Bag. Hot water. Mug. From the outside they look like the same thing.
They're not, and I only properly worked that out when I made someone a cup of Fei Yan the way I'd make them a builder's brew. Bag in, water in, big splash of milk, two sugars. He drank it to be polite. I tried it and nearly spat it out. Milk and Fei Yan do not get on.
So here's what's actually different between a bag of Fei Yan Tea and the box of ordinary teabags next to it in the cupboard. Not better, not worse. Different. And if you've only ever made it like a normal cuppa, this might explain why it tasted odd.
What's in a normal teabag
One thing, usually. Black tea, and depending on the box it's Assam or Ceylon or Kenyan or some mix of the three that the blender's happy with, chopped up small so it brews quick enough for a tea break. That's it. Maybe a bit of bergamot if you've gone posh and bought Earl Grey.
It's built for milk. Strong, tannic, a bit bitter on its own, and the milk rounds it off. Most of us don't even taste the tea, really. We taste tea with milk in, which is a different drink.
What's in a bag of Fei Yan
Ten things. I'll do it quickly, because we did a whole post on every ingredient a few weeks back.
Lotus leaf and luffa at the top, 15% each. Then tangerine peel, astragalus root, hawthorn fruit, gynostemma leaf, stevia leaf and oolong tea, 10% apiece. A little rhubarb root and a little genmaicha at the bottom, 5% each.
Spot the teas? There's only two. Oolong, the one that's halfway between green and black (ask three tea people where exactly and you'll get three answers). And genmaicha, green tea with toasted rice through it, which smells, I'm not joking, like the bread aisle. The other eight are leaves, roots, a peel and a fruit. So most of the bag isn't tea at all, in the way you'd normally mean it.
That's difference number one, and it explains most of the others.
The taste
A normal cuppa is strong and malty and wants milk.
Fei Yan is lighter and does a lot more things at once. Toasty from the genmaicha. A bit sour from the hawthorn and the tangerine peel. A sort of green, leafy background from the lotus and the gynostemma. And it's sweet, which catches people out, because there's no sugar in there. Stevia leaf. The plant itself just tastes sweet, odd as that sounds, and it's enough that most people never reach for the sugar bowl.
My first cup? I remember thinking somebody had made green tea and then dropped a bit of toast in it. Which, to be fair, isn't a million miles off what's actually happened.
Milk and sugar
Normal tea, go on, milk and two if that's how you like it, I'm not the tea police.
Fei Yan: no milk. Really. It muddies all the roasted notes and curdles the sour bit into something strange. Sugar you won't need because of the stevia, and if you try it you'll find it goes oddly sweet. Honey, at a push, if you like it that way. A slice of lemon works nicely. Mostly though, drink it as it comes.
The brewing
Here's where people go wrong, and I include myself.
A normal teabag you can bung in, leave for two minutes, squeeze against the side of the mug with a spoon, done. It's forgiving.
Fei Yan wants freshly boiled water (the box says so, and it's right, a lukewarm kettle barely wakes it up) and three to five minutes. Three for lighter, five for bolder. Then the bag out. Don't squeeze it, that just pushes the bitterness out of the rhubarb root. Don't leave it in while you take a phone call, because at twenty minutes it's stewed and murky and nothing like it should be. And cover the mug. Saucer, side plate, whatever. Keeps the heat in and the steam in, and the cup tastes fuller for it. Nobody does this with a builder's brew and nobody needs to.
The caffeine
A mug of black tea has a fair bit. Enough that some people don't have one after six.
Fei Yan has a bit, from the oolong and the genmaicha, but there's only 15% tea in the bag, so it's a lot less than a full bag of black. Not none. I wouldn't call it a bedtime drink. But it's the sort of thing most people are fine with mid afternoon.
How many, and when
Normal tea: as many as you like, basically. The British average is somewhere in the "don't ask" range.
Fei Yan: the box says up to three cups a day. Spread out. A lot of people do one after lunch and one mid afternoon, around the time the biscuit tin starts calling, and that's them done. It's not a drink you have six of, and it's not meant to be.
The box, and who it's not for
A box of ordinary teabags doesn't really have a warning on it.
Fei Yan does, and I'll repeat it in plain words. If you're pregnant or breastfeeding, have a medical condition, take any medication, or you know you react to any of the ten things in the bag, have a word with your doctor or pharmacist before you start. And it's not for children. Keep it on a high shelf, not next to the Ribena.
It comes in boxes of 40, 80, 120 or 160 bags. The 40 is the one to buy first, in case you hate it. (You might. Some people do. It's a very particular taste.)
The mug, weirdly
One more difference I didn't expect. A normal cuppa goes in whatever mug's clean. Fei Yan I've ended up making in a glass, because you can see it. It comes out a sort of amber, lighter than you'd think from the smell, and you can watch it darken over the five minutes and know when it's done without squinting at the clock.
Not essential. Just nice. And if you've got a glass with a lid, that's your saucer problem solved too.
Price per cup, since someone will ask
A box of ordinary teabags works out at pennies a cup. Fei Yan is more than that, no point pretending otherwise, because there's ten things in the bag and only two of them are tea. But you're having one or two a day, not eight, so a box of 40 lasts most people the best part of a month. Work it out that way and it's less than the coffee you buy on the way to work.
So which do I drink?
Both, honestly. Tea with milk in the morning, because I'm not a monster. Fei Yan after lunch, covered, five minutes, bag out, no milk, no sugar, and a biscuit I pretend I'm not having.
They're not competing. One's a cup of tea. The other's a cup of ten things that happen to come in a teabag. Make it like the second one, not the first, and you'll get on fine.
Questions people ask me
Can you put milk in Fei Yan Tea?
You can, but I wouldn't. I tried it once and it went murky and weird. Lemon's fine if you want something in it.
How long should I brew Fei Yan Tea?
Mine gets about four. Proper boiling water, saucer on, and I pull the bag out without squeezing it, because squeezing makes it bitter.
Does Fei Yan Tea have caffeine in it?
Some. Oolong and genmaicha both have it, but they're only a small part of the bag. I'll happily have one at three o'clock, just not at bedtime.
How many cups of Fei Yan can I have a day?
Three, says the box. I have two.
Is Fei Yan Tea good for weight loss?
People ask me this a lot and the answer's no, I won't say that. Fei Yan's a herbal tea. It isn't a medicine. If it's your weight you're worried about, a chat with your GP will do you more good than me.
Go on, give it a proper go
If your last cup of Fei Yan had milk in it, that wasn't Fei Yan. Try again. Saucer on top, five minutes, nothing added.
Aura Nutrition sell Fei Yan Tea in boxes of 40, 80, 120 and 160 bags.
