How to rate tea / Our rating system:

Our rating system allows you to rate tea in four categories: aroma, flavor, value, and overall. We do not include a category for appearance; if you want to consider appearance, you can factor this into the "overall" category.

Aroma:	Flavor:	Value:	Overall:
Aroma is arguably the most important aspect of tea. One of the best ways to describe aroma is by analogy. For example, many green teas are described as grassy and some black teas are described as floral.	Flavor is often confused with aroma. Flavor is strictly the taste sensations when drinking tea and does not include aroma. Aspects of flavor are bitterness, sourness, and sweetness. Some common words used to describe flavor are sweet, bitter, tangy, smooth, strong, or mild.	Value is an estimate of how much enjoyment one can buy with a certain amount of money. Value captures the relationship of quality to price. Cost-per-cup is important to consider when assessing value. Some teas require using more leaves than others.	This is your opportunity to use your own judgment to decide how much you like the tea. For example, if you care more about the flavor or aroma of tea, and would like this factor to influence your total rating more, you can have this be reflected in the "overall" category.
Suggested scale (1-10)	Suggested scale (1-5)	Suggested scale (1-5)	Suggested scale (1-10)
1-bad 3-poor 5-fair 8-excellent 10-outstanding	1-poor 3-fair 5-excellent	1-overpriced 3-reasonable price 5-outstanding value	1-bad 3-poor 5-fair 8-excellent 10-outstanding

Our scale is just a suggestion; you can use whichever scale is easiest, so long as higher numbers represent tea you enjoy more, and your ratings make sense relative to each other: if you clearly prefer the aroma of one tea to another, rate it higher for aroma. Check "My Ratings" in the upper-right-hand-corner to compare your previous ratings.

Why do you not include a category for appearance?

Almost all tea drinkers care about aroma and flavor, but some people care more about the appearance of their tea (both dry leaves and brewed tea) than others. We ommitted this category so as to give people a choice of whether or not they wish to factor appearance into their rating of a tea.

We encourage all reviewers to comment on teas' appearance, regardless of whether or not it is factored into the numerical rating.

Why do you have a category for value?

There are two important reasons that we want to encourage people to assess the value of tea:

• Humans have a well-studied propensity to attribute higher quality to goods purchased at a higher price. This is especially true when people are inexperienced at assessing the quality of something, or when the quality is highly subjective. At RateTea.net, we believe that thinking critically about value results in more accurate ratings, as it separates people from the fallacy of believing that expensive teas are automatically better quality.

• Thinking critically about value is a useful skill that not only benefits your financial well-being and quality of life, but also benefits society. By pursuing value rather than simply pursuing the highest-priced goods, we encourage efficient use of resources and thus promote sustainability.

Why do you require written reviews with each rating?

Speaking as someone with a master's in math and another in statistics, I can very confidently say that numbers have their limitations! Often, the process of writing a couple sentences gives you clarity which can help you know which numbers to choose for your rating. It is also very important to explain and justify a numerical rating, especially when your rating is different from others or when you are rating a tea for the first time.

I'm still too intimidated to write a review.

Don't be scared; I wrote the first reviews on this site, and I'm no connoisseur, just someone who enjoys tea. The premise of this site is that if you drink tea, you can rate it. You will also find that as you start rating teas, reading more about tea, and sampling more kinds of tea, you will quickly develop your taste for tea as well as your vocabulary for describing your experience when drinking tea.

Read a few reviews, look up your favorite tea, and rate it. You can adjust your ratings and written reviews at any time. There are already plenty of tea blogs published by tea experts; this site is for everyone.

Are you going to list the "best" teas once you get enough ratings?

No. There is no such thing as a "best" tea. Each person has their own opinions, and each person's opinion is valid. People do not agree on matters of taste, and this is good, as it makes life interesting and encourages the production of diverse styles of tea, which benefits everyone. Also, looking at averages to assess what a "typical" person prefers runs contrary to the purpose of RateTea.net, which is to encourage people to develop their taste and appreciation for different teas.

I don't drink tea.

Easy solution: start drinking tea!

Tea is available virtually everywhere; for those sensitive to caffeine there is a vast array of caffeine-free herbal teas available. Everyone can enjoy tea!