Conventions

Names of Teas

I will try to give the chinese characters for teas when I can, here I am at the mercy of internet translation as I have no knowledge of chinese characters. Please feel free to notify me of errors.

The main names I will use are the (somewhat) standard transliteration of the chinese names into English script and finally in brackets is the translation of the chinese names into English. I may use the translation and transliteration names interchangeably throughout the blog.

Classifications

For the reviews, I will classify the teas by type, origin and if I know, where it was purchased. Where purchased is more important if the blend is specific to a teahouse or tea importer but generally I am reviewing well established types of tea. 

Types of tea
White:  Young tea leaves, generally brewed at 70-80C
Green:  Brewed at 80C or so. I don’t use a thermometer so I guesstimate.
Blue-Green :  also know as semi oxidised or semi fermented green teas, which can often look both in the leaf and in the colour of the brew like black teas but are green teas. Brewed at 80-90C. 
Note that taiwanese Oolong teas are semi oxidised green teas but are usually more like green teas in taste and colour than to other blue-green teas. (With a few notable exceptions!)
Black:  Fully oxidised tea leaves, brewed at +90C

In addition, I'll mention if the tea has floral or grassy tones. This is usually not relevant for black teas. Occasionally I find a nice 'tea' which is more of a herb or spice mix in a hot drink, I'll review these under the heading of 'non teas'. 

Ratings
Note that my STAR* rating show how much i liked the tea and not related to the quality of the tea

When possible i try to give an indication of price which is some indicator of quality, from $ which is the level of a household bag tea, to $$$$$ the most expensive teas over 400$ a kilo. Roughly $$$ translates to a range of 90-140$ per kilo. 

If this sounds like a lot, remember that we generally buy teas in a quantity of 50g, this amount generally would last me at least a month of continuous drinking. This is necessarily rough rating as I'm buying in different countries and currencies so I try to an overall idea of its expensiveness taking into account currency and cost of living adjustments. Don't take it as gospel!