RateTea

In the process of building a tea map of local tea shops and other businesses of interest for loose-leaf tea enthusiasts, RateTea has added all locations of Wegmans supermarkets, highlighting their unique bulk loose-leaf tea section.

Darjeeling first flush is a unique type of black tea produced in northeast India, shortly after the first spring rains. Darjeeling first flush, although classified as a black tea, exhibits many of the characteristics of green tea.

Bancha is a lower grade of Japanese green tea than sencha. Sencha is more widely available in the U.S., but often ranges much lower in quality than typical examples of bancha. Alex Zorach of RateTea explains why bancha can offer superior value.

Some tea is produced in all regions of Taiwan, but only a few counties produce single-origin tea available in the US and other Western countries. RateTea lists county-level detail and provides maps of these tea producing counties in Taiwan.

Tea can be classified into broad types, including black, green, white, oolong, and others. In most parts of the word, black tea is the de facto standard, and most references to "tea" refer to black tea rather than other types of tea.

Tea has negligible calories, but the common additions of sugar and/or cream or milk can add significant calories to tea.

Pure, unsweetened black tea has a negligible, but non-zero amount of calories. The calories come primarily from small traces of carbohydrates. RateTea reports on this as well as the calorie content of sweetened teas.

It is a myth that white tea is lower in caffeine than other teas. White tea can actually be high in caffeine. RateTea explains which white teas are higher and lower in caffeine, and explores how tea companies have perpetuated myths or misinformation.

Darjeeling white tea, white tea produced in India's Darjeeling district, is often a style of its own, distinct from familiar styles of Chinese white teas, like silver needle. RateTea provides listings of these teas and the companies that sell them.

Many tea companies have been moving to nylon tea bags, especially for pyramid sachets containing whole-leaf or large-leaf tea or herbs. These nylon tea bags can have numerous negative impacts on sustainability, as RateTea reports.