Those who know me well, know that I love tea. Not only do I have an exploding tea cupboard, but I’m fast developing an exploding tea drawer in my desk at work, too!

I started a new job at the beginning of January, and for the past two months I’ve been absolutely loving my new position as Web Content Coordinator for CityLine.ca at Citytv here in Toronto. Every day I get to work on managing and coordinating content for our website and social media accounts (namely Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest), as well as writing original pieces for the site, too. (Oh, and I also get to watch the show being taped every day while I take photos down in the studio – super fun!) This past week, I wrote an article that I’m particularly proud of and excited about because it’s about the obsession I referenced at the beginning of this post…tea!

Yep, I wrote a beginner’s guide to loose leaf tea, all about why you should be drinking loose leaf and what you need to know about all of the different tea families. And best of all, the article also features quotes from David Segal, the co-founder of DAVIDsTEA, whom I interviewed for the piece! I’m a huge DAVIDsTEA junkie, so getting to interview the man behind the tea was an incredible opportunity for me. Here’s an excerpt from the article:

Whether you’re an ardent coffee drinker or you’ve been sipping green tea for years in order to reap the health benefits, you’ve no doubt realized that “tea culture” has invaded North America in recent years, and it’s not all coming in little round bags anymore. While tea has long since been a popular drink in Great Britain and Asia, it’s only in more recent years that Canadians and Americans have truly latched on to the tea craze, helping to make it the second most consumed beverage on the planet, after water. David Segal, co-founder of loose-leaf tea shop DAVIDsTEA, isn’t surprised that North Americans are jumping onto the bandwagon. “It can fit into your lifestyle so easily. You can have it in the morning or in the evening, it can be energizing, relaxing, soothing, or it can engage the senses. […] It’s such a diverse product,” explains Segal.

But why have loose leaf teas, in particular, become so popular and why should you choose them over the convenient bagged options? In terms of quality, loose leaf tea offers a fuller flavour than a bagged tea – this is namely due to the differing size of the tea leaves between the two forms of tea. While loose leaf tea is made of full or slightly broken leaves, bagged tea is made up of tea fannings, which are small bits and pieces of tea; when tea leaves get smaller, they dry out and their natural taste starts to dwindle. For the same reasons, loose leaf tea holds up better to multiple infusions of the same leaves – just pour some more hot water over the same tea leaves and literally get some more bang for your buck!

Want to read more? It’s all over here on CityLine.ca!

Are you a tea junkie or are you interested in trying out some more teas? Let’s talk tea in the comments – I’m really good at making tasting suggestions!