Types of Tea — Types of Tea RSS

Tea is often divided into 6 broad categories: White, Green, Yellow, Oolong, Black, and Post-fermented. Each of these categories contain several different types of tea. While these types are named after a color, teas are actually categorized based on their processing, rather than their tea color. This means that green teas are not necessarily green, nor are white teas white.

White teas are unique for their minimal processing and the fact that they can continue to oxidize after processing. The most famous (and likely the first) variety of White Tea is Silver Needle, made from the fresh tea buds (unopened leaves). These buds are covered in Silver Needle’s characteristic fuzzy white hairs, called trichomes. In order to preserve these hairs, this tea was processed gently and minimally; in fact, White Tea is not roasted (only dried up), which means that the enzymes responsible for oxidation are never deactivated. This method of processing eventually spread to other styles of White Tea, which may not necessarily have the trichomes that Silver Needle is famous for.   The most common types of White...

Green teas are made from the unoxidized buds and younger leaves of the tea plant. Unlike other types of teas, green teas are heated immediately to prevent oxidation. This preserves the freshness of these teas. The processing of green tea demands the utmost care because any bruising of the leaf will immediately induce oxidation. The taste and quality of a green tea relies heavily on its harvesting date — early harvests produce younger leaves, which are sweeter and more prized than the mature leaves picked from later harvests. However, as with other teas, processing also has a great effect on the flavor of green teas. For example, roasted green teas tend to be nuttier than steamed green teas, which tend...

Yellow teas are considered the rarest among the teas. Historically, it was reserved as the imperial tribute tea for emperors as yellow was the imperial color. Over time, many people forgot about this extremely rare tea and the method to create yellow tea was lost in time for a while. Fortunately, in the 1970s the method was rediscovered by scholars, and in many ways the first part of the processing mimics that of green tea.   The leaves are first roasted to prevent oxidation. Following this step, they are covered and left in a moist room so that it can reabsorb its flavors. This “steaming” process removes some of the vegetal and grassy notes of the tea and transforms its...

Oolong teas are a wide variety of semi-oxidized teas with a diverse range of flavors, aromas, and styles. The most well-known Oolongs are grown in Wuyi Mountain and Anxi County in Fujian, Phoenix Mountain in Guangdong, and all across Taiwan. These teas come in a wide range of styles and have a vast array of flavors and aromas, but are all similar in their 15-85% oxidation state.   Because of the large variety of oolong teas, it is impossible to generalize their flavor. However, lighter-oxidized oolongs tend to be more delicate and floral tasting similar to green teas, while heavier-oxidized oolongs are more intense and robust like black teas.