You probably know that I like tea mostly because I like how it tastes. And that I started this blog not knowing much about tea. But since I know have a blog (and because I’ve been drinking tea for a while now), I thought it would be a good idea for me to know more about tea so that I don’t just go “I like this because this tastes nice”[1].
With that in mind, I thought I’d start by summarising the different types of tea. I basically think of tea as tea, so I was quite surprised to learn that there were so many different types! There are:
White Teas
These teas go through extremely light and spontaneous oxidisation [2]. Some teas are made only with the unopened tea leaf bud but others are made from bud and one or two young open leaves.
These teas are supposed to contain higher levels of anti-oxidants so take note if you’re into the health benefits of teas.
Green Teas
These teas are not oxidised, with the leaves being either steamed or pan-fried to stop the oxidisation process. I associate green teas with Japan, but they can come from anywhere and the methods of shaping and drying the leaves vary from country and region.
Yellow Teas
According to The New Tea Companion (2015), these teas “among China’s rarest teas”. Like green teas, they are not oxidised but they are largely fermented. This means that the processing process is largely similar to green teas, but with an extra fermentation step. This is traditionally by “gently firing the leaf after it has been panned to kill the enzymes. The warm leaf, which still contains water, is then wrapped in “cow skin paper,” an old type of paper that is yellow in color, or is heaped in deep baskets to capture the heat in the leaves and the steam that is consequently produced.” (The New Tea Companion, 2015)
This process changes the colour of the tea leaf from bright green to yellow green and mellows out the taste.
I don’t recall having tried this before so I look forward to remedying it!
Oolong Teas
I always thought of Oolong as a specific tea (like Jasmine tea) but apparently it’s a whole genre. They are basically partially oxidised, and oxidisation rates can be anywhere from 20% to 70%. Oolongs can be broken into two large categories:
1. Jage oolongs are greener and in the shape of a ball. These tend to be oxidised between 20% to 30%
2. Dark, open-leafed oolongs. These are oxidised between 60% to 70%
The flavours seem to vary quite widely between the two so this is something I’m looking forward to tasting too!
Black Teas (紅茶)
This should also be known as “teas with confusing translations” because how is “red tea” translated as “black tea?” Anyway, these are fully oxidised teas and are probably the most common teas that we drink (unless you live in Japan than green tea is probably more common).
The major methods of production of these teas: Orthodox and CTC (Cut, Tea, Curl). The main difference between the two methods is that the CTC method is a lot more mechanised and used to “create a small-leafed tea that brews more quickly and yields a stronger liquor.” (The New Tea Companion, 2015)
Dark Teas (黒茶)
To quote The New Tea Companion once again, these are teas that “go through a process of post-manufacture oxidation and microbial fermentation.” Pu-erh is the best-known example of this and the book basically goes on to discuss Pu-erh but the difference between dark tea and Pu-erh is that to be called Pu-erh, the tea must be made in one of the 639 towns and villages of Yunnan. In comparison, dark tea refers to the method of processing the tea so theoretically it could be made anywhere in the world.
Pu-erh is thought to aid weight loss, reduce cholesterol, and have other health benefits so this is another tea people who are cautious about their health should be looking into. And because this is an aged tea, the longer the teas age, the mellower, sweeter, and smoother the tea. Pu-er can also be classified into two different types:
1. Raw – aged slowly. The best raw pu-erhs are very expensive and are sometimes bought as investments [3]
2. Cooked – aged via a specific process. These teas are “often earthy and elemental in character” (The New Tea Companion, 2015)
Blended Teas
These are basically teas that consist of various teas from different plantations/varieties of teas. Examples include English Breakfast, Irish Breakfast, Jane Austen tea, etc.
A subcategory of blended teas, according to The Black Tea Bible (2017), are Mixed Teas. These are basically flavoured tea blends and probably should be considered a category of their own, but The Black Tea Bible chooses to consider it as belonging to blended teas so not as to create too much confusion. I think mixed teas take up a fairly large percentage of the teas I drink and I basically enjoy them because of all the flavours.
Flavoured Teas
These are teas that have been flavoured by things like oils, flower petals, etc. The most famous of these is probably Earl Grey[4], which is a black tea flavoured with bergamot oil. I also read that Earl Grey can be made with “green, oolong, or white tea” (The New Tea Companion) so it seems like once you add bergamot oil to a tea, you can call it Earl Grey.
Jasmine tea is also a flavoured tea, which was actually a shock because… I guess I never really considered the whole thing deeply and thought it was a herbal tea like chrysanthemum tea.
Herbal Teas
Strictly speaking, these aren’t actually teas because they aren’t made with the tea plant. But they are basically other plants (like chamomile and mulberry) that people drink and call teas because I guess names like “fruit infusion”, “tisane”, or the one I just made up, “flavoured plant water” isn’t very catchy.
Interestingly enough, after the Boston Tea Rebellion, American families drank something known as “liberty teas” which were basically herbal tea blends[5].
Addendum: What is Oxidisation?
I’ve used the word “oxidisation” a lot in this post, so what exactly is it? The World of Tea site has a good one-sentence summary so I’m going to quote it here:
“Oxidation refers to a series of chemical reactions that result in the browning of tea leaves and the production of flavor and aroma compounds in finished teas.[6]”
The New Tea Companion compares it to the browning on apples, which is probably easier to visualise. So basically, it’s tea reacting with oxygen.
References
Pettigrew, Jane, and Bruce Richardson. The new tea companion: A guide to teas throughout the world (Expanded Third Edition). Benjamin Press, 2015. – You’ll notice that I use this heavily for this post. The front part has a lot of useful information on the basics of tea and I would highly recommend it. My review can be found here.
What is Oxidisation? By World of Tea.
Yamada, Sakae. The Black Tea Bible (紅茶バイブル). Natasume, 2017 – This book is entirely in Japanese, but if you know the language, it’s worth reading. You can read my review of the book here.
Notes
[1] Also, I have now borrowed and read/am reading two books on tea so this will be a good way to me to summarise what I’ve learnt.
[2] And because leaves oxidised once they are bruised, these teas cannot be bruised when harvested aka HANDLE WITH CARE.
[3] But why would you buy tea and decide not to drink it? Especially if it’s good tea??
[4] The New Tea companion also mentions that although this tea is supposed to come from China, bergamot tea has never been mentioned as a Chinese tea flavouring so it may be a marketing ploy. Also, it turns out that Earl Grey was also a person (he was the British prime minister from 1830 to 1834).
[5] For more information, check out the Liberty Tea page from Boston Tea Party Ship (warning: video autoplays)
[6] I only quoted the opening. The actual article is a lot more detailed and worth reading if you want to find out more.