Ask the Tea Fanatic
Q1: What teas have the lowest caffeine levels?
A1: Usually intact, whole, White Tea buds like Silver Needle or
White Down have the lowest amount of caffeine per serving, followed by
intact, whole Green teas.
Q2: What is your favorite tea?
Q3: Will Oolong teas help me lose weight?
A3: All teas aid digestion and promote circulation as well as
lower lipid accumulation, but Oolong teas have not been found to be
more effective than Green teas or Black teas. As a matter of fact,
Pu-Erh teas were recognized by Chinese herbalists as being the most
effective for aiding weight loss.
Q4: Why don't you sell Earl Grey tea?
A4: Earl
Grey tea, like many scented and blended teas created in the West, were
a product of necessity in the 1600s to 1700s when teas were often
spoiled from long periods required to transport them from China to
Europe. These spoiled teas often required scent added (such as Bergamot
oil in Earl Grey), or blending with other teas for it to be consumable.
Today, our teas are shipped fresh and farm direct, often by airfrieght
so that teas harvested one week can reach us by the next, eliminating
such unnatural and diluting additives needed.
Q5: What's wrong with blending?
A5: Blending is a mix of different
teas and flavors together. As teas are enormously complex and nuanced,
blending was more of a commercial and marketing ploy than is
recommended for the true appreciation of premium teas.
Q6: How long are the teas good for?
A6: White and Green teas
are highly perishable and should be enjoyed within their seasons,
generally in the spring. With correctly stored conditions White and
Green teas can be consumed for one year. Oolongs and Black teas can be
stored for 1-5 years without diminished flavour (correct storage is a
must), and Pu-Erh teas can sometimes be fermented and kept for hundreds of years!
Q7: Why are your teas so expensive?
A7: Our teas are grown and
harvested by hand, in high elevations were plucking the teas require
great skill and ability to negotiate steep tall mountains in dense
foggy conditions by skilled labourers. They are then meticulously hand
processed, each exact leaf and twig separated by hand, and then graded
and judged. Not only is expertise required, but a tremendous heritage
and training required. Often, a tea professional is not considered
proficient until their fifties! Indeed, our teas are under-valued
based on what they deserve to sell for.
Q.8 Why do you not carry silk or pyramid teabags?
A.8 First of all, they are
'silken' teabags, not made of silk but of a plastic called
polypropylene. Although many like the convenience and presentation of a
see through, pyramid teabag, steeping plastic in hotwater has
questionable health impacts. In addition, polypropylene is not
biodegradeable, and even the new versions made of corn PLA are
biodegradeable in something like 1000 years according to research. We
prefer the most natural method for drinking tea possible: whole, loose leaf,
without additives, chemicals, or artificial ingredients such as
polypropylene. See our teaware section for convenient to use equipment.
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