Thai tea - Red or Extra Gold?

[saptyn]

I know the most recommended brand to buy is ChaTraMue - usually in a red package with a thumbs up on the front. However, I've discovered there is also a slightly more expensive gold version and I can't figure out which one I should buy to bring back home. I found a blogger who described the gold version as more aromatic and slightly stronger - is that the only difference? I just want to bring some home and make it for my family so they can have try the authentic taste. I'm assuming the gold one is better in some way to justify the cost premium and calling it 'Extra Gold'. Anyone have a recommendation? Thanks.

[Brahmz]

This is an instant tea mix. Instant tea plus milk powder and flavoring. There are many types. Look on Lazada to see the range.

[Katia]

Isn't there a green one as well, or am I thinking of a different brand?  (That one might actually be green-tea Thai tea, though.)

[honu]

I'm not really that familiar with different brands, or the gold and red versions sold by that main producer.  I just wanted to mention they sell loose leaf flavored tea and also tea powder, an instant mix.  I guess it would just depend which one you wanted to buy, or maybe both. 

 

I write a blog about tea but it's the other kinds of tea, about loose teas, not flavored ones.  You might consider picking up some Thai oolong too; some of it's ok, and it's inexpensive, and brewing loose tea isn't that difficult.

[unblocktheplanet]

OK, just DON'T! ChaTraMue is not only loaded with colour but is the worst of the sweepings off the tea factory floor! Buy quality tea on visits to Burma, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam (Cambodia?). No additives and much higher standards. We brought 10kg home from Burma--so happy!

[saptyn]

 

On ‎6‎/‎18‎/‎2018 at 7:10 PM, Katia said:

Isn't there a green one as well, or am I thinking of a different brand?  (That one might actually be green-tea Thai tea, though.)

Yes there is a green one too it's green tea. I think there is a pink one that is rose tea and a yellow one too but I don't know what the yellow one is.

 

1 hour ago, unblocktheplanet said:

OK, just DON'T! ChaTraMue is not only loaded with colour but is the worst of the sweepings off the tea factory floor! Buy quality tea on visits to Burma, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam (Cambodia?). No additives and much higher standards. We brought 10kg home from Burma--so happy!

Uh oh too late I already bought 1 red (64 baht) and 1 extra gold (90 baht) chatramue to take back home. I really doubt chatramue is floor sweepings tea. I see it being sold by many local vendors and it is recommended everywhere. The colouring is necessary to give the classic thai tea orange look. It's just food colouring nothing to be scared of.

 

 

[honu]

It's definitely artificially flavored tea but that's not much to worry about, or if it seems so someone shouldn't be eating any processed foods.  It's probably a good idea to limit the amount of artificial flavoring and coloring you take in but a moderate amount of Thai tea seems like next to no risk.

 

As far as the tea being floor sweepings I doubt that.  The powdered version is processed tea, and the loose tea version is low quality machine processed CTC tea, but it's not something that was on a floor.  That idea comes from people not really understanding what CTC processing is.

 

If you buy 10 kg of tea from any country you actually run an even higher risk.  You can't know how that tea was grown (in almost all cases), and if it turns out there were chemical fertilizers and pesticides used and there are residual contaminants in that tea you'll be ingesting that same version and those same chemicals in high doses for the next couple of years.  The same general idea holds for drinking a lot of one kind of flavored Thai tea for a long time; if it turns out one trace component is unhealthy your exposure would be very high.  Myanmar wouldn't restrict pesticides that would be considered dangerous in developed countries (or Thailand either, for that matter), so it's not necessarily an abstract risk.

 

[The manic]

On 6/21/2018 at 5:13 PM, honu said:

I'm not really that familiar with different brands, or the gold and red versions sold by that main producer.  I just wanted to mention they sell loose leaf flavored tea and also tea powder, an instant mix.  I guess it would just depend which one you wanted to buy, or maybe both. 

 

I write a blog about tea but it's the other kinds of tea, about loose teas, not flavored ones.  You might consider picking up some Thai oolong too; some of it's ok, and it's inexpensive, and brewing loose tea isn't that difficult.

And do you cover Bael tea?

[honu]

I guess I just took nearly a month off checking in on Thai Visa.  I don't review very many tisanes (herb teas), so I've never got around to talking about bael fruit tea, or any of the rest of what is standard for that range here, lemongrass, roselle, and such.  There was a post about chrysanthemum a long time ago, and I experimented with making papaya leaf tea a number of times, so wrote about that.

 

On the subject of tea I'll hold a free tasting this coming weekend at the Dusit Zoo, on Saturday Aug. 18 from 10 AM to 12 (kind of far from the theme of which version of powdered flavored tea to buy, but I was just answering this question):   https://www.facebook.com/events/245314849431085/