Tea tasting is an art as rarefied as whisky blending or wine connoisseurship, but even the humblest supermarket teabag is the result of hours of expert sipping, grading and blending. “Tea is a natural crop and so taste and quality can vary,” says Giles Oakley, a tea taster and buyer with Tetley. “Sometimes harvests in one area can be scarce so you have to change the source and recipe of the leaves and the skill of the taster and blender ensures that this doesn’t alter the taste of a brand.”