Tea quality

Buy green teaWithin any tea type/variety, there is a wide range of quality available to consumers living in China. The western tea consumers are increasing noticing the quality differences.

The quality differences of teas are similar to that of wine in the western culture - while there is a range of different wines, there is also significant quality difference within each variety.

The quality ranges of Chinese teas are vast. For example, the cost of Dragon Well (Long Jing) green tea in China is between 20-6,000 Yuan depending on the quality.  

Generally speaking, the freshness of a tea is correlated with its quality, among many other factors (Pu-erh tea and certain aged white teas are exceptions).

This section discusses how to distinguish quality differences in various teas.

How does Valley Green Tea ensure the freshness of our green tea?

How does Valley Green Tea ensure the quality of the green tea we supply

Green tea is the category of teas their freshness is crucial. Stale green teas are bitter, rough and non-refreshing. To ensure the absolute freshness of the green teas we supply, we implement the following: 

  • Importing seasonal fresh premium quality green teas directly from the tea farmers
  • Air freight to shorten the period of transportation and avoid the high temperature of the sea cargo crossing the equator (temperature surges to up to 80oC in some cases)
  • Vacuum seal to avoid oxidization during the storage period
  • Refrigeration at the warehouse before shipping

How to assess the quality of a green tea

A premium green tea's quality is reflected in its freshness among many other factors:

  • it should be freshly green, dark green or yellowish green, vivid but not dull  
  • it should be aromatic, in both dry leaves and when it first in contact with hot water
  • texture should be delicate and smooth
  • it should have a very refreshing and pleasant aftertaste

Green tea is a big family

There have been more than 300 green teas recorded in China, produced in different areas, harvested from different species of the tea plants (Camellia sinensis) and most importantly processed with different processing methods. The end products have various appearances with different taste, with fundamentals of above remain. 

Quality grades at Valley Green Tea

Chinese tea is all about quality. Valley Green Tea's niche is the mid-high end of the spectrum, from above average (High Grade) to the grade (exclusive) that above which even certain locals will find it difficult to taste further improvement.

Valley Green Tea quality grades:

  • High Grade: an excellent tea compared to other local suppliers offer under any quality grade;
  • Premium Grade: an outstanding grade by Chinese standards, only the above average to high income class Chinese will consume. 
  • Exclusive Grade: the quality grade that is rarely exported out of China. They are often used by businesses as gifts.

 

Premium versus lower quality tea?

quality green teaPremium quality teas are distinguished via the care taken in cultivating and harvesting, the skill of the producer processing the tea and storage after production.

1. Plants and Harvesting

  • Plant quality, the right plants growing in the conditions best suited for these plants is a crucial factor in the quality of the end tea products. The conditions include sun shine, rain fall, altitude of the plantation and the soil conditions.
  • Correct harvesting season and technique.  Leaves need to be  picked at the optimal time of the each year under the right weather conditions. This crucial element of timing of the harvest and processing can be  a matter of hours. Working during the harvest seasons is often 24hrs around the clock.Chinese tea hand processing

2. Skill and experience of tea processing

The art of tea making has been fine tuned and passed down by many generation of tea farmers, and often kept in the families as intellectual properties in China - “Manual production reflects tradition and outstanding craftsmanship”.

The details are down to the most minute, for example:

  1. The white teas processed under the natural conditions are of much higher value than the one processed under man made conditions such as electric ovens. To produce the top quality Silver Needle white tea, every single stage is carefully controlled, monitored and adjusted, if the sun is too strong, they are withered in the shade; if the weather is cloudy, they are withered in the open. The teas are processed at night by the tea masters with all conditions carefully and skillfully controlled, charcoal strength, drying temperature, drying time, turn over time etc. 

  2. At the family production of the most prestige Bi Luo Chun green tea, Dong Ting Bi Lou Chun, only the most senior and experienced family member handles the processing of the most valuable pre-Qing-Ming crop. 

3. Fresh tea and its packaging

premium Chinese teaTea is a very sensitive product. Even the top quality teas deteriorate rapidly when exposed to:

  • light
  • high temperature
  • moisture
  • foreign odour

At Valley Green Tea, we use the latest packaging technique to avoid the above tea damaging factors: high quality foil vacuum bags to package tea in small quantity of 10-25gms; refrigeration when appropriate, such as green teas, Tie Guan Yin oolong tea and jasmine teas

Tea quality and the current market

The current state 

buy fresh green teaThe current state of the market for Chinese teas in western countries is charactorised by a low awareness of quality as a differentiator within a tea type or of how to distinguish or understand value in terms of quality for a given price.

Understanding of loose leaf teas

There is a growing understanding that loose teas are generally of better quality then tea bags. However the distinctions in packaging and storage of loose leaf teas to preserve quality is not appreciated as evidenced by :

  • Most of the packaged loose leaf teas currently on the market are not adequately packaged in air tight bags or containers.
  • These loose leaf teas are continuously exposed to moisture in the air, high temperature and odors from surrounding products.

A good proportion of tea bags on the market are made of low quality tea dust to the effect that it is hard to distinguish whether it is fresh or not.

Valley Green Tea quality assurance

 At Valley Green Tea, we:

  1. Import all teas from their original producing regions, eg Tie Guan Yin from the Anxi area of the FuJian Province and Long Jing from the Zhejiang Province. 
  2. Import teas that are seasonally produced for those to be consumed fresh: green tea, white tea, yellow tea, black tea and jasmine tea.
  3. We use the latest techniques for storing high quality fresh loose leaf teas - vacuum seal, refrigeration and small satchel packaging. The small satchel packaging (10-25g) allows teas to be consumed gradually without exposing the unopened satchels unnecessarily.  We also air transported our teas to Australia to minimize the time of un-refrigerated storage.
  4. We import aged teas for those to be consumed when aged: aged white tea and Pu-erh tea

 

Discerning a High Quality Tea

Tea grading 

The last step of tea processing is sorting and grading. When the tea leaves are dried, they are sorted by equipments that are able to sort according to the various sizes of tea leaves. This first stage of professional grading is often not based on the taste and inner quality, but based on the outer appearance and characters (color, shape, size etc). There is however a strong correlation between the tea inner quality and their general characteristics. Teas of top quality will guarantee to have the right outer characteristics.

Teas sorting process roughly divides teas into two major groups: leaf tea and broken tea. There are also fanning and dust tea after and they are often used to fill tea bags. Sorting is a very important stage of tea making. Various size tea leaves produce teas of very different concentration, continuity, color and taste. The bigger the tea leaves are, the longer it takes to brew.

Signs of high quality

Whilst different teas vary in their appearance and taste there are some basics that are indicative of high quality:

1. Appearance:

Tea leaves should be freshly glossy with full bodies. Leaves should be equal in size. (Please expand the photos in our shop to look for these characteristics and compare against other suppliers).

Tea liquid should be bright and clear. (There are some teas, such as certain green teas and white teas, that are made of very young tip tea leaves that are covered with white fur on the back. This could result in the white fur resolving in the tea liquid during the tea brewing to produce an opaque appearance. This should be distinguished from the tea liquid be cloudy which is sign of stale tea.)

2. Smell:

Fresh and fragrant.

3. Taste:

Unlike most other beverages, the magic flavor of tea is often in its aftertaste. Words used to describe this include: lingering, refreshing, smooth, aromatic etc.
Premium quality green teas sometimes can taste slightly bitter at the beginning, followed immediately by a beautifully refreshing, mellow taste that lingers for long time.  A clear mind and calm body are also associated with drinking a quality tea.

Signs of bad quality

In contrast, teas of bad quality are often dark and dull in color, leaves in various sizes with plenty of dust, moldy in smell and tea liquid cloudy. Tea tastes rough and bitter and lack refreshing aftertaste. Novice tea drinkers take some time to appreciate the quality differentials (similar to wine tasting). However, with experience comes the issue that  "once you have tasted and appreciated good quality tea, the memory of this makes it easier to discern lower quality - and harder to be satisfied with it'’.

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