What’s amazing about tea is that it all comes from one plant, Camellia sinensis, which will taste completely different depending on how it is produced. – Tea Taster, Sebastian Michealis

It may amuse our patrons to know that Sebastian Michealis has his taste buds insured for one million pounds. Based in the UK, Michealis is renowned for his exceptional tea-tasting skills, earning him a reputation as one of the world's top master tea tasters. Inspired by his expertise, we at TeaOrb have crafted a unique blend called Mastercup: The Taster's Brew, representing the very best of our teas.

Tea, like wine, is tasted for various desirable properties and marketed accordingly across different geographies.

Without tea tasters, the tea trade would not have flourished like how it has, bringing varieties that originate from one plant as Michaelis points out in his quote.

According to our tea tasters, the standard procedure for the preparation of the Mastercup is to weigh out 2.9 g of the sample into a brewing pot and infuse it for five minutes in 120 ml. of boiled water. The liquor is then strained into the tasting bowl and the infused leaf is retained on the upturned lid. The taster first examines the sample of the dry leaf for its complexion, style, evenness, stalk, and fiber content. The infused leaf gives an indication of the merit of the liquor. The taster then looks at the liquor to assess its color, takes a sip, swirls it in the mouth for a few seconds, and spits it out. By doing so, he judges strength, body, briskness, and also finer aspects like quality, taste, and character.

In search of the Mastercup, we have sampled teas from our various partner gardens and brought it to our tea tasters. With rigorous tasting sessions and trying various blends, our master tasters chose one blend out of hundreds of cups of tea. We would like you to visit our article on The Tea Lexicon, which will familiarize our patrons with terms used in tea tasting.