. 10-20% of caffeine. If we wanted to reduce the caffeine content even more, it is necessary to pour over the tea for a longer time. The second infusion of tea usually contains only 25-35% of the caffeine compared to the first.

Recommended Literature:

• Vše o čaji pro čajomily (Karel Valter)
• Příběh čaje (Soňa, Zdeňek a Michal Thomovi)
• Čadó. Japonská cesta čaje (Sóšicu Sen)
• Piju čaj (Ludvík Kundera)

Acknowledgments

Jiří Reiter, František Gregor, and Vítězslav Mácha contributed to this text. Thanks also go to the Kašmír tea house.