Yesterday I posted about Lipton Yellow Label, a CTC Assam tea that I
had tried - and enjoyed - for the very first time. I am trying to
become a "smarter" tea buyer, as in trying to get the best value for my
money, rather than paying a lot of money for certain "name brands".

My tea tastes are pretty simple. I like a strong, dark cuppa without
milk or sugar. Most of the breakfast blends suit me just fine, as does
the Lipton Yellow Label or Brooke Bond Taj Mahal. I know a lot of tea
experts would consider these commercial brands to be horrible examples
of tea, but I like what I like and you certainly can't beat the price.

I browsed the websites of some well-known vendors today. They had a
lot of interesting blends, some of which I am tempted to try. However,
I'm not sure if I want to get into spending a lot of money on their
teas when I'm perfectly happy drinking this very cheap stuff. (It's
not often that I have the good fortune to find something that I really
enjoy that is also inexpensive).

Most of these vendors are selling BOP blends, as well as some CTC
blends. The CTC blends are priced slightly, but just slightly, less
than the BOP's. I was always under the impression that only
lower-grade teas were used for CTC processing. Is that true, and if
so, are the CTC's these vendors are selling worth the money they are
asking? Aside from possibly being a bit fresher, how are their CTC's
better than the CTC's used by Brooke Bond and Lipton?