The number of tea drinkers in Australia is steadily increasing in the past couple of years. A recent study shows that 9.8 million Australians aged 14 and up are now drinking at least one cup of tea every week, and those who are over 65 years old are drinking an average of eleven cups per week. The rise could be attributed to the growing appreciation of tea’s physical and mental health benefits.
If you are one of the many who are getting hooked with the calming and soothing effects of a cup of warm tea, you should stop buying mass-produced tea products from the supermarket and order from a specialty tea store instead. Before you dismiss the idea, here are some compelling reasons why you should make the switch:
Expertise
Do you ask the grocery staff to give you some recommendations when shopping for tea? No. Unless you want to know what brands they have and the price of each, nobody in the store will have an idea of what kind of tea would be best for you. The best you could do is read the labels and rely on the description of the manufacturers.
When you buy from a tea shop, you will meet tea specialists who can guide you in finding the tea that will not only fit your palate but will complement your health and lifestyle requirements. Stopping by the supermarket to buy a box or two of your favourite tea may be convenient, but you will not find experts there who have a wealth of knowledge, passion, and love for tea that can help you find that perfect cup.
Quality
The superiority of the tea is primarily determined by leaf quality. Given this condition, you can readily tell that you are not drinking the best tea if you buy mass-produced products sold in the supermarket. To produce in bulk means manufacturers rely on machines to pluck tea leaves. As such, meticulous leaf selection is eliminated from the process.
Tea products sold in a tea store, on the other hand, are not only sourced from the best tea-producing regions, but they are also hand-picked to ensure that every tea leaf is of excellent quality. Moreover, artisan teas are made from 100% tea leaves. In contrast, those in the grocery stores are often made with artificial ingredients, colours, flavours, and other additives to mask the inferiority of the tea leaves used.
Taste
You may enjoy the flavour of store-bought teas for now, but once you tried drinking premium teas sold at specialty tea shops, you can readily tell the vast difference in depth of flavour and overall drinking experience. Apart from the quality of leaves, the process of tea-making significantly impacts flavour. While machines can manufacture tons of tea bags in a short time, no type of technology can recreate the taste of teas carefully crafted by tea masters.
Selection
The types of teas available in supermarkets are limited compared to the wide array of tea selection offered by specialty tea shops. Apart from the usual green, oolong, English breakfast, and black teas, tea stores offer herbal, wellness, and other types of brew you cannot find anywhere else.
Even if you have been drinking and enjoying tea for years because of its many benefits, you have yet to experience the exquisite pleasure of real tea drinking if you only tried mass-produced tea bags sold in grocery stores. Try purchasing your supply from a reputable tea store, and you will discover what you have been missing all along.
