Gourmet tea
In an effort to win over the under educated consumer the gourmet term can be thrown around far to often. At times it seems every box and bag claims this title in the manufacturers’ hope you will buy from their gourmet tea collection. In this article we will define what a gourmet tea should be and provide you with recommendations to keep in mind when deciding upon your next tea purchase as to what fill your gourmet cups with at tea time.
This liberal use of the term gourmet when it comes to tea is partially a result of, unlike wine and coffee, there not yet being a tea grading method that has been standardized and widely accepted. In an effort to change this and better define gourmet tea at the producer level; tea growing countries such as Sri Lanka (Ceylon), India, and parts of China have started to introduce a grading system using abbreviations to specify various attributes of their tea for better classification.
Unfortunately no verification by third party is common practice but grading by the tea grower can be a useful indicator of quality for the educated tea consumer. Some of the most important grades in relation to gourmet tea that would be used by reliable and fine quality tea estates are:
G: Golden. This refers to the presence of yellowish pieces of the leaf bud recognized by the naked eyes which is a property that contributes to the higher grades of tea.
T: Tippy. This indicates the presence of the whole leaf bud which is an important aspect of the highest grades of tea.
GFOP: Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe. This is commonly referred to as flowery orange pekoe where "tips" as well as flowers are golden in color.
TGFOP: Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe. A greater ratio of golden tips can be found in this classification of flowery orange pekoe.
FTGFOP: Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe. When Tea fall into this grade they are typically a premier estate's finest teas. This means they are mostly comprised of golden flowers, leaf buds, and the youngest tea leaves.
SFTGFOP: Super Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe. This exceptional classification signifies the highest grade of tea.
Any truly fine tea will have a few important things in common. When the grower selects what teas to use in their estate or gourmet lines only the most aromatic, young, top two leaves and the unopened leaf bud should be used. This process can involve up to 80,000 hand-plucked shoots that will be used to produce one pound of top-grade tea. Although a labor-intensive process a true gourmet producer knows this is essential to achieve superior quality.
All of the various tea types Black or Flavored Black Tea, Green or Flavored Green Tea, White Tea, Herbal Infusions, Yerba Mate Tea, Red Rooibos, Oolong Tea to name just a few will be available in Gourmet tea selections either as single or blended offerings. These teas can come from the major Asian tea producing nations such as Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon), China, India and Japan or other more exotic tea-producing countries including Africa, Indonesia, Taiwan, Argentina, Thailand, Russia and Turkey. Although these smaller more exotic producing countries production volume is relatively small this does allow for a greater focus that encourages high quality single garden and estate teas of gourmet quality.
Fresh, organic loose tea is much more likely to be of higher quality given the extra work and care that is needed to produce organic gourmet teas in the first place and most growers that go to the effort do so because quality matters to them. You can then brew this tea using a wide variety of gourmet accessories.
When a bagged tea would be of preference you will often find the highest grades of tea kept in traditional silk tea bags instead of the more common modern paper fiber bags and should have enough space to contain whole leaf tea and not the typical low quality powder which will tend to release tannin more quickly giving the tea a harsher taste.
When buying tea as part of a gourmet tea gift basket or gourmet tea sampler it can be more difficult to determine the quality of the teas contained. Look to specialized tea shops and exact listings of the products contained. If making this decision online you can then check their website for more detailed information on each product. Throughout the year various holiday gourmet teas such as a gourmet fruit mélange will be a safe selection catering to more common tastes if you are not sure the exact desires of the receiver.
Fine teas just like fine wines offer a level of subtlety, complexity and variety of flavors rivaled only by the finest wines. If you are a tea lover enjoy the journey until you have filled your tea cupboard with a vast connoisseur’s collection. If you are considering gourmet tea gift ideas then keep the above points in mind when choosing your next tea gift basket and you won't disappoint. At the end of the day the aspects of what will constitute a fine tea could be argued by many but sticking to fresh, organic loose teas selected at trusted local or online specialty gourmet tea shops is a safe bet when adding a new member to any gourmet tea collection.
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