Tea Q & A
Top 20
As tea tasters we get lots of questions about tea - here are a few of our favourites.
How much caffeine is ok to take in per day and how many cuppas is that?
Tea contains only small amounts of caffeine and you'd need to consume over 6 cups a day to reach a 'moderate' caffeine intake.
Is your tea Fairtrade?
We are members of the Ethical Tea Partnership which works to monitor the conditions of tea production around the world to ensure that they comply with relevant employment laws and union agreements in their country.
Tea is all the same isn't it?
Tea comes from one plant, camellia sinensis, but is grown in many different countries, at different altitudes, in different soil types and different weather conditions. These natural factors will all affect the taste of the tea, so we select and blend them together to get the best attributes of each of the gardens that we buy from, to deliver the right blend for our tea drinkers.
Do you buy tea from just one producer?
One producer would not be able to provide us with enough tea every day to keep Tetley tea drinkers supplied with their favourite brew. We choose to blend many different producers' teas together, from many different countries, so that we provide a consistent Tetley taste, bringing out the best characteristics of all the different teas that we buy.
Are herbal teas from the same plant?
No, herbal teas, such as camomile or peppermint do not contain any camellia sinensis (the tea plant), so they should really be called infusions.
Do you get to travel all over the world?
Our aim is to get as close to the producer as possible, so we pay regular visits to producing countries as well as our packing units.
What is the difference between green tea and black tea? Are they from different plants?
Green tea and black tea both come from the same plant - camellia sinensis. After tea is plucked the leaf is left to whither in order to become soft and malleable prior to cutting. The cutting process releases enzymes and exposes the tea to oxidation. With black tea, this oxidation is allowed to continue until the leaf is brown before it is 'fired' in an oven to stop the fermentation process. Green tea will have little or none of this fermentation which is why it remains green.
How do you taste tea?
36 bowls of tea are brought on whenever we taste. We take a soup spoon, dunk it in the bowl, slurp it up and spit it out (into a spittoon, not the floor). For each tea we will give a grading according to our tasting language. For instance '5SFY44'. Each number and letter describes a distinct aspect of that tea such as the colour, sparkle, body and even zing. These ratings help us to see what tea we can buy that week, and lets us know if the tea we have already bought is OK. Check out the tea tasting video for more info.
How long does it take to become a tea taster?
There is such a variety of tea in the world, you never really stop learning. But at Tetley it takes about 5 years of training before you earn the title of 'Tea Taster'.
Do you need any special qualifications to be a tea taster?
All Tetley tea tasters start as graduate recruits and have learnt their trade through tasting many thousands of cups of tea. It's also necessary not to be colour-blind, as the colour of the liquor and the leaf can tell you a lot about quality.
We want your questions!
Send your questions about tea to us at help@tetley.co.uk.
