Thanks in part to highly lauded health benefits, the popularity of green tea has exploded worldwide. Backed by promises of weight loss, anti-aging capabilities, and the novelty of a natural bright green color, green tea has become a trending ingredient in everything from cookies and cakes to lattes and protein shakes. But few of these concoctions gives center stage to the green tea itself, instead blending (often powdered) leaves with fillers, sweeteners, or other strong flavors to mask the inherent bitterness of mass-produced teas.

Troubleshoot bitter tea flavors with these brewing tips >>

Unfortunately, the small quantities used for subtle green tea flavor are rarely enough to offer the promised benefits, and the quantity of butter and sugar in a green tea cookie will more than offset the metabolism-boosting effects of the powdered tea that makes it green. To get the most from any green tea, it must be a regular habit, drunk without added flavors or sweeteners. Luckily, this doesn't mean you have to choke down a bitter brew. Find green teas that taste good naturally by asking about these flavor factors:

Summer is coming! Cold brew these five amazing teas for a natural and refreshing iced tea that doesn’t need sugar to taste good.

New to cold brewing? Get started with these simple step-by-step instructions >>

In China, tea is brewed for even the slightest social occasion. Family, friends, and business partners are all welcomed with a small cup of tea, which will be sipped and refilled throughout the conversation with multiple infusions from a single small pot, packed full of tea leaves. In a similar way, tea took on a central role in social lives in Europe as an alternative to alcohol, and an acceptable social beverage for women. Afternoon tea quickly became a cultural institution designed to facilitate social gathering. If you’re looking for new ways to bring people together, tea has a proven track record.

Today, the incredible array of tea available from across the world means there is no end to tasting opportunities, but solo analysis often falls flat. Even a single tasting companion with different flavor associations can expand your understanding of any given tea. If you’ve recently fallen in love with tea, sharing your new passion with friends can unlock a whole new appreciation. No matter what the context of your tea tasting, these general guidelines will give you an idea of what to plan for.

Chinese pottery has a long history, and is an integral part of the foundations of modern China. One of the greatest early achievements of Chinese potters was the development of denser clay materials that could be fired at extremely high temperatures, resulting in stronger finished pieces. While Chinese tradition calls all of these high-fired clays ‘porcelain’ even today, English speakers typically think of porcelain as a bright white, fine-grained clay, distinctly different from more common ‘stoneware’ pottery. When used in teaware, this type of porcelain offers a white background that makes it easy to see the color of the tea and leaves, along with a light, easy-to-handle weight and a sharp pouring edge that prevents dribbles.

Though health benefits claimed in tea marketing are often exaggerated or just plain untrue, a cup of tea does contain many natural compounds that are good for the body and mind. One of the most fascinating is L-Theanine, an amino acid first isolated from tea in 1949. Found in only three plants across the world, theanine is key to the unique characteristics that have made tea so popular for thousands of years.

The worldwide popularity of black tea has made it one of the most diverse tea types, with huge range in both flavor and quality. While terroir and regional crafting styles create unique flavor profiles, each farm typically produces several different grades of their own specialty style. This can be confusing, since the terms used for each grade can vary between regions and tea types.

In India, Sri Lanka, and other tea industries founded by the British Empire, there is a complex system of abbreviations to describe the quality of any given tea. But these esoteric letter codes are often used inconsistently, and are not recognized by most Chinese tea producers. Instead of using these coded labels, it is easier to judge the quality of any given tea by looking at the leaves directly.

Rolling out of a warm bed into the chilly dawn of a new day is a struggle most of us face every morning. Luckily, the promise of a steaming beverage can help us all stop slapping the snooze button and get on with starting the day. A dose of caffeine doesn’t hurt, either.

Coffee comes with the jitters, but the lower levels of caffeine in a cup of tea are balanced with L-Theanine, which evens the keel and helps create a relaxed-yet-focused state of mind, without the afternoon crash. Alternatively, cut the caffeine altogether, and try an herbal tea with invigorating flavor to jump-start your day. No matter which you choose, any of these teas will brew up both an energy boost and a taste worth getting out of bed for.

Longjing, literally translated as "Dragonwell", is now one of China’s most famous and storied teas. Like other whole leaf styles, the pan-roasted green tea, or something like it, was probably first made during the Ming Dynasty, when powdered teas went out of fashion among members of high society. But it was not until the reign of the Kangxi Emperor, in the later Qing Dynasty, that longjing tea was deemed worthy for imperial tribute and ultimately, international fame.