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Chinese Tea Comes in Many Forms

You will learn many things about tea as you read this article. One of the things you will learn is that there are several ways to buy Chinese tea. You can buy tea from a tea shop (there are shops all over the country these days); you can purchase tea over
the Internet; and you can buy tea in grocery stores, convenience stores, and even
pharmacies.

That’s not to mention every place you can get tea already brewed for you. Every dining establishment, from a five-star restaurant to a roadside diner and even the ubiquitous coffee shop, serves tea, both hot and cold. When you are buying Chinese tea to brew at home, you can get it in two forms: loose leaf tea or tea bags.

You are probably most familiar with tea bags. This is known as commercial grade tea, and it is made of dust and fannings, the by products of the tea-making process. Dust is the tiniest particles of tea, and fannings are broken tea leaves one grade larger than dust. Here’s the first thing you need to know about tea bags: You get the same health and weight-loss benefits from tea whether you brew it from dried loose tea leaves or from a paper tea bag, as long as it is white, green, oolong, or black tea. The second thing you need to know is that a paper tea bag is meant to be used only once (you will understand why that is important as you read on in this chapter). The flavor you get from a tea bag may not be as rich as the flavor from loose leaf teas, but the only way you will know which you like best is to do a taste test. [Read more…]