How to Tell If a Tea Is Good (Even If You’re Not a Tea Expert)

Have you ever bought a beautiful-looking tea—delicate leaves, lovely packaging, maybe even a high price tag—only to feel disappointed after the first sip?

You're not alone.

For many tea lovers, especially those new to loose-leaf tea, figuring out whether a tea is actually “good” can feel confusing. Is it about aroma? taste? price? origin? or is it just... vibes?

As someone with a master's degree in Tea Science and a lifetime around tea, I want to share a clear, down-to-earth framework that anyone can use to evaluate tea quality—even without formal training.

Part 1: What You Can See, Smell, and Taste (Sensory Judgment)

1. Appearance

Start with the dry leaves. Are they tight, full, and even? A good tea usually has a tidy look that reflects careful harvesting and processing. That said, different teas have different appearance standards—don’t expect a Pu’er to look like a green tea.

✔ Example: High-grade Dragon Well (Longjing) typically has flat, spear-shaped leaves that are uniform, with a tender yellow-green hue. This uniformity reflects early-spring harvesting and skilled pan-frying.

✘ Counter-example: A low-grade jasmine green tea may contain broken leaves, mixed colors, and even stems. These usually signal machine harvesting or poor sorting.

2. Aroma

After warming your teaware, smell the dry leaves. Is the aroma clean, natural, and layered—or is it overly perfumed, flat, or even synthetic-smelling?

Natural teas offer aroma with depth. Even heavily roasted teas or floral blends should smell balanced.

✔ Example: Good Tieguanyin (light roast) has a natural orchid fragrance that intensifies when brewed, revealing floral and creamy notes that shift over infusions.

Note: when I describe the "orchid aroma" of Tieguanyin, I’m not referring to the large, unscented orchids you might find in a Western grocery store. Instead, imagine a cool, high-pitched floral scent—something between lily of the valley, honeysuckle, and fresh green forest air. In Chinese tea culture, this is what we call 兰花香 (lan hua xiang), especially known in varieties like the Jiutou Lan (九头兰) orchid from my hometown in Shaoxing. It's elegant, persistent, and deeply uplifting.

✘ Counter-example: Cheap “jasmine” teas often have artificial floral scents that overwhelm everything else—and disappear after one or two infusions.

3. Liquor

Look at the brewed tea liquor. Is it bright, clear, and appropriate for the tea type? Cloudy or overly dark teas may signal poor processing or stale storage.

✔ Example: A well-made floral Gongfu black tea (like my family’s Xiaozhong-style handmade black tea) brews into a bright amber-red liquor with high clarity—especially striking in glass under sunlight. This brightness shows careful withering, controlled oxidation, and gentle drying that preserve its purity and flavor integrity.

✘ Counter-example: A poorly made black tea may brew into a dull, murky liquor—especially if the leaves were overly broken, heavily oxidized, or improperly dried. Instead of a clear amber glow, you’ll see a cloudy, flat brown with little light transmission, signaling low quality or bad storage.

4. Taste

A good tea doesn’t shock you with bitterness or leave your mouth feeling dry. Instead, it has a smooth structure with a pleasant beginning, middle, and finish.

✔ Example: A well-made black tea (like Dianhong) can deliver sweet maltiness upfront, followed by a gentle woodiness and a clean, sweet aftertaste.

✘ Counter-example: If the tea is bitter throughout, with no after-sweetness or leaves your tongue dry after just one sip, the quality is likely low.

5. Re-steepability

Good tea isn’t a one-hit wonder. It evolves over multiple brews—retaining flavor, changing character, and offering more than one note.

✔ Example: Good Pu’er or oolong should easily go 6–8 steeps, revealing different dimensions over time.

✘ Counter-example: Teas that lose their character after one steep are likely made from tired leaves or processed for quick fragrance over depth.

Part 2: Internal Quality—What Makes a Tea Truly Good

1. Raw Material

Where was the tea grown? What cultivar is it? Was it picked early in the season or later? These factors all influence the tea’s flavor, aroma, and texture.

High-mountain teas, heirloom cultivars, and hand-picked early spring buds are often associated with higher quality. But beyond the prestige of origin, what matters even more is whether the raw material is suitable for the type of tea being made.

For example, some small-leaf tea cultivars grown in Zhejiang may produce excellent green teas, but when used to make oolong, they often fall short compared to oolongs made from larger-leaf cultivars in Fujian or Guangdong. The difference comes down to both plant genetics and growing environment—there are simply fewer aromatic compounds to work with.

As Confucius once said, “teach according to the material.” Tea, too, should be crafted according to what the leaves are capable of.

2. Craftsmanship

Did the producer understand how to handle the tea? Were enzymes deactivated at the right time? Was oxidation or fermentation well controlled?

Tea processing is, at its core, a complex journey of moisture loss—but no two batches are ever exactly the same. Leaves harvested on rainy days vs. sunny days require different handling. A good craftsman adapts their technique to suit the condition of the tea leaves, not the other way around. As a Chinese saying goes: “Good leaves must meet the right craft; one method does not fit all.”

This is why, when sourcing tea, I don’t just look at the quality of the raw material—I care even more about the craftsmanship behind it. The person making the tea must have sharp judgment, intuition, and years of experience. Having made tea myself (I once competed in a national green tea-making competition in Guizhou, China), I know just how demanding this process is. Every step—from tossing to firing to shaping—affects how water leaves the leaf, and how flavor is formed.

Part 3: Common Misconceptions

"The more fragrant, the better": Not always. Overly strong aroma can be from additives or imbalanced processing.

"The darker the liquor, the better": Different teas have different liquor colors. Brightness is more important than depth.

"Bitter tea is good tea": True bitterness should be followed by returning sweetness. If it just stays bitter, something's wrong.

"Expensive tea is good tea": Price reflects many things—scarcity, branding, packaging—not just quality.

"Loose leaf means high quality": Not necessarily. There are poor-quality loose teas and excellent bagged ones.

"All old tea is good tea": Age ≠ quality. Some teas have a flavor peak—beyond which complexity fades.

Part 4: My Personal Tea Standard

What I Value in a “Good Tea”

As someone who studied Tea Science and grew up surrounded by tea-making, I’ve tasted hundreds of teas—some exceptional, some disappointing. Over time, I realized I value three things in a truly “good tea”:

1. Complexity — A tea that evolves over multiple steeps

Have you ever tried a tea that smells incredible when dry and tastes great on the first sip—but then becomes flat, dull, or boring by the second or third cup?

That’s what I call a “one-note wonder.” These teas often rely on a single strong aroma—like jasmine, osmanthus, or heavy roast—but lack structure underneath. No progression, no aftertaste, no surprise.

A good tea should feel like a journey, not a flat line.

2. Clean Energy — A tea that feels bright and clear in the body

Some teas feel aggressive. You drink them and immediately feel your mouth dry out, your throat itch, or your stomach tighten. Some even leave you slightly dizzy or fatigued.

These teas may come from coarse or old leaves, be processed carelessly, or contain too much dust or residue. Even if they aren’t harmful, they can still be uncomfortable or overly stimulating.

Truly clean tea should feel clear and uplifting—not just in flavor, but in how your body responds.

3. Balance — A harmony of aroma, taste, texture, and aftertaste

Let me give you a real example. I once tasted a batch of Wuyi rock tea where the leaves were subpar—wrong cultivar, late picking, or poorly processed. The producer tried to mask these flaws with heavy roasting.

The result? It hit hard with fire and smoke, but lacked depth. No returning sweetness, no body, no lingering finish. The aroma shouted, but the flavor collapsed.

In contrast, a well-balanced tea might show floral top notes, a juicy mid-palate, and a clean, sweet finish that lingers for minutes. It doesn’t scream—it sings in harmony.

Final Thoughts

Good tea is not about price, packaging, or even tradition. It’s about what the tea says—and how it makes you feel.

You don’t need to be a tea expert. You just need to pay attention. Let the tea speak for itself—and trust your body to know what’s good.

If you'd like to explore more, I regularly write about tea science, brewing techniques, and ingredient stories on this blog. Or simply start with one cup, one moment, and let the tea do the talking.