The Modern Sage

  What is Tea? Tea is the second most consumed beverage in the world only after water with ~3.7 billion cups every day! Chances are, if you’re reading this you know what tea is, have encountered it, maybe even drink it on a regular basis. That’s all good and well, but it doesn’t answer the question ‘What is tea?’ What is inside your little white tea bags? What is the second most popular drink in the world? Out of the plethora of beverages and brews available to us today, which ones are tea? Why is this Important? Well, it’s not. Not if you don’t care, or are perfectly happy with your tea right now. :) On the other hand, if you’re like me, and tea is something you consume on a daily basis, it’s probably good to know a little something about what it’s made of.  Understanding what your tea is made of can not only help you brew a better cup-a, but can even increase your drinking pleasure. It’s also extremely interesting. What is Tea? It might be boring and wordy to read but if you...

  If you’ve spent any amount of time shopping for tea, going to tea houses, and of course drinking it, you’ll start to run into some familiar names like jasmine, black tea, rooibos, and mint. However, you have those and then you also have crazy teas like Kukicha, yerba mate, Lapsang Soucha, Lady Grey, and Gunpowder. To bring some order to the chaos, teas are divided into different categories.  While there are definitely way more than just 5 categories of tea (try more like 3000), the 5 basic types of tea are: White, Green, Oolong, Red, and Pu’er, and most teas are able to be categorized as one of the 5 types. The five main types of tea: White, Green, Oolong, Red, Pu'er Fun fact: all 5 types of tea come from the same tea plant – Camellia Sinensis Sinensis. *They are NOT tisanes/herbal teas. What distinguishes one tea as a white tea and not an Oolong or Pu’er has to do with its appearance, flavor, and most importantly processing. White Tea Starting with the least processed tea, ...