Popular Tea Misconceptions
Alright kids, time for a tea lesson from the world’s most annoying tea snob. There are quite a few misconceptions when it comes to tea and they annoy me to no end. I thought I might clear a few of these up right away so that we can head into this tea blog endeavor with a little mutual understanding.
This is a Tea Plant or Camellia Sinensis
1. Tea is a drink made from steeping the leaves of a tea plant. Therefore, chamomile is not tea. Peppermint is not tea. Rooibos is not tea. Tea comes from the tea plant or Camellia Sinensis . What “herbal teas” really are, are dried herbs steeped in hot water, which is known as an infusion.
2. Orange Pekoe is not a flavour of tea. Ever notice when you buy some, it never tastes like oranges? Why? Because it’s a cut of the leaf or a grade of tea (which is based on the size of the leaf). It generally refers to your basic, every day, medium quality black tea. This tea can be just plain black tea or it can be flavoured in many different ways.
3. Even the highest quality teas are not expensive. At $250 per pound for white tea, you have to take into consideration the fact that it takes a lot of white tea to make up a pound. When you break it down to cost per cup, tea is cheaper than coffee, bottled water and soda. The only thing cheaper than tea is tap water.
So, now that we’ve cleared up those few things, it’s on with the blog. Come back for lots of tea information, featured tea companies and tea reviews from yours truly.
Tags: misconceptions, orange pekoe, price of tea