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Every tea addict was once a tea beginner. And when you are a tea beginner you are usually more likely to buy cheap tea. Maybe you are already addicted to tea, but still tempted to buy cheap tea? Is that a good idea? Yes and no.

Buying Cheap Tea Bags

Tea bags usually contain broken leaves or fannings what makes them super cheap. However, even tea bags can be very expensive. The price of tea bags is usually determined by the material used for making the bags, tea material and the popularity of the brand. Modern expensive tea bags can contain only full leaf. Some teas contain quality fannings of, for example, gao shan teas can be very expensive (around 15USD). Japanese konacha tea is made of dust, small leaf particles and buds left after the production of gyokuro and sencha and has a much lower price, but delicious flavor. However, most regular tea bags are produced from leaves of lower quality.

Buying Cheap Matcha Tea

There is no such thing as cheap matcha tea. And this is the fact. There are many types of matcha tea on the market, but the price will always be determined by the quality. Anything less than $10 will usually be of a very low quality – unless you find yourself in Japan and buy it in specialized shops. eBay matcha for $2 is not a real matcha, no matter how much you want to believe it.

Buying Cheap Authentic Teas

Real authentic teas are very expensive. If you happen to find authentic da hong pao, or jun shan yin zhen, or any other popular Chinese tea for a really low price, you are probably being fooled. Some authentic loose leaf teas can be cheap due to the fact they are not very popular and the demand is low or they are used as an everyday option. 100 grams of the original da hong pao for $5? Impossible. 100 grams of the original unknown Chinese green tea of high quality for $5? More than likely.

(Source: Tea Chronicles ©)

Buying Cheap Flavored Teas

The original purpose of flavoring tea was to hide the quality of tea leaves. Adding fruits, flowers or spices can hide the poor taste of the cheap tea used as a base. In modern days tea sellers tend to use higher quality tea and focus on the natural flavors instead of adding too much artificial aromas. Any flavored tea containing a lot of additives should not be too expensive. Flavored or scented tea containing higher quality leaves and organic natural ingredients can have a higher price tag. Naturally scented tea can be even more expensive.

Buying cheap tea is always risky. However, unless you go to tea markets in Asian countries, you are very unlikely to find good quality pure loose leaf tea for less than $5-20 or flavored tea for around $3.

What is the cheapest good quality tea your have ever tried?