There is no end to learning about tea. Here, we provide for you a brief listing intended to teach you the basics of tea knowledge. Keep in mind though, this type of information is important, but it’s the personal experience of tasting and having tea that is the most educational. Try many teas then supplement that knowledge with this information.

1. Tea vs. Herbal Infusions
• "Tea" or "tea leaves" refers to the finished product produced from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant (or tree).
• "Herbal infusions, or for practical purposed "herbal teas," are any of the brewable, infusible, or decoct- able herbs, roots, leaves, stems, and flowers not derived from the Camellia sinensis plant.
2. Tea
• The raw, freshly plucked leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant are transformed in the different forms of tea; either black, green, or oolong (there are also white and yellow types).
• All tea contains caffeine. Depending upon the type of tea and the way it is prepared, caffeine levels vary. (Ranging from 8 to 120 mg./cup of 6 oz.–regular coffee is about 120 mg.)
• The tea plant normally reproduces through cross-pollination. There are approximately 2000 variations of the tea plant. Quality-conscious growers now use cloning or grafting to control plant quality.
  
  
3. Unblended Teas, Flavored Teas and Blended Teas
• Unblended Tea-an unblended tea is just as it sounds-unblended. It is "uniform tea leaves from a specific growing region." (e.g., our estate Darjeelings, Japanese green teas)
• Flavored Teas-flavorings, additives and fragrances are added to certain teas to enhance their scent and flavor. Fruit flavors, cinnamon, jasmine and bergamot oil, as well as hundreds of other ingredients are used to add flavor characteristics. Flavored teas range from "well-balanced" to "perfumy" and "overwhelming." (e.g., Earl Grey, Mandarin Cinnamon, Yin Hao Jasmine, Peachy White)
• Blended Teas -mixtures of varying types of unblended teas and/or herbal ingredients from the same or differing growing regions. (e.g., English Breakfast, Kashmiri Chai, Aphrodisiacal)


4. Hand Plucking vs. Machine Plucking
• The harvesting of Tealuxe teas is done mainly by hand. This labor-intensive method is favored over the machine plucking or "CTC" (Crush, Tear, Curl) method. Hand plucking allows for a more discriminate selection of tealeaves. Machine plucking is not able to differentiate between high and low quality leaves–or even branches, thus it produces teas of an overall lower quality.


5. Steps in the Manufacture of Tea
   • Harvesting
   • Drying or "withering" leaves to a lower moisture content
   • Rolling leaves to induce oxidation (a chemical reaction between the oxygen in the air and the enzymes within the tea leaves).
   • Timed oxidation process
   • "Firing" leaves to halt oxidation process (if any)
   • Drying leaves to stabilize tea for shipment and shelf-life
   
   
6. Steps in the Manufacture of the Various Types of Teas
7. The Various Grades of Tea

Before tea is shipped it is sorted by size into the following categories:

• Orange Pekoe (OP)- This grading means "whole leaf." Contrary to popular belief, the term "orange" does not refer to a flavor, but rather to the Dutch House of Orange. Tea traders coined the term to imply nobility. Please note-"pekoe" is correctly pronounced like "gecko" with a "p"–just so you know.
• Broken Orange Pekoe (BOP)-indicates a grade just below OP. While OP teas are whole leaf teas, BOP teas are broken leaf teas. In fact, they are usually half leaves or easily recognizable sections of leaf.
• Fannings (PF or Pekoe Fannings)-are very small leaf particles
• Dust-the lowest grade. It consists of tiny dust-sized particles.


8. Special Gradings of Teas

   Some teas have other desirable characteristics that affect their gradings:

   • Tips-the presence of leaf tips is a desirable quality. It indicates that the leaf was picked with care and usually early in its growing season. Early growth leaves are very desirable as they produce a cup with subtle yet distinct characteristics. Teas produced in this way display light-colored tips. They are graded "Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe" (GFOP), "Golden Broken Orange Pekoe" (GBOP), "Golden Tippy Orange Pekoe" (GTFOP), or "Golden Tippy Broken Orange Pekoe" (GTBOP)–the latter two displaying a very high percentage of tips. Note-a high prescence of tips is usually accompanied with a "bloom dust." This is a very light and fluffy dust not to be confused with the dust that is found in teabags.
   • Special Pluckings-the "ideal" plucking for many Chinese teas is two leaves and a bud, all still intact and connected by a delicate stem. This combination of leaves at varying maturities produces a cup displaying all of a particular plants characteristics and/or qualities. A tea plucked and processed in this way will unfurl intact when brewed–a signal of its special quality.
   • Flushes-a "flush" is a harvest associated with a particular time in the growing season. Most tea regions have specific growing cycles. In some tropical areas, tea plants flush all year long.
   • Darjeeling Flushes-Growers in the Darjeeling region designate all of their teas with the additional grading of flush. In that region there are typically 3-4 major flushes in a growing season. "First Flush" Darjeelings are grown in the spring. "Second Flush" Darjeelings are grown in summer. There may be a second "Second Flush" during the summer season. And "Autumnal Flush" Darjeelings are grown in the fall. Further, Darjeeling growers sometimes precede the normal grading of their teas with the acronyms "F" and "SF." These stand for "Fine" and "Super Fine" respectively. They are the highest levels of Darjeeling output. Keep in mind though, that there is no official board that rates the teas coming out of Darjeeling, rather each grower designates his or her own teas.
It is important to know and remember that there is no universal system of grading teas. There is no strict correlation between the grading acronyms and the aroma, colors or flavors of any particular tea.


Question: What is the single most important element in brewing good tea? The water!

9. Tea Bags vs. Loose Tea
   Tealuxe sells teas loose, that is, tea that is not prepackaged in teabags. Most people do not immediately understand why loose tea is "better."
   • Teabags are convenient, inexpensive and what they are used to Loose teas are better because:
• Bagged teas are usually the lowest grades (dust) of tea
• The quality of the loose tea is immediately apparent
• Customer has control over the quantity of tea they are brewing
• Loose teas are available in a larger selection of flavors and styles than bagged tea
• And, all loose teas can easily be "bagged" via the T-Sacs which we use and sell


10. General Tea Info
    There are three environmental factors that serve to degrade stored tea: air, light and humidity.
    The shelf life of teas varies tremendously. Here are some general guidelines for "normal" storage:
    • Unblended black teas will last years, only losing some of their flavor
    • Green teas will lose much of their more subtle flavors after only several months
    • Flavored teas will also begin to lose their flavors, especially citrus, after only several months
    • Herbals will generally last one year
    
    
11. Closing Words
    • Try many teas–this is the true testament of a tea connoisseur.
    • Participate in the experience of having and talking about teas. Enjoy teas with others.