Is tea a visual experience for you?

I don’t buy teas based on visuals so much. I pretty much only buy online, so it’s more important to buy from a company I trust. I need to know that their descriptions are on target. Pics are nice, but not a deal-maker, generally.

But once the tea is in my hands, I would say that I very much enjoy the look of the leaves, dry and after steeping. The whole experience of brewing with beautiful leaves in lovely teaware is very soothing, IMO.

I sometimes buy straight teas based on nothing but a picture of beautiful leaves. I’m still in the learning process and don’t always understand the difference – so I buy the one with beautiful large leaves, or the one that’s most golden, or the furriest one. Quite often I’m just scrolling through the recap name/photo page and stop on a tea because of the picture. In reality the biggest leaves aren’t always the best teas (my favorite black has relatively small leaves) nor are the straight golden buds always the best – but I guess I’m a sucker for a great photo….
As an Instagram user I’m quite often drawn to teas that others are drinking because the leaves are gorgeous.
When I’m actually drinking tea, I’m not as effected by the look of the leaves, at that point it’s way more about smell and taste.
Dunno – that’s just how I am.

Flavored teas – I don’t want the candy, chocolate chips, flowers, etc. Most of the candy just adds sludge to my infuser basket…. Tisane I do like to see chunks of real dried fruit….

I was and still am drawn to darjeelings for their looks. However, if I don’t like the way a tea tastes, no amount of appealing appearance will induce me to drink it again. And candies and sweets in a blend is usually a surefire way to ensure I won’t buy a blend. I did in the past, but that was not based on appearance but on tasting recommendations from here on Steepster. Having since discovered that I don’t like the oil slicks that often appear on top of candied types of teas I don’t buy them. Glitter & Gold is my one weakness in the appearance tea category that I can think of right now. It stays because 1) no oil slick and 2) tastes good as well as being shiny. :)

Flowers I don’t mind. If I am serving for a tea party where people will see the dry leaf, I may buy some overly floral appearing teas. If a floral tea isn’t added to in taste by the flowers and it costs more than one without added flowers, then I’ll probably go for the one without flowers. But they don’t bother me being in there. :)

Taste is my #1 concern. Appearance can add to my experience but doesn’t override taste.

I am sometimes drawn to tea based on the appearance of the dry leaf. It has to be something I want to purchase/sample regardless, but a nice picture is enticing. I also enjoy the appearance of wet leaves.

For some reason I tend not to care as much about the pictures when it comes to blends and flavored tea.

Tea is a multi-sensorial experience for me. I mostly evaluate aroma and taste, but around half the time there’s something to admire visually, especially if it’s a tea known for its appearance. Chinese black teas, Dragonwell, rolled oolongs, and senchas are some of what I tend to take in the most and find most attractive. I look at the appearance of straight teas because, when I seriously got into tea, I thought that that’s what one does as a part of reviewing teas. But I don’t comment in my reviews here because I feel that it would be redundant – others here have seen the tea so why bother? (If I have a separate I’ll start doing that.) For now, though, I stick with describing the liquor and, once in a while, how the leaf looks while it’s steeping.

I’m a sucker for additives in flavored teas…The sprinkles and cornflowers and stuff are just so darn pretty ._.

I love a tea that’s pretty. I won’t buy a pretty tea that tastes bad, but it’s a nice bonus when I already enjoy the taste. Sometimes those little candy bits or whatever make tea brewing more fun. It’s a therapeutic activity for me from start to finish. As far as straight teas go, I don’t care too much about how they look. I’ve found that leaf size and appearance haven’t really related to how much I enjoy the tea at all in the past.

I’m actually more of a sniffer. If an unflavored tea smells great, I’m hooked. That being said I am a sucker for fuzzy golden needle type teas from Yunnan :)

Yes, tea is definitely a visual thing for me. I like a tea that appeals to most of the senses: taste, sight, smell.

I’ve been thinking of buying a snail tea (you know, the rolled up leaves?) that I saw on eBay, purely because the leaves are sooooo fuzzy and cute. So yes, to some degree looks matter. I don’t really like the candies and things though, as I prefer to add (or not) my own sugar.

I enjoy black dragon pearls more than many unflavoured black teas. I imagine that if you offered me the same leaves in pearl form or not I would claim the pearls were better. Definitely visual as well!