by Intuit » Oct 3rd, '09, 21:31
Establish a point of reference. Nine out of ten new-to-loose leaf teas who are Westerners will be familiar with the most common tea on the planet: Indian black tea blends. Recommend a quality estate Assam or Yunnan tea for breakfast, a reasonable quality entry level estate tea from Ceylon or Nilgiri for midafternoon break. If they can tolerate caffeine in the evening, introduce them to an quality loose leaf evening blend, or to aged or better loose leaf shu pu'erh. For those who should refrain from caffeine in the evening, kukicha.
If they are familiar with Chinese restaurant jasmine tea, introduce them to a Chinese green or sencha, matcha, a white tea, a baozhong and a better grade of keemun or Yunnan tea.
Introduce those with limited familiarity to both black and green teas to an easy to brew better Chinese, sinch, matcha and a full bodied white tea, Chinese or Indian.
If they are coffee-drinkers, introduce them specifically to two afternoon oolongs: a typical better grade of restaurant full-leaf and a fragrant rolled oolong. Add to that a full-strength Yunnan and Assam for breakfast and an intro aged pu'erh for after dinner.
That affords the newbie with a sampler range of teas to hook them.
