According to the latest standards, there are 7 major categories of Chinese tea.
Green Tea
The history of green tea dates back to ancient China, with legends of Shennong, the Divine Farmer, who discovered tea while tasting various herbs. This is one of the earliest records of tea. Green tea, with its fresh taste and health benefits, has been beloved since ancient times. The craftsmanship of making green tea has been passed down through generations in various parts of China, forming a rich tea culture.
Production Process:
- Picking: Hand-picking fresh leaves that meet the requirements, ensuring the integrity of buds and leaves.
- Withering: Spreading fresh leaves to wait for the leaves to soften and emit a fragrance.
- Killing Green: Evaporating the water content in the leaves through high temperature to stop the enzymatic reaction of polyphenols.
- Rolling: Rolling the tea leaves to make the tea juice adhere to the leaf surface.
- Drying: Drying to fix the tea quality and develop tea aroma.
White Tea
The origin of white tea can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty in China, when people discovered that tea leaves naturally withered and covered with white downy hairs had a unique flavor and aroma. Known as the “closest to nature” tea, white tea is cherished for its simple processing and natural withering characteristics.
Production Process:
- Picking: Picking one bud with one leaf or two leaves, lightly picking and lightly placing.
- Withering: Based on the climate, flexible control, indoor withering or compound withering is preferred.
- Drying: Fixing the quality by drying, developing tea aroma, and forming white tea products.
Yellow Tea
The origin of yellow tea is closely related to green tea. According to a legend, due to the green tea getting damp during transportation, the tea leaves turned yellow. People found that this yellowed tea had a unique aroma and taste, leading to the development of yellow tea production techniques. The process for making yellow tea is time consuming and difficult, so the yield is low.
Production Process:
- Killing Green: Destroying the activity of enzymes and evaporating a part of the water content, emitting the green grass smell.
- Yellowing: The key process to form the yellow color and aroma of yellow tea, forming a good yellow color and aroma quality characteristics through hot and humid conditions.
- Drying: Carried out several times, at a lower temperature than other types of tea.
Oolong tea (Qing Tea)
The origin of oolong tea has many legends, one of which is widely circulated: a tea farmer named Oolong accidentally let the tea leaves ferment too much during the tea-making process, but unexpectedly found that this fermented tea had a unique aroma and taste, hence the name oolong tea.
Production Process:
- Picking: Fresh leaves suitable for making oolong tea should not be too tender, with medium maturity being preferable.
- Withering: Evaporating some of the water in the leaves to improve the toughness of the leaves, facilitating rolling and shaping.
- Shaking Green: The key process to form the characteristics of oolong tea, laying the foundation for the aroma and taste of oolong tea.
- Frying Green: Inhibiting the activity of enzymes in fresh leaves to control the oxidation process.
- Rolling: Rolling the leaves to shape the tea, while forming a unique tea quality inside.
- Drying: Inhibiting enzymatic oxidation, evaporating water, softening leaves, and playing a thermal role.
Black tea
The origin of black tea can be traced back to the late Ming Dynasty in China. According to a legend, an army passed through a black tea production area, and the army camped on the tea leaves, causing the tea to ferment and turn red. Local tea farmers found that this fermented tea had a unique aroma and taste, and thus the production technique of black tea was born.
Production Process:
- Withering: Spreading the tea leaves evenly on bamboo mats to evaporate some of the water content in the tea leaves.
- Rolling: Shaping the tea leaves and forming a unique tea quality inside by rolling.
- Fermentation: Spreading the rolled tea leaves evenly in the fermentation room, where the tea leaves turn brown-red and the aroma becomes rich during fermentation.
- Drying: Fixing the tea quality and developing tea aroma by drying.
Dark tea
The history of dark tea can be traced back to the late Tang Dynasty, when it was known as “black tea.” Dark tea is known for its unique post-fermentation process and the characteristic of becoming more fragrant with age. Historically, it was used as a border tea for trade in border areas.
Production Process:
- Killing Green: Using high temperature to destroy the active enzymes in the tea leaves to inhibit the oxidation of polyphenols.
- Rolling: Preliminary rolling of tea leaves into strips, with tea juice oozing out and attaching to the surface, preparing for piling.
- Piling: A unique fermentation process of dark tea, forming the unique flavor of dark tea.
- Drying: Fixing the tea quality and developing tea aroma by drying.
Flower tea
Scented tea is a type of reprocessed tea. When flowers bloom, they release a large amount of fragrance. The tea leaves have many tiny pores that can absorb water and aroma from the air. By mixing soon-to-bloom flowers with tea leaves, the tea can absorb the fragrance released by the flowers when they open, thus creating a combination of tea aroma and floral scent.
Some of the famous flower teas are Rose Black Tea, Jasmine Green Tea, Osmanthus Longjing.