Types of Tea

 There are many different types of teas in the world, such as green tea, black tea, oolong tea, etc. But do you know they are made from the leaves of the same species?

The word "tea" is an aromatic beverage commonly prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured leaves of the Camellia Sinensis. And camellia sinensis is a species of evergreen shrub in the flowering plant family.

Tea is the world's second most popular beverage after water. The distinguishing factor that determines whether a tea plant will become green, green, oolong, or black tea is fermentation.

Below is the picture of the types of tea.

1. Green tea is a non-fermented tea, so it retains most of its natural dark green color chlorophyll and minerals. And it tastes more astringent and subtler than oolong or black tea. The names of Chinese green teas denote leaf styles and often make reference to the region where the tea is from. Japanese green teas generally named in how the tea was made. Such as deep steamed tea, hojicha and pan-frying tea.

2. Oolong tea is a partially fermented tea, the color is between green tea and black tea, it is yellowish brown color. Different from green tea, oolong can vary widely in flavor. They can be sweet, woody or fresh with complex aromas, the difference of aroma is depending on the tea tree. And it is especially popular in south China and Taiwan.

3. Black tea is a completely fermented tea. Its color is reddish brown and generally stronger in flavor than other teas. Although teas are all  made from same species, but other teas are made from the small-leaved Chinese variety plant, and black teas are made from the large-leaved Assamese plant. And it is popular in the Western world.

4. Pu-erh tea is aged, fermented and is often pressed into a tea brick or a round, flat disk shape. The color of it is darker than black tea and it is very smooth in taste. Pu-erh tea is originated from the country of Pu-erh in Yunnan Province, China. It can be distinguished into raw pu-erh by the piling process.

*Raw pu-erh doesn't go through the piling process, it retains a fresh aroma and a little bit of astringency.

*Ripe pu-erh undergoes the procedure called "wet piling", so a special bacteria will be added to further ferment the tea leaves, and makes pu-erh turns from green to a reddish-brown color.

Above are the short introduction of types of tea, hope you can promptly understand the difference of teas after read this article.

Thank you for reading to the end. Have a nice TEA day~~