Talking Tea: How To Spot A Quality Tea

This week on Talking Tea we return to Tea Drunk in New
York City to chat with Shunan Teng, founder and owner of Tea Drunk,
about tips and tricks for identifying quality teas. As an example
of what to look for in choosing tea, Shunan selects a Gua Pian, a
historically famous green tea from China. 

Shunan uses our exploration of Gua Pian to break some
myths about tea quality, and tells us what to look for in
appearance, aroma and taste. We chat about how different
methods of plucking, shaping and firing tea affect the taste, what
to look for in the appearance of the dry and infused leaf, and what
the dry leaves’ aroma can tell us about the quality of
the tea. (The Gua Pian leaves Shunan shared with us in our chat are
pictured above.) Shunan also chats with us about what makes
Gua Pian unique among green teas, and the qualities which, in
Shunan’s view, define a truly artisanal
tea.

In our next episode, we continue our chat with
Shunan by looking at a classic white tea from China to further
explore the elements of a quality tea.

More info on Tea Drunk, including its online store, shop
hours and events, can be found at
its website, http://tea-drunk.com/. The website also
has links to Shunan’s fantastic videos of her sourcing trips in
China. The direct link to the videos is http://tea-drunk.com/pages/tea-trip-videos.

For more information on Talking Tea and updates on
new episodes, visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/talkingtea.

To inquire about being a guest or having your
organization featured, please email us at talkingteapodcasts@gmail.com.

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Talking Tea is produced and hosted by Ken Cohen.
You can follow Ken on Twitter @Kensvoiceken. 

This podcast features music from “Japanese Flowers”
(https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii/japanese-flowers) by mpgiiiBEATS
(https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii) available under a Creative Commons
Attribution 3.0 Unported license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Adapted from
original.