A Brief Introduction to Loose Leaf Teas and Herbs

Thanks for visiting our web site. We hope you will learn something new about this amazing beverage and find some new teas for you to add to your collection. When you're ready, please check out our award winning selection of organic loose leaf teas and tea accessories.

Until recently, buying tea involved a quick and disinterested choice between three or four generic tea brands in your local grocery store. The consumer wasn't offered anything other than plain old "tea", and, all offerings were pre-bagged in bleached paper. These teas were almost always of the same quality (poor) resulting in a belief that there may be differences in flavorings and aromas, but, at the end of the day, tea is tea.

Health Benefits of Tea

Fortunately, the health benefits of drinking green tea eventually became a hugely successful selling point for a handful of new offerings found on your grocer's shelves. Also, the "Starbucks coffee boom" led many consumers to wonder if that box of Liptons was really the best tea they could buy, or, whether there were some hidden gems out there for them to find. And, with that, came a rennaisance in tea appreciation and demand. Soon came almost endless new varieties of tea from which to choose as well as differentiation in the quality of each tea.

Loose Leaf Teas

Loose leaf teas made their appearance as the educated consumer now wanted to see, smell and touch exactly what they were drinking before brewing a cup. The mysterious contents of those tea bags was unacceptable to this modern tea drinker. Words like Oolong, Darjeeling, and Pu'erh became a part of their vocabulary. Brewing and drinking a cup of tea became an experience similar to tasting a fine wine.

Tea Plants and Trees

Amazingly, all teas come from two plants: Camellia Sinensis and Camellia Assamica of the Theaceae family. Actually, the vast majority of teas come from the Sinensis (meaning "from China") variety; however, the British discovered and cultivated the Assamica variety in the plains of Assam, India during the late 1800's as it was indigenous to the area, grew better than the other type, and was almost of the same aromatic quality as well.

So, What's the Deal with the Colors?

The difference between tea colors or types is a result of the way the tea is processed and to what degree it has been oxidized. White tea is the least oxidized, with green tea next, then Oolongs and blacks and finally Pu'erh teas which are the only teas that can be aged (and actually improve with age like wine).

Finally, the health benefits of tea may have been known to Asian cultures for millenia, but, have only recently been introduced to the West. White and green teas are known to have large concentrations of antioxidants, but, that is only the tip of the iceberg. Most teas also stimulate circulation, improve mental clarity and the immune system, accelerate metabolism, aid in digestion, and even prevent tooth decay!

We invite you to look around and hopefully, use some of our products and knowledge to help build a new love for this amazing beverage.