The Garden's Mark: How to Read the Auction Room to Find Good Assam

A grade tells you the leaf size, not the cup. The garden's mark does: read year after year at the Guwahati auction by buyers who taste before they bid, it is the trade's running verdict on how one estate's tea actually drinks, and it is the best shopping tool a drinker has for seeking out Assam worth buying.

The Cloud in the Cup: Tea Cream as a Strength Test

A strong Assam left to cool turns cloudy, sometimes almost jelly thick. It is not spoiled tea. It is caffeine and the leaf's own strongest compounds falling out of solution, and the trade has used it as a strength test since long before anyone could explain it.