How do you identify the quality of black tea?

[Bok]

Only one way – taste it.

You can see how crushed the leaves are, the more crushed, the less I would expect from the tea (on the extreme low end you have your average teabag tea dust).

Smell can only tell you as much as there might be off- or weird odors, which would hint to a bad tea.

Last but not least – price! Do not expect a bargain to be good tea. Quality has its price. Here in Taiwan good black tea can be among the most expensive.

[ethan]

+1 to comments of Bok.

Also, higher prices do not always = much higher cost; often better teas can be used for more infusions than cheap teas.

[mbepadro]

yeah. only tasting it can tell you the real taste. but i use smell to tell if the aroma is somewhat similar to what i like. Also you can tell if its fresh or not. Always check when the tea was harvested, i think that helps a lot

[Psyck]

You first need to identify reputed vendors for the type of black tea you drink. That alone will mostly ensure the quality as even their cheaper offerings will not be of bad quality for that price. Buy small sample sets of teas in all price ranges - cheap to costliest. Taste and decide.

[Hezo541]

Is there any other way besides taste?
Looks weel or smells well didn't means taste well....

[Bok]

Only one way – taste it.

You can see how crushed the leaves are, the more crushed, the less I would expect from the tea (on the extreme low end you have your average teabag tea dust).

Smell can only tell you as much as there might be off- or weird odors, which would hint to a bad tea.

Last but not least – price! Do not expect a bargain to be good tea. Quality has its price. Here in Taiwan good black tea can be among the most expensive.

Do you mean tea bags? I'm talking about tea, it's leaves not tea bag

You can get black tea if the crushed dust variety as loose tea as well. A lot of so called English black teas are like that.