Tea talk gets weird fast: “orange pekoe has orange,” green tea is always low caffeine, and tea bags are loaded with microplastics. We wanted real answers, so we brought back tea industry veteran John Snell to help us separate myth from chemistry and hype from what’s actually happening in the leaf. From Sri Lanka to India, East Africa, China, and Vietnam, John explains how tea terroir works, why monsoons and elevation change flavour, and what tea “tips” really are when people talk about silver tip and gold tip teas.

We dig into caffeine with the nuance it deserves. Caffeine is a natural plant defence, fertiliser choices can influence it, and processing changes how it shows up in your cup. John breaks down why green tea can deliver caffeine differently than black tea, why cold brew tea changes extraction, and how matcha stands apart because you ingest the powdered leaf in suspension, taking in the full spectrum of compounds like polyphenols and antioxidants.

Then we get into the questions you keep sending us: chemical sprays, pesticide residue, organic tea, and whether the microplastics teabag scare matches the best available evidence. We also go bigger picture on sustainability and livelihoods, including John’s work helping Pakistan explore domestic tea production to reduce imports and support rural communities. We finish by dreaming about local and Indigenous ingredients like Labrador tea, and what it could take to do it right.

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