What sets TDT's Platinum Green Tea Collection apart?
As new explorers of tea, people often assume that all teas are essentially the same. We don’t blame them! When you first get into tea, you only feel the tip of the iceberg and the several depths of tea-making are oblivious. But as you cave in further and find tea-bliss, you are keen to explore why one tea is different from the other, even though both could be black teas.
In every industry, be it precious commodities like gold and diamonds, or different varieties of foods and beverages, ‘grade’ is a benchmark that separates one type from the other. Years of expertise and knowledge are vested into creating ‘hallmark’ products that are then valued as per their qualities and offerings. Each one starkly different from the other. A similar evaluation is followed for ‘Tea Leaf Grading’, that values different teas based on their diverse features!
How to tell the difference?The value and quality of teas depends on several factors:
- Season of harvest
- Leaf sizes
- Style of plucking
- Nature of farming
- Method of oxidation
- Processing techniques
For example: Tea leaves are plucked in different sizes to extract distinguished benefits. The smallest size of tea leaves are more valuable than bigger, developed leaves in many cases.
Understanding the grading concept further, let’s see how green tea, white tea, oolong, or black tea all are sourced from the same Camellia sinensis plant, but how growing and processing techniques makes all of these teas different.
To each its own!
In order to mark these differences in quality and to award each tea with the recognition it deserves, we have classified our teas as Platinum, Gold and Silver, with ‘Platinum’ green teas representing teas of the highest grade overall. This ‘does not’ go to say that Gold and Silver teas are any less in quality. But it is the condition and growing processes that differentiate Gold and Silver teas from the Platinum grade. In simple words, Platinum Teas witness the highest level of care and skills invested in their growth by tea farmers. They are the crème de la crème of them all! Based on these factors different grades of teas, are also then priced accordingly.
At TDT, we are proud to house a wide range of exquisite Platinum graded teas, and in this blog we seek to introduce a handful of our Platinum Green Teas to you, and showcase the extraordinary features setting them apart:
Organic Gyokuro Competition Grade
Infuse and uncover flavourful rarity in your tea cup with this precious Japanese brew! The Organic Gyokuro Competition Grade is a platinum green tea, only grown by few farmers who are experienced to care for this rare jewel over its growing time. This green tea usually takes a decade of intensive processing and learning to perfect; and has been nominated for Japan's National Tea Competition. Skillfully shaded for 20-30 days, only the youngest leaves are harvested which limits the tea yield to only about one fifth of other varieties. Using this method, creates an excellent and evolved sweetness in this green tea that is sure to find takers amongst the well-acquainted palate and curious beginners alike.
Bi Luo Chun
Next, let us discover a green tea that embodies the heady, rich aromas of its surrounding and offers a flavour worth treasuring. The Bi Luo Chun platinum grade green tea is a spiral-shaped, white-haired tea leaf that is gently pan-roasted to emit a pleasing fragrance! This tea is specially made to grow amidst fruit farms of apricot, peach and plum trees; and hence, it slowly absorbs their citrusy, fruity scents along with the misty mountain air of Dongting. Waves of soothing aromas spread across the room while caressing your mood with every sip!
Organic Xueji Huixin Bud
Shower blissful skin-care love to yourself with this bud green tea from the heritage high-mountains of Sichuan. Organic Xueji Huixin Bud platinum green tea is known for its exceptional skin-healing properties, as it is loaded with antioxidants that repair and protect your skin from harsh UV rays. Grown in a land of organic, nutrient-rich soil, home to over 5000 different, wild flora and fauna, the delicate yet tightly pressed buds of this green tea remain unopened even when hot water is added!
Fukamushi Deep Steamed
If you are a lover of Japanese teas, you might know that Japanese farmers are known to steam their teas in order to cure them instead of roasting or firing them over charcoal. While most Japanese teas are steamed for a short duration, Fukamushi Deep Steamed green tea demonstrates exemplary processing techniques by carefully steaming the leaves, three to four times more than regular varieties. This rigorous steaming method marks the tea leaves with a woody and creamy flavour profile while also supporting your weight loss efforts!
Spring Huangshan Maofeng
The season that a tea is harvested in plays a critical role in its layered flavour profile, depth of aroma and colour. This is a platinum graded high mountain tea that is classified as a valuable tea owing to its first flush Spring harvest. Harvesting this tea in Spring allows it to be exposed to mild meadowy climates and nourishing sunlight of this season for a longer time which increases the proportion of catechins in the fragile young leaves, making it a prized variety. Only new buds and leaves are picked from Huang Shan mountains, hand-rolled and gently kneaded for pronounced meditative sweetness that makes it worth being served to respectable aristocrats, government delegates and the like!
Anji White
A first look at this historic tea might make you believe that it is a white tea of some kind. On the contrary, Anji White is a refined green tea, whose tender buds come with a dramatic and distinct white appearance. The select, narrow buds are delicately hand-folded and showcase a liquid silk-like shimmery texture. Each sip of this premium green tea is a ceremonial tribute as this legendary green tea is known to be recorded in “Da Guan Cha Lun”, an ancient 900-year old book!
For tea lovers, tea is beyond a wake-up beverage every morning and/ or evening. It is the sacred opportunity to connect with authentic teas from across the world and age-old traditions refined over generations. Our Platinum Green Tea collection aims to revive these legends and bring to you the finest and celebrated teas of all times. To explore more varieties of Green Teas and other Teas, please click here. At TDT, we also design and deliver corporate orders and can customize teas and tea-gifts for large and small orders too.
Other interesting reads:5 Teas for a Good Mood
Recipes that Make you Fall in Love With Matcha
Exciting World of Japanese Green Teas
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