Tea myths we hear at the counter

Every week, customers at our Park Street counter share something they have always believed about tea. Some of it is true, and some is not. Here are the five we hear most often.

CTC tea is low quality. Not necessarily. CTC stands for crush, tear, curl, a way of processing leaf into small, hard grains that brew fast and strong. It is made for boiling with milk, and a good Assam CTC is exactly what that cup needs. Whole-leaf orthodox tea is a different style, not a better one. Our masala chai is built on CTC for that reason.

Green tea has no caffeine. It does. Green, black and white teas all come from the same plant, and all contain caffeine, though a cup of green tea usually has a little less than a strong cup of Assam. If you want none at all, choose a tisane like our flower blend, which contains no tea leaf.

You must never boil tea. For Darjeeling and green tea, that is good advice; boiling brings out bitterness. For Kolkata cha and masala chai, boiling is the whole point. It extracts colour and body that milk would otherwise wash out. The darker the cup, the stronger the tea. Colour comes mostly from processing, not strength. A first flush Darjeeling is pale gold but can be very lively, while some dark teas are quite flat. Older tea is better tea. With a few exceptions such as aged pu-erh, which we do not sell, tea is best fresh. Our packs carry a packing date so you can check.