Conventions in this blog

Names of Teas

I will try to give the Chinese characters for teas when I can, here I am at the mercy of internet translation as I have no knowledge of Chinese characters. Please feel free to notify me of errors.

The main names I will use are the (somewhat) standard transliteration of the Chinese names into English script and finally in brackets is the translation of the Chinese names into English. I may use the translation and transliteration names interchangeably throughout the blog.

Classifications

For the reviews, I will classify the teas by type, origin and if I know, where it was purchased.
Where purchased is more important if the blend is specific to a teahouse or tea importer but generally, I am reviewing well-established types of tea.

Types of tea

White: Young tea leaves, generally brewed at 70-80C
Green: Brewed at 80C or so. I don’t use a thermometer so I guesstimate.
Blue-Green : also know as semi oxidised or semi-fermented green teas, which can often look both in the leaf and in the colour of the brew like black teas but are green teas. Brewed at 80-90C. Note that Taiwanese Oolong teas are semi oxidised green teas but are usually more like green teas in taste and colour than to other blue-green teas. With a few notable exceptions!
Black: Fully oxidised tea leaves, brewed at +90C


In addition, I'll mention if the tea has floral or grassy tones. This is usually not relevant for black teas. Occasionally I find a nice 'tea' which is more of a herb or spice mix in a hot drink, I'll review these under the heading of 'non teas'.

Ratings

Note that my STAR* rating show how much I liked the tea and not related to the quality of the tea. When possible I try to give an indication of the price which is some indicator of quality, from $ which is the level of a household bag tea to $$$$$ the most expensive teas over 400$ a kilo. Roughly $$$ translates to a range of 90-140$ per kilo.

If this sounds like a lot, remember that we generally buy teas in a quantity of 50g, this amount generally would last me at least a month of continuous drinking. This is necessarily rough rating as I'm buying in different countries and currencies so I try to an overall idea of its expensiveness taking into account currency and cost of living adjustments. Don't take it as gospel!