***What are your criteria?***

In general I go for what sounds appealing. Sometimes it’s just based on a good sale.

I go through fazes and themes. Sometimes I drink more straight teas, sometimes flavoured, sometimes I am trying to explore a style of tea or am in search of something specific. I like variety.

Generally, I go by reviews from others and which company has a sale/coupon code. Sometimes I just think something sounds pretty or delicious. Sometimes it’s mood.

I guess there’s not much rhyme or reason to all that!

If you’ve been drinking tea for long enough, you’ll start to notice which tea types you prefer or don’t, and which specific ingredients you favorite and least favorite teas have. For me, I already know that I won’t like a tea if it has a lot of hibiscus or licorice root in it, so I always check the ingredients like. If the ingredients look good everything is fair game until I get a sample.

Reviews on here are skewed, so even if one person has rated a tea 85+, it will only show as 78 on here. So do take that with a grain of salt.

I’m pretty adventurous when it comes to tea, so if I’ve yet to hear of a company, I’ll check out general, across-the-board ratings on Steepster, and if it’s generally good, go from there. If it’s pricey tea, I’ll look for swaps first, or just bite the bullet, knowing I can always swap, sell or buy with someone else. I much prefer samples over 50/100g first orders, and that makes a difference too.

Honestly, when I dip into my tea budget, I just go look at my wishlist. When I find a few from one company, I go make an order.

I have lists of tea companies that I like, and tea company’s to try. From those I make another set of lists of tea I must have and tea I must try.

I don’t pay attention at all to the ratings on here because, as someone said, the ratings system is a little skewed. I choose teas based on two main things:

1. What kind of tea it is — I’ve really tried to diversify my tea tastes, but the only teas that I truly enjoy are unflavored blacks from Kenya, India, and Sri Lanka. Chinese blacks are just…okay to me. Butiki’s Taiwanese Wild Mountain Black and Mi Xian Black are the only exceptions.

2. Price! I would never pay more than $10 for a single oz. of tea, just like I would never pay $200 for a pair or jeans. No matter how good the reviews or how interesting it sounds, to me it would be impractical.

I don’t generally look at the rating number as the final determination. Several things will get me to try a tea. I love Chinese Black teas a lot apparently. And good puers (both shu and sheng).

I have found there are several people who seems to have a taste in teas that is close to mine (Terri HarpLady, mrmopar and graceatblb come immediately to mind) so if they really like something I’m probably going to check out a sample.

There are also tea companies that I have found reliably tasty and I will generally look into a new Chinese Black or a pu from the following: Mandala, Verdant, Joseph Wesley, Whispering Pines and Hugo.

And at the end of the day – if none of the above apply and I read a review that sounds intriguing – I will likely check it out – usually through a sample, although in the case of a few of them (Full Steam, Golden Fleece) I just went ahead an ordered a quantity and I’m glad I did. This has not always worked out for me as I have also ended up with a quantity of a couple of things that I think are just meh that other people like a lot.

When I make a purchase it is usually based on a theme: my last order was to try to reproduce a Yunnan Gold tea that was no longer available from the original source. My next will be primarily Keemun, since my cupboard is getting low in that area.

I use the Steepster ratings to identify candidate teas, but find that the written reviews are much more useful than the numerical scores. I have a few favored vendors, but am willing to look beyond them when trying new styles of tea. I’m also a sucker for a sale.

Good question. Trying a new tea is always a gamble but here are some factors I consider when ordering:

- Reviews…with a grain of salt. I tend to trust those reviews by people with similar tastes to mine or who I consider to be true connoisseurs.

- Ingredients. I avoid teas with too many ingredients or artificial flavors/colors. Not a fan of “natural flavor” either.

- Organic. Whenever possible, I go for organically grown teas. Country of origin is important too. Green tea from Japan for example are less likely to be tainted with lead or pesticides than Chinese greens.

- Variety. I almost always order something different than what I got last time even if it’s the same type of tea…e.g., deep steamed instead of light steamed sencha or an oolong from a different country.

- Brand. I am partial to certain brands/companies with a good reputation and/or whose teas I enjoy.

- Cost. Pricey teas always give me pause. Nothing is more disappointing than dropping a big chunk of change on an expensive tea that doesn’t live up to expectations and then either chucking it or forcing yourself to drink it