http://blog.yayateahouse.co.nz/2008/06/09/its-all-black-and-white-4-new-teas-from-assam/ News from the Teahouse, about tea and more Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:26:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 http://blog.yayateahouse.co.nz/2008/06/09/its-all-black-and-white-4-new-teas-from-assam/#comment-126311 Tue, 20 Sep 2011 20:08:54 +0000 http://blog.yayateahouse.co.nz/2008/06/09/its-all-black-and-white-4-new-teas-from-assam/#comment-126311 [...] What’s the most expensive tea you’ve got? Well, from a tea connoisseur’s point of view, that’s an understandable definition. But even for people who drink tea purely for the pleasure it offers them, this is the wrong question to ask! While price can be an indicator for the quality of tea (for a long explanation of why this is not necessarily so, read my posts here and here), it doesn’t tell you much. Too many factors influence the price of a tea: area of production (Indian teas from Darjeeling are usually much more expensive than those from Assam), rarity of the tea and type of farming/trading (organic farming / fair trade agreements to minimize the potential of exploitation of tea workers), just to name a few. Another factor - a factor that I regard as the most important one - is personal taste. Even though many people might agree that a certain tea is outstanding, it doesn’t mean that you will like it. In fact, we have several customers who like relatively inexpensive teas better than other, much more expensive ones (and are often surprised to find this out). This is a question of personal preference and it might well be that a fairly simple, easy-to-brew and inexpensive tea is your personal best tea. Just because I personally rank our Arya Ruby - which is not a cheap tea - amongst the best teas produced doesn’t mean that everyone will like it. I once had a customer who wanted to buy the most expensive tea we offered. Those of our readers who know me probably aren’t surprised of my reaction: I told him I wouldn’t sell him our most expensive tea. Instead, I suggested to try a few different teas to see what he liked, rather than using the tea as a status symbol based on its price. I’d much rather see him buying a tea (even a very cheap tea) that he liked than possibly disappointing an expectation of greatness based purely on something as subjective as price. He agreed to this and did indeed prefer a tea that had a different flavour than our most expensive tea. [...] […] What’s the most expensive tea you’ve got? Well, from a tea connoisseur’s point of view, that’s an understandable definition. But even for people who drink tea purely for the pleasure it offers them, this is the wrong question to ask! While price can be an indicator for the quality of tea (for a long explanation of why this is not necessarily so, read my posts here and here), it doesn’t tell you much. Too many factors influence the price of a tea: area of production (Indian teas from Darjeeling are usually much more expensive than those from Assam), rarity of the tea and type of farming/trading (organic farming / fair trade agreements to minimize the potential of exploitation of tea workers), just to name a few. Another factor - a factor that I regard as the most important one - is personal taste. Even though many people might agree that a certain tea is outstanding, it doesn’t mean that you will like it. In fact, we have several customers who like relatively inexpensive teas better than other, much more expensive ones (and are often surprised to find this out). This is a question of personal preference and it might well be that a fairly simple, easy-to-brew and inexpensive tea is your personal best tea. Just because I personally rank our Arya Ruby - which is not a cheap tea - amongst the best teas produced doesn’t mean that everyone will like it. I once had a customer who wanted to buy the most expensive tea we offered. Those of our readers who know me probably aren’t surprised of my reaction: I told him I wouldn’t sell him our most expensive tea. Instead, I suggested to try a few different teas to see what he liked, rather than using the tea as a status symbol based on its price. I’d much rather see him buying a tea (even a very cheap tea) that he liked than possibly disappointing an expectation of greatness based purely on something as subjective as price. He agreed to this and did indeed prefer a tea that had a different flavour than our most expensive tea. […]

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