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Tuesday, October 07, 2008

» Why Try Loose Tea

By China at 1:34 PM

If you've been a tea drinker for years, but have never indulged in the art of the loose tea leaf, it is time to branch out from the simple tea bags you've been using and try the real thing. Why?

Loose tea has more health benefits. When a full leaf tea is processed and squashed into a bag, it looses some of its natural characteristics. Loose tea leaves are larger and for the most part unchanged from their natural state. This means steeping a tea leaf rather than a tea bag gives you greater access to the natural goodness of tea.

Tea tastes better with loose tea leaves. When you make tea "dust" for bags, much of the natural oil and flavor from the leaf is lost before you even put the bag near a tea cup. Using the loose leaves means you are able to enjoy all the oils of the leaf. These oils are responsible for both the flavor and aroma of tea. Your cup or pot of tea will look, taste and smell more delicious.

Loose tea leaves offer you a greater variety of tea options. When you rely on tea bags, you have a limited choice of tea. When your options are opened to include all manners of tea from around the world, your choices are practically endless. With the clearer flavor of loose tea, it's very possible that you might even discover you love a particular kind of tea that didn't hold your fancy when you tried it via tea bag.

Loose tea is fresher. Processed tea bags take time to produce and then sit on store shelves and in distribution centers making the aging process even longer. Loose tea is almost always fresher and as it can be purchased in boutiques and from more specialized distributors, the loose tea leaves make a fresher, more flavorful, cup of tea.