Great Southern Tea Company

24 Varities of Loose Leaf Teas

Great Southern Tea Company offers amazing premium loose leaf tea with our handcrafted signature blends and single-estate full-leaf teas. We offer a large variety of premium loose-leaf teas to make it easy for you to buy tea at our retail store and online to enjoy the health benefits of making fresh tea at home. Browse our selection of Green tea, Matcha tea, Oolong tea, Black tea, or Herbal tea sand fall in love with a healthier way to start your day.

Types of Tea

Green Tea: Light, grassy, and subtly sweet. It undergoes minimal oxidation, preserving antioxidants and natural flavors. Popular varieties include Sencha, Dragonwell, and Gunpowder. Green teas are best steeped at lower temperatures to avoid bitterness.
Black Tea: Fully oxidized, producing bold, robust flavors. It’s perfect for those who enjoy a stronger, caffeine-forward cup. Famous types include Darjeeling, Assam, and Ceylon. Black teas can often be enjoyed with milk, honey, or spices.
Oolong Tea: Partially oxidized, striking a balance between green and black tea. It offers complex floral and fruity notes. Oolong teas such as Tie Guan Yin or Wuyi Rock produce multiple infusions, with flavor evolving with each steep.
White Tea: Lightly processed, delicate, and mildly sweet. It has low caffeine content and subtle floral aromas. White tea is perfect for beginners looking for a gentle introduction to loose leaf tea.
Herbal Tea: Made from flowers, fruits, or herbs rather than Camellia sinensis leaves. Herbal teas are naturally caffeine-free and offer a wide range of flavors and health benefits. Popular examples include chamomile, hibiscus, and peppermint.

4 Grades of Tea

Whole leaf: Whole leaf is the highest grade of tea, made up of whole, dried tea leaves. Tea made with whole leaf tea has the highest, strongest flavor profile, which will last through multiple steeps.
Broken leaf: Broken leaves are typically darker and have been crushed, but maintain plenty of the flavor of full-leaf tea. Broken-leaf tea will maintain its flavor after multiple steepings. This grade of tea is often sold as loose-leaf teas.
Fannings: Fannings are fragments of leaves collected during the crushing process and are considered of lesser quality than whole or broken tea leaves. The tea in tea bags is primarily made up of fannings, and much of this tea does not retain its flavor after more than one steep.
Dust: The lowest grading of tea, dust is also collected from the crushing process of broken leaves, leaving only tiny tea particles which make a dust. Tea bags often have tea dust inside their sachets and usually, they don’t retain their flavor for multiple steepings.

Ways To Brew Tea

The way in which you brew your loose-leaf tea depends on the type of infuser or filter you use. Here are just a few ways to brew yourself a cup of loose-leaf tea.

French press: If you have a french press for making coffee, you can use it to make tea. If your french press has been used to make coffee, thoroughly wash your french press to get rid of any lingering coffee flavor. Then, simply put your loose leaves inside the french press, pour water over it, allow the tea to steep, and push the metal mesh down for a flavorful pot of tea.
Tea ball: A tea ball is a type of infuser that holds your tea leaves within a perforated metal cage. Scoop your desired amount of tea leaves into the tea ball, clasp the container shut, steep, and remove the ball when your tea is ready.
Strainer: A basket infuser or tea strainer is a cup-shaped mesh pouch that can fit into a mug or an entire teapot. A basket infuser can be placed into a tea kettle and easily taken out when your tea is finished steeping, which makes it great for brewing tea in larger quantities.
Teapot: Many classic teapots have a built-in strainer for use with loose-leaf teas. You simply put your desired tea leaves into the pot, add hot water, let steep for a few minutes, and pour into your teacups. You can simply keep adding hot water to your teapot until the leaves are spent. Note that if you don’t replenish the hot water, what team remains might become concentrated and slightly bitter tasting.