Most of us don’t consider tea as a luxurious product, and it’s true that many good teas are fairly priced and available. It’s additionally true that unique teas can command excessive costs. Some teas are uncommon, whereas others are “enhanced” with particular packaging or gold-coated leaves.
1. Da-Hong Pao Tea
Aged or vintage Da-Hong Pao tea is extraordinarily uncommon, and it’s thought of a Chinese language nationwide treasure, typically reserved for presentation to visiting dignitaries as a state reward. Cuttings from the unique “mom bushes,” a few of them 350 years previous, now produce trendy Da-Hong Pao tea at cheap costs.
Value: Often called the most costly tea on the planet, a purchaser in 2002 shelled out virtually $28,000 for simply 20 grams of Da-Hong Pao Tea, the equal of virtually $1.4 million.
This specific tea dates to the Ming Dynasty. The harvesting course of has all the time been stored secret, and the unique bushes have been final harvested in 2005. There are few unique bushes nonetheless in existence, and their leaves won’t ever once more be picked. Present shops of the tea can convey stellar costs, however little is ever bought.
A extremely oxidized Oolong selection that’s grown in a selected area of the Wuji Mountains in southeastern China, the tea has a lingering floral aftertaste and is prized for its therapeutic properties. Newly produced Da Hong Pao is accessible to patrons at a value of $350 for a one-pound bag, from Harney & Sons.
2. P.G. Tips Anniversary Tea Bag
Launched within the Nineteen Thirties as a model of tea in the UK, the “P.G.” was initially Pre-Gestee, a redo of the unique and uninspired identify “Digestive Tea.” To rejoice its seventy fifth anniversary, the P.G. Tips designed a diamond-studded tea bag crammed with Silver Suggestions Imperial Tea. As proven within the Swarovski Studded Chocolates, we people simply love encrusting one thing in valuable stones.
Value: $15,000 for the bag.
Gross sales have been initially launched as a profit for a British youngsters’s charity. We’re questioning if anybody truly brewed the tea. Would you?
3. Yellow Gold Tea Buds
It might be laborious to imagine, however the tea leaves are literally painted with 24-carat gold after they’re harvested. The gold coating is supposed to be consumed and is taken into account wholesome. Offered solely in Singapore, it might sound excessive for a beverage, however tea lovers extremely prize it.
Value: Greater than $7,500 for a kilogram of tea.
Usually thought of to be the rarest tea on the planet, Yellow Gold Tea Buds are provided solely by TWG Tea. Traditionally, the tea was served solely to Chinese language emperors. The crops are grown on a single mountain in a selected area of China. Leaves are harvested solely from the highest a part of the tree with golden scissors, on a single day annually.
After ingesting the tea, it is not uncommon to eat the leaves as properly. If you would like the unforgettable expertise of ingesting gold-laced tea, order a 50-gram field of unfastened leaf tea for $529, together with delivery. However, that’s nonetheless a fairly costly cup of tea.
4. Vintage Narcissus Tea
One of many 5 costliest teas ever bought, a 20 kg field of Oolong tea was exported from China to Singapore in 1960. Offered and resold a number of occasions, it was finally bought by a Malaysian-Chinese language collector.
Value: $6,500 per kilogram
It’s an oolong tea produced within the Wuyi Mountains of China, and it’s identified for its overlapping flavors of wooden, chocolate, and flowers. Wuyi teas are acknowledged to have distinctive terroir, like high-quality wines, and a few tea bushes cling to rocks and boulders within the craggy panorama, reducing precise yield and making leaf harvesting troublesome. Industrial teas from the area are grown at decrease elevations and are usually inexpensive.
5. Panda Dung Tea
The tea crops are grown in soil fertilized with panda bear droppings. The native tea entrepreneur who started advertising the tea in 2012 claims that the tea is wholesome as a result of pandas solely eat wild bamboo and soak up solely about 30% of the pure vitamins.
Value: When first marketed, the value was $3,500 for 50 grams, equal to $70,000 per kilogram.
Though the grower might maybe have discovered a greater identify for the wholesome inexperienced tea, there’s little doubt within the minds of its proponents that the mix of inexperienced tea and bamboo vitamins has health-boosting advantages. Each include elements believed to be vital in most cancers prevention. Harvested within the mountains of Ya’an in China’s Sichuan Province, slightly below the Tibetan plateau, costs have moderated since its introduction.
At the moment, Panda Dung tea is available from specialty tea retailers or on-line sellers. You would possibly even discover it at Goal! The declining Panda inhabitants, nevertheless, might maintain costs comparatively excessive.
6. Tieguanyin Tea
One other Oolong from China, the thick leaves of this tea have a vibrant golden colour and really make a form of ringing sound when the leaves are poured into their material baggage. They’re crispy, and the tea itself is potent sufficient to retain its taste by means of as many as seven infusions.
Value: Roughly $3,000 per kilogram.
Named for the Buddhist Iron Goddess of Mercy, this tea is a blended mixture of black and inexperienced teas with a particular chestnut taste. Bushes are grown within the excessive mountainous area of Fujian Province. After harvesting, they’re dried and oxidized in a standard method, then rolled, roasted, and scented to supply this sought-after tea.
The worth is excessive, however aficionados treasure the tea not just for its style however as a result of the leaves could be infused a number of occasions. Do the maths: $3,000 a kg interprets to $3 a gram. You would possibly want three grams to make a cup, however you’ll be able to infuse it as much as seven occasions, so it truly could also be a cut price!
7. Silver Tips Imperial
A sort of Darjeeling, a widely known model from the primary tea plantation on the planet. Harvested from crops grown on the Makaibari Teas Property in West Bengal, India, it’s presently a product marketed by Luxmi Tea, a home made semi-fermented Oolong, prized for its enjoyable and anti-aging qualities.
Value: A file was set for this tea in 2014, when the property shipped orders to 3 separate patrons from the USA, Japan, and the UK, at a kilogram value of $1850.
Distinctive in tea tradition for a number of causes, Silver Suggestions Imperial is made yearly, however in restricted portions. Leaves are plucked solely on full moon days and nights in the course of the harvesting season, and the brew is billed as “the jewel within the crown” of the corporate’s tea varieties. It has received a number of awards, and tea lovers get pleasure from sipping it within the night earlier than bedtime. Order it from the producer: 50 grams for $30.
8. Poo Poo Pu-Erh Tea
Produced in China’s Yunnan Province, it is a tea with an uncommon ingredient, but it surely’s on no account the one drink that comes with excrement. The tea accommodates insect feces, and it’s noteworthy due to its therapeutic qualities in addition to its value.
Value: A kilogram of the tea leaves can promote for round $1,000.
Worm tea is one other identify for this tea, which can be much less objectional, however for those who get previous the concept of it, the expertise is claimed to be pretty nice. It’s described as “thick and powerful with a easy texture.”
9. Gorreana Broken Leaf Black Tea
One of many teas produced at Cha Gorreana on the Portuguese Island of Sao Miguel within the Azores, This copper-colored tea makes use of solely the third leaves of every department of the tea plant.
Value: About $300 per kilogram
Guests to the only-surviving tea plantation in Europe are in for a deal with. Based in 1883, it occupies a windswept coastal web site, and the crops thrive within the volcanic soil of the island. Tea leaves are harvested and processed by hand in conventional methods. The free, unguided tour of the plantation is extremely informative, and guests can stroll not solely the fields but in addition pattern (and buy) the distinctive teas.
It’s well worth the journey if solely to expertise the sweetness, however guests will probably be spellbound watching staff course of the leaves by hand. Be taught the historical past of tea, and pattern (and buy) the teas. It’s a singular expertise.
10. Tienchi Flower Tea
Recognized for its capacity to alleviate insomnia and allergy symptoms, this tea has potent detoxifying properties. Cultivated in China, however identified throughout the globe, prized for its taste and its healthful qualities, and its distinctive look.
Value: Usually lower than $200 per kilogram.
Clumps of Tienchu Flower Tea appear to be miniature broccoli flowerets, and it has a cooling high quality, typically described as barely bitter however with a candy lingering taste. It’s utilized in conventional Chinese language medication to treatment boils and mouth blisters and has been proven efficient in combating dizziness, restore calm, and assist enhance the physique’s fluid ranges.
11. Gyokuro
An unique sort of Sencha inexperienced tea cultivated within the shade, Gyokuro, is produced within the Uji district of Japan. It’s usually shaded for between three to seven weeks earlier than the leaves are picked.
Value: Roughly $65 per kilogram.
Shielding from daylight will increase the amino acid content material of the leaves, rising the sweetness and producing a particular aroma. Also called Jade Dew Tea, it’s the most costly of Japanese inexperienced teas, famous by tea lovers for its advanced taste. It’s wealthy in each nutritional vitamins and minerals, and it additionally accommodates excessive ranges of caffeine and the amino acid L-theanine.