How we score
Every tea gets an Editor's Score out of 10. It is the weighted average of six sub-scores, each out of 10, shown on every tea page:
Score = (Flavour × 30 + Heritage × 20 + Availability × 15 + Value × 15 + Beginner fit × 10 + Versatility × 10) ÷ 100
| Sub-score | Weight | What it means | Anchors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flavour & complexity | 30% | Depth, balance and length of flavour as described in published tasting notes from producers, tea boards and specialist sellers. | 10: A benchmark of its style, praised across sources for depth and length. 7: Pleasant and typical of its type, with a simpler profile. 5: Mostly valued for colour, comfort or function rather than flavour. |
| Origin & heritage | 20% | Documented history, protected status (GI, PGI, PDO) and how closely the tea is tied to one place. | 10: Centuries of record, a protected name or a famous origin, such as Longjing or Darjeeling. 8: Established before 1900, or a national tea icon. 5 to 6: A modern creation, from the late 20th century or later. |
| Availability | 15% | How easy it is to buy a genuine example in the UK and US, online or in shops. | 10: Sold almost everywhere, including supermarkets. 7: Easy to find from specialist tea sellers. 4 to 5: Rare, seasonal or made in very small amounts. |
| Value | 15% | What a typical good example costs for the quality you get. | 10: Cheap for what you get, even good grades. 7: Fair prices with a wide range of quality. 5 to 6: Expensive, or often faked so good examples cost more. |
| Beginner-friendliness | 10% | How forgiving it is to brew and how approachable the taste is for someone new to tea. | 10: Hard to get wrong; tastes good to most people. 7: Rewards some care with temperature or time. 5 to 6: Needs precise brewing or has a challenging taste. |
| Versatility | 10% | Hot, iced, with milk, gongfu, in cooking: how many ways it works well. | 10: Good hot, iced, with milk and in food. 7: Works in two or three ways. 5 to 6: Best made one way only. |
Based on published sources. The sub-scores are an editor's reading of published sources: tea boards, GI registers, encyclopaedias and specialist tea writers. They are not based on our own tasting. Each tea page lists the sources it draws on.
Same scale for every tea. All 123 teas are scored against the anchors above, so a 7 means the same thing for a Japanese green tea as for an African black tea. Scores currently run from 5.9 to 8.9. Herbal teas are rated as herbal teas: their flavour score compares them with other tisanes in depth and length, and they keep high marks for availability and beginner fit.
Types, not brands. The score rates a tea type from a place, such as Darjeeling First Flush, not a product or a shop.
No invented tastings. Tasting notes summarise what published sources describe. We do not write as if we tasted something we have not.
Updates. If a source changes our view, or you show us a mistake, we change the score and the date on the tea page.