| What are the Essentials of High Quality Loose Leaf | | | | hand-plucked and meticulously crafted to enhance leaf |
| Tea? | | | | character, aroma, color, clarity, body, complexity, and |
| Tips to Guarantee a Quality Loose Tea Experience | | | | above all, flavor. Connoisseurs will find no soggy paper |
| Demand for high quality loose leaf tea is experiencing | | | | tea bags and no trendy herbals from high quality loose |
| strong growth and for those interested in high quality | | | | tea suppliers; only real tea from the Camellia Sinensis |
| loose tea, more information will aid in decision making. | | | | bush. And, of course, only the finest. |
| Critical elements in the process include: | | | | Purchasing, Quality Control and Customer Service |
| Source of the Tea | | | | Access to high quality loose leaf tea is the final |
| Manufacturing Processes | | | | element. Most loose leaf teas are not available in retail |
| Purchasing, Quality Control and Customer Service | | | | outlets. Nevertheless, quality tea is easily available |
| Source of the Tea | | | | through e-commerce outlets on the internet. |
| All tea comes from the plant Camellia sinensis but | | | | Increasingly e-commerce over the internet has proven |
| there is where the similarity between high quality loose | | | | to be an efficient and easy way to purchase quality |
| leaf tea and other, lesser quality ends. From the time | | | | products and those e-commerce sites that are |
| the tea leaves are plucked until the time the consumer | | | | customer friendly also offer convenient and low cost |
| tastes the brew, a number of critical events affect the | | | | home delivery. Loose leaf tea is ideally suited to |
| tea experience. | | | | e-commerce because it is light and easy to transport. |
| High quality loose leaf teas are carefully selected as | | | | When evaluating e-commerce sites, the consumer |
| only the finest of these rare orthodox teas, which are | | | | should consider those sites that are interactive, easy to |
| processed slowly and hand-crafted with extreme | | | | use and offer rich features such as auto shipping, |
| care. | | | | multiple destination shipments, gift shipments and |
| Tea, like wine, is harvested and processed into the final | | | | delivery flexibility. |
| product on the grounds of the garden or estate. The | | | | The loose leaf tea experience is all about quality and |
| taste and quality of any tea varietal depends upon the | | | | quality does not end with manufacturing. Those |
| specific growing conditions. Factors such as altitude, | | | | suppliers that are truly dedicated to quality will maintain |
| climate, soil, weather, and plucking season all affect the | | | | quality control over each shipment received from the |
| final product. | | | | producing tea garden. |
| To produce just one pound of quality loose leaf tea, it | | | | Since almost all quality loose leaf tea comes from |
| takes approximately 3,000 hand plucked leaves. Only | | | | other countries such as China, India, Sri Lanka, Taiwan |
| the most tender leaves and young buds are selected. | | | | and others, choose a supplier who cups or tastes |
| After the leaves are picked, the precise art of tea | | | | each shipment before acceptance. This measure of |
| making begins. | | | | quality control will guarantee consistent quality but most |
| Manufacturing Processes | | | | loose leaf tea suppliers skip this important step. Check |
| Tea is manufactured by two different processes. | | | | with a potential supplier to determine their cupping |
| Most ordinary tea is machine processed by the C.T.C. | | | | commitment. |
| method (crush, tear, curl). The resulting small, broken | | | | In addition to quality control, customer service is a |
| pieces are used in tea bags or iced tea concentrates. | | | | critical element in the loose tea relationship. Since the |
| Less than 2% of the world's tea is of superior quality, | | | | purchase of high quality loose tea tends to be a long |
| hand-processed in the classic, time-honored method | | | | term relationship, consideration of the needs of the |
| known as orthodox manufacture. | | | | customer and customer satisfaction is paramount. |
| High quality suppliers are dedicated to offering | | | | The best suppliers have a culture of customer service, |
| outstanding, whole-leaf teas of the greatest quality and | | | | open lines of communication to customer service |
| finesse. Whole-leaf varietals retain the subtle nuances | | | | personnel and solicit feedback from customers as a |
| of flavor so prized by discriminating palates throughout | | | | way to maintain consistent quality. |
| the centuries. The highest quality loose teas are | | | | |