Orthodox Vs CTC Tea

Consumers’ taste varies from country to country and somewhere the consumer may like a strong liquoring tea while in another the consumer may prefer a light aromatic blend, etc. Thus it is not easy to set a uniform quality standard for tea globally. a Cut, tear, and curl tea guarantees faster delivery and thus better quality of the product received (it has a neutral, bold taste, and gives a quick brew that is globally liked by the majority) (esp. used in Chai tea and breakfast teas or low grade tea bags).

Orthodox tea is generally known for being more nuanced and complex than CTC tea. All whole-leaf tea is made with orthodox production methods.

Personally, I only use CTC for chai and for breakfast teas. I prefer orthodox and single estate teas. The black teas I drink now and then (Ceylon & Darjeelings) are all orthodox single estate teas.

CTC is a size produced by a certain method (crush tear curl). It could be produced using any variety of “orthodox” Assam—whatever that is supposed to mean. I’m not trying to be rude here, but as far as I know, CTC is an “orthodox” production method.

In some ways, your question reminds me of the strange case of orange pekoe, which many people also appear to believe is type of tea—or even a flavor! In truth, it, too, is a size (often of Ceylon). Here is a link to the explanation offered at Upton Tea Imports:

http://www.uptontea.com/shopcart/information/INFOgrading.asp

People favor CTC because it brews up extremely stout—as close as tea gets to coffee. Plus it is super fast to prepare. It even looks a bit like instant coffee. The flavor is strong, not subtle, and for that reason CTC Assam marries well with powerful chai spices such as clove, cardamom, cinnamon, etc…

It also packs a powerful punch of caffeine!

I’ve recently reviewed a bunch of CTCs. To me, it is just another type of tea that I go to when I have a craving for something simple and stout. My husband (from the UK) still prefers CTCs because they remind him of the tea he had as a child (simple english blend teabags) and that is what he wants when he wants TEA.