What makes a tea “specialty” isn’t set in stone. Organisations like the European Speciality Tea Association (ESTA) are exploring factors like origin, farm, and processing to define it - but a global standard hasn’t yet been agreed upon.

“Tea is a bit more nuanced – it’s all about interpretation,” says Sally Morris, Senior Buyer and Product Developer at T2.

“When we think about specialty teas at T2, we are referring to single-origin teas that are rare and special. These can be traditional Chinese teas, region-specific teas, or newer varieties coming out of places such as Nepal, New Zealand, or Hawaii.”

While the term “specialty” is not as strictly defined in tea as it is in coffee, Sally says the similarities are clear. All true teas, unlike herbal tisanes such as peppermint or chamomile, come from the Camellia Sinensis plant. Differences come from the cultivar and the way the leaves are processed, giving each tea its own unique character.

“For the production of specialty tea, the leaves are picked by hand and processed as a whole leaf, which delivers the best flavours. It’s very different from the commodity market, where teas are sieved using large machinery to produce a fine particle – for use in conventional tea bags,” says Sally.

“All the teas we know and love from across the world – from white and green to oolong and pu’erh – come from the same plant. It’s the way the plant is processed that determines the flavour and drinking experience.”

The main differences in tea flavour come from whether the leaves are allowed to oxidize or kept from oxidizing.

“On one end of the scale is white tea – the least processed – which is picked, allowed to wither, and then dried. Something like shou pu’erh, on the other hand, is oxidised and fermented, which will yield a very different flavour profile,” Sally explains.

Terroir (a French word meaning ‘sense of place’) also makes an important contribution to the final product. China, the world’s largest contributor to tea, grows up to 2.2 million tons per year - with India and Kenya in second and third.

While emerging tea-growing regions like Hawaii and New Zealand may not produce on a mass-market scale, they are highly respected, and are helping to reshape ideas of what tea origin can mean, particularly for consumers who value provenance, sustainability, and quality over volume.

“Year on year, global tea yield is falling, so at T2 our sourcing principles focus on supporting an industry that champions the tea farmer and sustainable farming practices,” she says.

“Sixty per cent of the world’s tea comes from smallholder farmers and some of those are supporting incredible sustainability initiatives in biodiversity and regenerative farming. Through our sourcing principles we strive to support the growth of a truly sustainable industry.”