Under-Appreciated Pages on RateTea

I put a tremendous amount of effort into RateTea, and, while the site has been growing rapidly and getting a large number of pageviews, there are a lot of articles on the site that have gone under-appreciated, perhaps because they are buried deep within the site, or in some cases, just because people don't know about them. This post is my attempt to draw attention to some pages I've written that I think a number of people might find very interesting, but that so far have attracted few views.

While I founded RateTea primarily as an interactive site where people can rate and review teas, I want it to be the most accurate and comprehensive informational tea resource on the web. Over time, I have added a great deal of carefully researched material, mostly written by myself, but a few written by others, and every article revised with help from a number of others, on topics relating to tea and herbal teas, including both the teas, their production, and related health topics. Many of these articles would not be possible without the wealth of information provided by bloggers, tea companies, and scientific researchers' whose work I cite on many of the pages.

I want to highlight a few of these carefully researched articles on the site; this selection covers the articles that I think are more interesting, but unfortunately have been less visible:

• Organic Tea - This article explores the topic of organic-certified tea from as neutral a perspective as I was able to take. As someone who is strongly committed to sustainability, I find organic agriculture appealing, both in tea and for other food crops. However, as this article explores, organic certification is not without its downsides, and the organic label certainly does not address all the problems it sets out to. This is a good article if you want a more critical take on organic tea, but still coming from someone who thinks organics are a good idea.


• Rooibos or South African Red Tea - This article covers a lot of different topics relating to rooibos, including both economic and environmental issues with its production as well as some of the fascinating health properties of this herb; there is also a sub-page on green rooibos. Rooibos may be of particular interest to people with asthma or breathing problems; check out the page for more explanation.


• Antioxidants in Tea - Antioxidants are a topic on which it can be hard to find impartial, science-backed information, mainly because the topic of antioxidants has been so heavily hyped up in the natural health media. Contrary to popular belief, antioxidants are not always good for you. This article explores some of the tougher questions relating to the antioxidants in tea, again attempting to adopt as neutral and science-based a perspective as possible. You may be surprised by some of the studies cited in this article.


• Pu-erh tea - If you are a serious Pu-erh enthusiast or connoisseur, you will probably not find much on this page. But RateTea appeals to a broad audience, including a large number of people who have never even heard of this tea. If you know only a little bit about Pu-erh and want to learn more about what it is, how and where it is produced, and what is known about its health effects, this page will give you a good overview of the topic.


• Storing Tea - I find this page and the whole topic of storing tea to be a lot more interesting than I thought I would. It seems rather cut-and-dry, right? Yet there is a surprising amount of controversy on the topic of storing tea, particularly, in terms of how long it can stay fresh if stored properly. This page starts with the basics but dives into much more depth than you might realize.

Please let me know what you think of these pages! And please, if you run a website or blog and think that there are under-appreciated pages on your site, do share them as well in your own blog post. I always want to read what people consider to be their best work or posts on topics they personally find interesting or thought-provoking!