What is a Good Cup of Tea?

 

In the UK we drink on average nearly four cups of tea, per head, every day. What most people don’t realise is that the quality of the tea we drink is relatively poor. That’s because, compared to other countries, there is very little good quality tea on the market here.

 

At Tea Palace we are passionate about introducing you to the finest quality teas and infusions, so you can taste the difference for yourself.

 

 

To help explain the difference between good and bad quality tea we’ve summarised some of the key differences:

The Size of the Leaf
There are at least ten different grades of tea leaf in terms of shape, size and quality of leaf. The teas you find on your supermarket shelf are usually teabags containing the lowest grades - tea dust. These are the tiny particles which break off from the leaves during processing and produce a very dark liquid with relatively little taste.

At Tea Palace we offer only the world’s finest teas, selected from only the top quality grades of whole tea leaves. These produce a fantastic breadth and depth of tastes and aromas, which, we hope you’ll agree, are in a class of their own.

 

The Age of the Leaf
When the tea is picked there are different sizes of leaves on the plant. All Tea Palace teas are made from the tea plant’s youngest and most tender leaves, which give the finished tea a delicate and rounded flavour. The larger older leaves with a harsher taste, are those that end up in the supermarket.

Single Estate Teas
Like wines, the best and ‘purest’ black teas come from single tea gardens in India, Sri Lanka (Ceylon) China and Japan. Tea Palace offers the largest selection of Single Estate teas in the UK. All the teas are tasted each harvest, prior to selection to ensure that all our teas are consistently excellent.

Blends
Most popular brands of teabag contain between 15-30 different teas blended together, many of which are cheaper lower quality teas. Those teas that are blended with other ingredients (eg Earl Grey or Lemon), often use artificial flavoured oils in order to flavour the tea.

At Tea Palace all our tea blends are made with the teas we sell individually and do not include any cheap economy filler teas. Our Earl Grey is made with real Oil of Bergamot and our flavoured teas use real pieces of fruit, whole berries and real flower petals.

 

Tea Palace also sources certified organic ingredients wherever possible and uses no artificial colours or preservatives in any of our teas or infusions