15 Best Tea Brands with Award-Winning Tea

How do you find the best tea in the world? Here’s some inside information to help you curate your very own private stash of award-winning tea.

What’s one of the best things about traveling the world? Drinking all the great teas you find, of course. An Oriental Beauty oolong from Taiwan, an Organic White Peony (Bai Mu Dan) from Fujian Province, China, or a Summer Gold Second flush black tea from Darjeeling. It's the taste of a place in a cup.

But how do you know where to buy these award-winning teas?

Unless you know some knowledgeable tea people, finding out where to buy award-winning tea is a challenge all its own.

I've put together a list of some of the finest tea in the world - a curated selection you won't find elsewhere. Now you can have these outstanding gold medal teas delivered right to your doorstep.

Best Tea Brands Worldwide

Every year, The Global Tea Championship (GTC) holds competitions judging tea submitted for the highest quality. Teas are awarded gold, silver, and bronze medals using a 100-point rating system.

The teas entered are critically evaluated and must meet a minimum threshold score in order to take a certain place. They are:

80 points - Gold Medal
70 points - Silver Medal
60 points - Bronze Medal

A Gold Medal Tea includes the following quality point ratings:

96 - 100   Superior: Unique tea, difficult to replicate, exceptional vintage
90 - 95     Outstanding: A distinctive tea with brilliant style
80 - 89     Very Good: A tea with great characteristics

The Global Tea Championship is an independent competition and is judged by professional cuppers to distinguish the highest quality and best-tasting teas commercially available worldwide.

Tea Championship judges are selected based on their reputation, their professionalism and their extensive experience cupping teas. These tea championships include a mix of teas that are available to the trade only as well as brands that are available to the public.

Each tea listed here is a gold medal winner and available directly to the consumer.

Best Tea Brands In A Class Above the Rest

- Loose/Assam - Amarawati Tea Co. Halmari Gold GTGFOP1 Clonal
  - Gold Medal, 2019 Global Tea Championship

- Loose/Darjeeling 2nd - Vahdam Teas Global, Inc., Darjeeling Summer Gold Second Flush Black Tea
  - Gold Medal, 2019 Global Tea Championship

- Loose/Puerh Cooked - Meimei Fine Teas, 2004 Bliss Cooked Shu Pu-erh Cake
  - Gold Medal, 2019 Global Tea Championship

- Loose/Unique - Lumbini Tea Valley, Singharaja Wirytips
  - Gold Medal, 2019 & 2018 Global Tea Championship

- Single Serve/Breakfast Blend - Farmer Brothers, Artisan Collection Organic English Breakfast
  - Gold Medal, 2019 Global Tea Championship

- Loose/Bai Mu Dan - TeaVivre, Organic White Peony (Bai Mu Dan) Tea
  - Gold Medal, 2018 Global Tea Championship

- Loose/Dark Oolong - Old Village Puer Pte Ltd, Phoenix Reborn
  - Gold Medal, 2018 Global Tea Championship

- Loose/Light Oolong - TeaVivre, Superfine Ali Shan Oolong
  - Gold Medal, 2017 Golden Leaf Award

- Loose/Matcha Straight - Shohokuenchaten Co., LTD., Matcha Unjonotomo (sold by Harney & Sons)
  - Gold Medal, 2018 Global Tea Championship

- Loose/Moroccan Mint - Newby Teas, Moroccan Mint Heritage Collection
  - Gold Medal, 2018 Global Tea Championship

- Bagged/Herbal - Newby Teas, Chamomile Tea Bags
  - Gold Medal, 2018 Global Tea Championship

- Bagged/Herbal Flavored - Mighty Leaf Tea, Organic Chamomile Yuzu
  - Gold Medal, 2018 Global Tea Championship

- Small Batch/Flavored White - TeaSource, Machu Peach-U
  - Gold Medal, 2018 Global Tea Championship

- Small Batch/Flavored Pu-erh/Dark - The Tea Spot, Bolder Breakfast
  - Gold Medal, 2018 Global Tea Championship

- Small Batch/Flavored Rooibos - The Tea Spot, Blood Orange Smoothie
  - Gold Medal, 2018 Global Tea Championship

Why Buy Award Winning Tea

Each of the teas has won a gold medal, which means they are recognized for outstanding quality. That doesn't mean other teas aren't award-winning quality, it just means the tea companies have not chosen to enter and showcase their tea.

Related: 10 Best Online Tea Shops

There were other gold medal winners in the championships but since they only sell to the trade, I have no way of knowing where they're available for purchase.