A Drinkable Gift: the World's Most Expensive Tea
Really want to impress a tea lover? Buy them an ounce of the world's most expensive tea
It's amazing how much some people will pay for a good drink, and that goes double when it comes to the world's most expensive teas. Now, the world's most expensive coffee is bad enough: Indonesian Kopi Luwak runs a good $600 a pound, 8-10 times more than its closest competitor.
Er, What?
Yep: $600. Of course, that's probably because the coffee beans pass through the digestive tract of the luwak, a stinky weasel-like creature, before they're harvested. Something in the luwak digestive system apparently does magical things to the bean's chemistry, imparting a flavor like no other.
Be that as it may, the price of Kopi Luwak pales in comparison to the prices of the most expensive teas. Tea is the second most popular drink in the world (after water), and some people take it very seriously indeed. Certain aged varieties of Pu-Ehr and Da Hong Pao teas can go for literally thousands of dollars per pound.
Some Da Hong Pao varieties have sold at auction for thousands of dollars per gram, of which there are 28 per ounce and 454 per pound. Obviously, some people just have too much money.
Yee-Ouch!
Before you swoon, realize that you don't have to impoverish yourself to give someone a world class tea. You can purchase excellent Darjeeling, which tends to be the most expensive class of tea, for $25-100 per pound; though aficionados have paid as much as $1,500 for rare varieties.
Arguably, the most expensive easily available tea is a rare Chinese oolong called Tieguanyin. It also goes for up to $1,500 per pound, but around $10 per ounce is more common for high-grade varieties. By all accounts, it's excellent -- and you can brew the leaves up to seven times before they lose their flavor.
A Little Lagniappe
If you really want to impress a tea-drinker, you might consider hunting down the most expensive teabag in the world, though really, it's a bit much. Back in 2005, a British tea company called PG Tips commissioned, from Boodles jewelers, a very special teabag to celebrate its 75th birthday.
This little caffeine delivery system featured 280 diamonds and was valued at $15,000. PG Tips gave it away in a promotion (!), and a charity in Manchester ultimately sold it in a fundraiser. No word as to what tea it might have been filled with, but it was certainly one with a very rich flavor -- one way or another!
If you could find this luscious little item (assuming it has not, in fact, been used for its intended purpose), it would certain put the world's most expensive tea to shame as a Wow gift.