>>11607
colors are about how processed the tea is with oxidization, despite, for these "colors", it all being the same tea plant source that is Camellia sinensis.
white->green->black. more oxidization leads to more caffeine and tannins.
>>11608
>why no sugar?
processed sugar is generally unhealthily a bad source of sugar and it gets in the way of tea taste. the sweet hints from dried fruits, berries, and herbs are just important and lose sense if they're diluted by sugar.
plus no sugar in tea means you can drink teas nearly as much as you want. sugar is really subversive when it's in drinks (rehydration solutions rely on tricking the patient with the sweet taste so they drink up the sweet water quick). better snack on honey during your tea time instead, as it's gustatorially difficult to eat too much honey. or get yourself simplest, least "additive maxed" ice cream possible.
I drink litres of tea a day, and I'd die of diabetes by now if I were to sweeten my teas.
not that I'd recommend to consume litres of non-herbal teas, though. in this sense, non-tannin teas are good as tea mix bases.
in my case, drinking litres grew into a routine habit as I'm also sometimes too lazy to buy water to drink, but I've been feeling rather good. possible fluoride accumulation could be bad, but my recent checkups and samples' tests didn't find anything unhealthy or off. possible caffeine overdose could be bad, but I don't feel different since before. iron absorption interference is a good thing since being a bit below "recommended" blood iron levels means you're neither anemic nor at risk of ferroptosis if you'd ever get sick (my levels were average though, somehow).
>So I'd prefer open leaf instead?
yeah! the more it looks like leaves and the less it looks like dust, the better. unless you taste-check how it's like as a drink first, and see that it's okay as-is, of course. I've only had bad experience with non-teabag "dusty" teas. some companies' teas just really never get good even if you make them extra strong. it's really some company processing and storage thing, as some waste the same teas from the same exporting country while others just get it right.
by the way, rooibos is rather alright as minor bonus vitamin B intake. funny that it smells like tobacco, is related to tobacco by vitamins B, but has completely different reasons for smelling like that.
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