Tea drinkers rarely say this out loud.
But many have probably thought it at least once.
Sometimes an expensive tea tastes... fine.
Not extraordinary. Not life-changing. Just fine.
And yet modern tea culture often treats expensive tea as though it automatically deserves deeper admiration. A rare mountain harvest. Ancient tea trees. A tea produced in extremely small quantities. The language surrounding these teas can become surprisingly grand.
Perhaps too grand.
Of course, craftsmanship matters. Skilled farmers and tea makers deserve recognition for years of knowledge and labor. Certain teas genuinely carry remarkable depth and complexity.
But price and experience do not always move together as neatly as we pretend they do.
Some of the most enjoyable cups of tea are surprisingly ordinary. A simple roasted oolong drank regularly at home. A familiar black tea brewed slightly too strong on a rainy afternoon. Teas with no dramatic story attached to them at all.
And yet they continue to feel comforting, memorable, and complete.
Meanwhile, some expensive teas create a strange kind of pressure. People become hesitant to brew them casually. Every infusion feels as though it should reveal something profound simply because the tea costs more.
The experience becomes harder to enjoy naturally.
Perhaps this happens because tea culture sometimes confuses rarity with meaning.
But tea was never meant to function like a luxury trophy.
For centuries, tea existed as part of ordinary life. Shared during conversations. Brewed during quiet mornings. Poured without ceremony into worn cups that mattered less than the company sitting nearby.
The tea itself was important.
But so was the ease surrounding it.
This is not an argument against high-quality tea. Some teas are expensive for good reason. But perhaps tea appreciation becomes healthier when we allow ourselves to admit a quieter truth.
Not every expensive tea will move us personally.
And sometimes the tea we return to most often costs far less than the tea we feel obligated to admire.
With quiet regard,
N. P. Lim
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