1. Examine the tea leaves

You have the chance to judge their size and the carefulness of processing, as well as the content of undesirable admixtures (wood, stalks). Whether tea is fresh can be judged from the colour – pale leaves are mostly old.

2. Smell the dry leaves

Check out the degree of natural tea aroma. Pay attention to its intensity. Depending on the aroma you can determine the tea’s origin (teas from Darjeeling have a hint of dried straw, Assam smells a little of caramel).

3. What you can tell from a cup

Typical colouring of the area of origin (teas from Assam are dark brown to black, from Darjeeling light to deep gold, Sri Lanka reddish gold), processing and fermentation (fermented teas are darker than semi-fermented or non-fermented).

4. Steeped tea leaves

After steeping tea leaves give a lot of information about the character of the tea. It is possible to recognise the quality of the harvest and processing (undamaged leaves), whether tea is pure or whether it is a blend. In the scent you can also recognise the intensity of the aroma and degree of fineness of the tea.

5. Arona given off by cup (teapot)

The aroma of a good tea should be typical of its origin, strong and many-layered. The typical aroma of a tea from Darjeeling: fresh, fine, intensively flowery, muscatel.

6. Taste

Roll the tea around your tongue for a few seconds. You can gauge the strength (richness of flavour) of the tea, as well as the degree to which tannins were infused (bitterness).

7. Length of taste, aroma

The longer, the better. As the taste lasts it is also possible to feel the purity of a tea (undesirable admixtures have nuances atypical for tea).

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