Why Loose Leaf Tea?
Here in the United States, tea is mainly purchased and brewed in tea bags. We, however, serve loose leaf tea. In this post , I am going to highlight a few reasons why we only sell loose leaf tea.
Providing the Highest Quality: As with almost any plant, you would expect that the whole version found in nature would give you the best quality and flavor (i.e. apples, carrots, etc.). We seek to provide you with the highest quality leaves that are left completely intact for the best flavor, aroma, and benefits. Providing you with the highest quality tea though also means that we want to teach you the best ways to brew that tea. That means brewing the leaves in teaware that gives them lots of room to expand, which leads us to our next point:
Tea Leaves Love Space: Tea leaves thrive when they have a lot of space for brewing. The more constricted your brewing area is (such as in a tea bag), the less room your tea leaves have to expand and the less leaf that is in contact with the water (this is also the reason that we don't sell tea balls!). In order to avoid this problem, tea companies will chop the leaves into small pieces before placing them in the tea bag so that more of the leaf is in contact with the water. Unfortunately, chopping tea in small pieces causes them to lose flavor more quickly and also creates a more bitter brew since tannins (the bitter part of tea) more readily infuse into your cup when the leaves are chopped. In addition, no tea company would chop up high quality tea, typically tea found in teabags is the lowest quality output.
Preserving Traditional Preparation Methods: At Shang Tea, all of our tea comes from the prime white tea growing region in the Fujian Province. The mountain range (the Tai Mu Mountains) is highly prized for producing some of the best tea in the world. We have a strong interest in preserving traditional crafting techniques and in return providing you with the very best tea. We also sell hand crafted chinese teaware such as gaiwans, for those interested in brewing loose leaf tea in a traditional manner.
If you are looking to switch from using bags to using loose leaf tea, please feel to visit us at our store, send us an email at support@shangtea.com, or give us a call at 816-421-2588.
