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The best black teas according to customer reviews. Tea bags - how to make the right choice? Quality rating of tea bags

What kind to start with if you want to become a connoisseur of tea - or just to finally find the exact tea that you can enjoy every day? Let's figure it out in this article. And first, let's remember

What kind of tea is there?

When people talk about "tea varieties", what do you think they mean?

Everyone knows that tea is a plant, a tea bush. Plants of different varieties, from the point of view of botany, have different decorative or physiological characteristics. For example, two varieties of peonies or tomatoes may differ in external data, have different colors and shapes of petals, the size and taste of fruits, etc. And many still think that green and black tea are made from different plants. In fact, there is one type of tea plant - Camellia sinensis - and many varieties of it. The type of tea (green, black, yellow, etc.) depends on the processing of the tea leaf.

We will not go into botanical details. After all, for the buyer, the taste, aroma, color of the finished drink matters. These indicators are determined commercial grade.

Commercial grade of tea - an indicator of quality

The trade grade of tea consists of many factors. In addition to the variety of tea plant (Chinese, Assamese, Cambodian), the following are taken into account:

  • the place of growth of the plant itself (this is country of origin, the most famous are Chinese, Indian, Ceylon, Kenyan and other teas from Africa, Georgian, Vietnamese, Japanese and, of course, native Krasnodar, characteristics plantations),
  • time and conditions of collection (which leaves are collected, manually or by machine, collection season, etc.),
  • features of sheet processing (drying, twisting, grinding and many more special processes).

And that's not all - many varieties of tea are obtained by blending and additional aromatization(There is nothing wrong with this if the flavors are natural).

All these factors affect the final grade of tea. And as a result, we can read on the pack, for example, "Chinese green large-leaf tea (... company name)". Here every word matters.

Blending is another reason for the variety of teas

Blending (and in simple terms - mixing) is carried out by tea-packing factories. Each blend gets its own unique name and sometimes becomes the "face of the company". The composition of such a mixture may include 1-2 dozen varieties of tea leaves grown in different countries.

Which tea maker is the best?

In Soviet times, we had access to one type of tea, which many still miss ("with an elephant"). Then the country rushed to the other extreme, and only imported tea could be bought in stores. Now the choice is great, there would be money.

It is very difficult to choose the best tea producer. Mainly because the same company produces 3-5 different brands of tea in several price categories - expensive, medium, economy. And ardent adherents of Greenfield tea, in fact, choose the same manufacturer as economical lovers of the Princess Nouri brand (both are made by the Orimi Trade company). Therefore, the definition of "the best tea producer" is very conditional.

Of the Russian tea producers, we note the following companies:

  • "Orimi Trade", she owns the brands "Princess Noori", "Princess Kandy", (as well as Gita, Java), as well as Tess, Greenfield,
  • "May"- and this is not only May Tea, but also Lisma, Curtis,
  • Unilever- "Conversation", Brooke Bond, Lipton (the owner of the company is England, but the production is located in Russia).

Among foreign teas, the most famous "Dilmah"(supplier of Ceylon tea), English Twinnings, « Ahmad, Ceylon "Riston"(positions itself as "premium English tea"), « Akbar".

When selecting tea varieties for the rating, we were based on customer reviews and research results. We did not consider rare, elite and expensive varieties that are sold only at auctions or in tea shops of a narrow specialization. The ranking contains popular trade grades of black and green tea, which are easy to find in stores near your home.

An excellent drink: it gives strength and vigor, tones and contains virtually no calories. Black tea contains essential oils, minerals - fluorine and potassium, as well as catechins - antioxidants that protect the cells of our body from free radicals, prevent the development of atherosclerosis and promote weight loss.

Freshly brewed loose leaf tea has the brightest and richest taste and aroma, but everyone has situations - at work, in the country, on the road - when it is more convenient to use tea bags. How is this tea different from loose tea? Is he all the same? And how to choose the best one?

The Consumer Rights Protection Society "Roskontrol" sent for examination black tea in bags of popular brands: Ahmad Tea, Greenfield, Dilmah, Twinings, Akbar, Maitre de The, "Princess Noori", Brooke Bond, Lipton And "Conversation".

Moldy tea?

In the laboratory, experts first of all check how safe the tea is for health. The content of mold fungi is one of the main indicators of the safety of tea bags. Bacteria do not start in it, but if it is stored in conditions of high humidity, it is likely that mold will develop. According to this indicator, Lipton, Ahmad Tea, Greenfield and Brooke Bond turned out to be the safest - they do not contain mold fungi at all. In all other tea bags, mold was found, most of all in Beseda and Princess Nouri teas (up to 30% of the maximum allowable amount). The standards established by the technical regulations were not exceeded, so formally no claims can be made against manufacturers.

household drug

Everyone knows that black tea contains caffeine, theophylline and other psychoactive alkaloids. It is thanks to them that we feel a surge of vigor and strength after drinking a cup of tea. However, these substances are far from harmless. Doctors warn: they have a serious negative effect on the nervous system and are addictive at the level of ... drug addiction. A person who drinks a lot of tea becomes irritable, quick-tempered, and then falls into despondency, feels a breakdown, and in order to make up for it, he pours himself a cup of tea again. Caffeine is especially dangerous in this regard, so Roskontrol tested tea for the content of this particular alkaloid.

Ahmad Tea and Greenfield had the most caffeine, with 72 mg and 70 mg in one cup, respectively. This dose is comparable to one tablet of pharmacy caffeine (100 mg). We read the instructions for this drug: side effects - insomnia, palpitations, trembling of the limbs, ringing in; special instructions - in case of abuse, the development of drug dependence is possible.

Other samples have slightly less caffeine, the minimum amount (45 mg per cup) in Maitre de The and Conversation teas.

It should be noted that, despite the possible addiction and impact on health, the caffeine content of tea is one of the quality indicators: the more caffeine in tea, the higher quality it is.

“Caffeine is especially dangerous for children. In a child who often drinks strongly brewed tea, the nervous system becomes labile (mood changes often, concentration of attention and learning ability decrease), and in addition, caffeine disrupts calcium metabolism, which is fraught with disorders in the formation of the skeleton. Therefore, I categorically do not recommend teaching a child to this household drug from childhood - it's no secret that many parents pour tea for children in a bottle. Your child will drink his first cup of tea sooner or later, let's not rush and let it happen as late as possible. As for adults, if you do not abuse tea and do not drink 5-6 cups a day, there will be nothing to worry about. For energy, 1-2 cups of tea per day are enough, and green is better - it has more antioxidants that balance the harm of caffeine.

Andrey Mosov

expert of NP "Roskontrol", doctor

And what is useful in it?

The benefits of tea are primarily due to the content of catechins in it - antioxidants from the group of polyphenols that protect our blood vessels, prevent and remove heavy metals from the body. Among the catechins, tannin is the most famous.

The most tannin was found in Lipton and Brooke Bond teas, and the least in Maitre de The and Conversation. The last two have the least amount of caffeine, which in general indicates the low quality of tea. Good tea should contain many biologically active substances.

Keep in mind: due to the content of tannin, tea removes not only heavy metals, but also binds the iron contained in food, which can play a trick on those who drink tea after eating. If you drink tea every time after eating, it is quite possible to get anemia.

Taste, color and more

Of course, few people expect exquisite taste and noble aroma from tea bags. However, I would like the taste to be pleasant, not bitter, and the smell not repulsive.

Experts have clear criteria for the quality of black tea: pronounced aroma, taste with pleasant astringency, bright color. The taste and aroma of Dilmah tea turned out to be insufficiently pronounced, weak, the astringent taste of Brooke Bond tea is also a bad sign, Maitre de The has an insufficiently bright color of the infusion, and there is little pleasant astringency characteristic of tea in the taste. According to these indicators, the listed samples do not correspond to the highest grade declared on the label, Brooke Bond barely draws on the first grade, Dilmah - on the second, and Maitre de The - only on the third.

The quality of Twinings and AKBAR teas turned out to be not much better, but unlike those three, they did not indicate the variety in the label, so there is nothing to complain about - the consumer is given the opportunity to evaluate the quality of these samples for himself. The quality of tea "Princess Noori", Greenfield and Ahmad Tea is somewhat higher, although they are far from ideal. The latter also has an unusual grassy taste and aroma for black tea, but all other indicators correspond to the standard.

What's wrong with tea bags? Is it made from the same tea leaves as the loose leaf? What are the benefits of tea bags? And why does he lose to the sheet - or maybe not? We understand these and other issues together with tea expert Viktor Enin and Stefan Quack, head of the international cooperation service of the German company Teekanne, which has been producing loose and bagged tea since 1882 and sells it to more than 50 countries around the world.

The phrase "ground tea" - namely, such tea is produced in bags - initially has a negative connotation and does not sound like a designation of what we would like to buy.

In this case, we can talk about a false understanding of things. Few people know how tea bags are actually made. People know that it is called “ground”, “remains from the production of “other” tea”, and “is bound to be of poor quality”.

If you want a small portion, and a tea bag means small portions, then you need finely ground tea, as it gives a richer taste and fits into a bag.

The composition of the tea bag

When you brew loose leaf tea, you see the tea leaf. In the tea bag, the leaf is ground, you can't recognize it - it could be anything.

Consumers are often unaware that a tea bag is a mixture of several teas from different regions and plantations. Sometimes in one tea bag there can be four or five different ingredients - varieties of tea. If you give the tea expert five different tea bags, he can tell you what's inside. It can be a mixture of Ceylon, Chinese and Indian tea. It is difficult for a non-professional to determine the difference between one tea bag and another, so trust in the company and its authority play a very important role.

What is tea blend used for? By mixing different types of tea, you get a stable result, and this is the main thing for a branded product. When our company first started, in the 1880s, people bought tea from the plantation as it came: today it could be better, tomorrow it could be worse. Then the company came up with an idea to compensate for the instability of the quality of tea by mixing different varieties. And the formula is constantly changing, as production is still unstable: today a tea bag can contain 30% assam, and yesterday it was 25%, because, for example, there was more Ceylon, and today it is less. But you won't feel the difference. Color, taste and aroma will remain the same.

About the quality of tea

Quality is more likely to suffer with tea in a tea bag than with loose leaves - I will now explain why.

One tea bag usually contains 2 grams of tea. Someone buys high-quality tea, travels to plantations, controls the process, buys tea directly from the manufacturer, and someone does not.

In a tea bag, they can put 1 gram of really good tea, which gives taste, and another gram - we call it filler - relatively speaking, garbage that we do not notice. This is also tea, it's just of poor quality - and it depends primarily not on the leaf, but on the region of growth. For example, the second gram may be tea from Argentina, Georgia, Turkey - a different climate, different ingredients, different oils. The method of collection also matters: manual work is more expensive, as it is more laborious and takes more time, and, for example, on the same Argentine plantations, tea is in most cases harvested by machines. But if you are a company that values ​​its reputation, then you will not use such tea.

We produce such tea, but not for our own company, but for retailers who are not able to pay big money. For comparison: our tea costs 2.5 euros; the one sold by retailers is 80 cents. They cannot be of the same quality.

The younger the leaf, the juicier it is, which means that the fermentation process will go well. Tips - leaf buds - the most delicate component in the tea mixture, but they are not used for tea bags, because in this case, when crushed, they will lose all their meaning and you simply will not feel them.

Loose tea and tea bags can be made from the same tea. One sheet is crushed into leaves of different sizes, then the machine separates them with a sieve, and in the future they go to different products. Smaller particles, due to the larger area of ​​contact with hot water, release their taste and aroma faster. Due to what? When the leaf is cut, it releases juice, and the more small leaves it turns out, the larger the oxidation area will be and the stronger the tea will be in the end. In a tea bag, the tea should be saturated because it is designed for one cup, that is, 200 milliliters of water.

About green and black tea

Since oxidation occurs in air, and after drying, there is no juice in green tea, respectively, and there is nothing to oxidize, so the fermentation process does not begin. Fermentation under hot water (not in air), close to the boiling point, also cannot start in any way. But the longer the tea is brewed, the more substances from the leaf pass into the water, so the drink turns out to be richer, bitterer and darker. With black tea, there will be no such reaction, since the fermentation process has already taken place. Does the tea leaf lose its beneficial properties, minerals and vitamins during the fermentation process? It occurs at a temperature of 60 degrees, so it can kill some elements (perhaps because of this it is commonly believed that green tea is healthier than black), but a small amount, not so much that a difference is noticeable.

Aroma

I have not heard of manufacturers adding artificial color to tea. What you can do is to choose the composition of the ingredients that will give color. For example, hibiscus - it gives a very strong red color.

There are people who say that they only buy loose leaf tea: “I go to tea shops and choose tea from large jars.” People inhale the aroma and think it comes from the fruits, flowers, or herbs in the tea. In fact, the fragrance is not from there, but from a spray that you cannot see. These can be either natural flavors - essential oils, such as bergamot, orange, lemon - or artificial, identical to natural ones. They are used in the event that natural is not enough.

The main differences between loose and bagged tea

A quality tea bag is just as good as a quality loose leaf. The difference is that they give different results in your cup.

Leaf tea is lighter, and bagged tea is very strong, with a high content of tannins (tannins). It brews quickly and can be bitter if you brew it longer than the allotted time. You should not neglect the rules and keep the tea bag in the cup for 10 minutes - I usually do not brew for more than two minutes.

Leaf tea is brewed to a certain strength, and that's it - after that it does not become very strong and bitter. Since it is lighter, brewing is more complex, and due to this, more fragrant. It's like with perfume: if you overdo it, it can kill on the spot, it will be difficult to recognize the nuances of the smell, and you can savor a light aroma and find new facets every time. Therefore, leaf tea is more suitable for a relaxing pastime; this is not the tea you drink while you work.

As for the oil film that can form on the surface of tea in a cup, this is not an indicator of the quality of the tea, but of the quality of the water. A film forms if the water is hard.

Price

Why is loose tea more expensive than tea bags? The world does not yet grow enough loose leaf tea, and its extract is not rich enough. And then, let's count. 100 grams of loose leaf tea is 8 grams per cup, which is 12–13 cups (because the tea is less strong, more is needed). 100 grams of tea bags is a minimum of 50 tea bags, that is, 50 cups. Therefore, leaf tea is rather an exclusive product, if, of course, we are talking about high-quality tea.

The quality of tea poured into bags is limited by the technological features of this method of selling and brewing tea. It also reflects the marketing calculation of tea bag manufacturers in accordance with the known parameters of demand from the target audience of the product.

A tea leaf crushed into dust quickly loses its freshness and taste due to oxidation by the surrounding air. A small dosage (approximately 2 grams per sachet) with even not very long storage leads to the loss of almost all the valuable qualities of tea - the oxidation surface is many times larger than that of whole-leaf tea.

In other words, it simply does not make sense to pack high-quality tea in bags - it will lose all its valuable properties during storage, and the increase in cost when using more expensive raw materials will not be appreciated by the target audience.

Hello dear readers and lifestyle! What do you think is the most popular tea in our country? The answer is obvious - it's tea bags. It is this that most of us brew at work, because it is convenient, as well as at home, because it is fast, and the teapot does not need to be washed.

But what are tea bags made from? And what kind of tea bags is better to buy? Let's find out the answers to these important questions.

What are tea bags made from?

Tea bags often contain tea dust or, in other words, tea debris. This is nothing but the remains of tea production. Such dust usually remains after transportation, packaging, packaging, etc. Just some manufacturers pack it in sachets, add flavorings, dyes, and then sell it. What you are reading is not an exposure session at all! The technology is known, applied all over the world, and it is officially allowed.

The problem is that such tea is not only the cheapest, but also dangerous in a sense. It can cause disorders in the liver, kidneys of a person, harm the nervous system, and also destroy bones.

Fluorine

The main danger is fluoride, which can accumulate in tea dust. The fact is that “tea dust” can lie for years before it is packaged in bags. Naturally, during this time, water from the remains of tea evaporates, and the concentration of fluorine in it becomes greater. Through tea, fluoride enters the human body, and can cause poisoning. Fortunately, not everyone.

It depends on the area where the person lives. So, in our country there are regions where there is quite a bit of fluorine - Moscow, Chelyabinsk, Khabarovsk. Since there is a shortage of fluorine in the water of these regions, fluorine from tea leaf dust will not be so superfluous. But we also have territories where there is an excess of fluorine - for example, Yekaterinburg, Novokuznetsk, Krasnodar Territory, Tver and Tomsk regions. Residents of these places should avoid tea bags.

It is impossible to predict whether there is a large amount of fluoride in a bag or not.

Dyes

Teabags are often not of the highest quality and have color defects (i.e. they cannot color the drink properly). And in order to get a bright saturated color of strong tea, manufacturers often resort to the use of food coloring. They can be both natural and synthetic, but almost never harmless.

Below we will discuss how to determine if there are dyes in tea.

Risk of osteoporosis

Phosphates are often added to tea bags to shift the acidity of the medium in which we brew tea. The medium is alkalized, so the extraction (in this case, coloring the water and filling it with taste and aroma) is more complete and faster.

If phosphates constantly enter our body along with tea, they contribute to the violation of the acid-base balance and the excretion of calcium salts. This creates conditions for leaching calcium from the body, and this cannot but affect the condition of the bones.

We hope you are not too scared yet. we will still teach you how to choose the right tea bags.

What is the best tea bag?

The principles for choosing tea are independent of its brand of tea or type (black, green, Indian, etc.). To make the right choice, tea will have to buy. Well, or get your favorite tea from the shelf to find out if it is worthy of your bright love 🙂

Without dyes

All tea dyes are water-soluble, i.e. they should dissolve in any water (not only hot, but also cold).

To test tea for the presence of dye, we take a tea bag and try to brew it in cold or lukewarm water. If there is food coloring in the bag, then the water will definitely be colored.

And this really should not be, since the coloring of water from natural tea leaves should only occur at temperatures above 60 degrees.

In a word, if during such a test a tea bag stained cold water, then it is better to refuse it.

Phosphate free

Normal tea brewing time is about 5 minutes. Well, maybe it will be brewed for 4. But to immediately? There are no phosphates here.

And the phosphates in the tea you drink all the time = almost guaranteed osteoporosis in the future.

And DEFINITELY you should not choose tea that has enticing inscriptions like:

  • "strong";
  • "brewed in a minute";
  • "quick brew".

Convenient, fast, but is it worth your health?

Grade tea

You can additionally test your tea bags or pyramids. Open the bag/pyramid, pour the tea onto a white surface. Grade tea leaves:

  • large;
  • one color;
  • the same smell;
  • about the same size.

Perhaps this is not the highest grade, but the first or second for sure.

With natural additives

By the way, the tea in the pyramids is coarsely ground, the tea leaves are clearly visible (which cannot be said about the bags).

And if they write on tea “with mango pieces”, “with jasmine”, then we should see these pieces or flowers. But if we still don’t see them, the tea is probably flavored.

Tea bags or loose tea?

Here the choice is unequivocal - the championship is always for leaf tea.

If you need to perform various manipulations with bags, such as pouring cold water and estimating the brewing time, then with leaf bags it’s enough to understand whether you like the taste of a particular tea or not.

Loose tea is almost always varietal (as we already know, these are large leaves of the same size/color/aroma). Loose tea with small leaves is more difficult to evaluate, so it is better not to take it.

Is there an alternative for sachets?

And finally, about convenience. There is a wonderful solution that has been known for several decades. You can brew tea in a strainer.