What’s the Difference Between All the Types of Tea?

One of the most intimidating things about tea is the sheer variety. There are more than 1,000 varieties of tea from China alone and often one can get stumped just trying to wade through the sea of tea.

Professor Chen Yuan from Fujian, China devised a system of classification based on the color of the wet leaves- i.e. the leaves when steeped- in the mid-70s and this eventually became the most commonly used basis of classifying tea as we know today.

Simply put, what influences the color of the leaves is the method of production.

The 6 basic categories of tea are green, white, yellow, oolong, black and dark respectively.

Let’s take a look at them:

Green Tea (绿茶)

Overview

Green teas are un-oxidized teas; upon picking the leaves are either steamed or wok-roasted to destroy the enzymes that cause oxidation. This process is known as ‘shaqing’ (杀青). This preserves most of the natural chemical compounds and characteristics of the tea leaves.

Famous Green Teas:

Xihu Longjing, Dongting Biluochun, Huangshan Maofeng, Taiping Houkui, Xinyang Maojian.

This is the biggest category of tea in China and almost 70% of all teas produced are green teas.

Characteristics:

Green teas tend to be more delicate and subtle in taste with focus on brisk, refreshing mouth feel. A sweetness will well up in the throat after the slightly bitter initial attack known as ‘huigan’  (回甘).

TCM Nature:

Green tea is considered ‘cooling’ and is suited for hot climates as well as individuals who are more ‘heaty’ in constitution.

White Tea  (白茶)

Overview:

White teas are the least processed of all teas- wilted under the sun and dried further either by sun-drying or baking.

White teas are slightly oxidized but as it undergoes the most simplistic processing, white teas generally have the highest antioxidants according to a Kingston University Report.

Famous White Teas:

Silver Needles, White Peony and Sou Mei

Traditionally, white tea is only produced in Fujian province but in recent years, other provinces such as Yunnan have experimented with it.

Characteristics:

Compared with green tea, white tea has a stronger taste. While it sacrifices a bit of briskness, white teas have good ‘huigan’ (回甘) and thick mouth feel.

TCM Nature:

White tea is considered ‘cooling’ and like green tea is suited for hot climates and ‘heaty’ individuals. It is less acidic and irritating to the stomach compared to green tea, especially aged white tea.

Yellow Tea (黄茶)

Overview

Yellow teas are processed very similarly to green tea except they undergo an additional step known as ‘men huang’ (闷黄)- i.e. stewing through heat and humidity.

Yellow teas generally have a low level of oxidation- between 5-10%.

Famous Yellow Teas:

Junshan Yinzhen, Huoshan Huangya, Mengding Huangya

This is the smallest category of tea.

Characteristics:

The ‘men huang’ removes much of the grassiness associated with green tea, especially non wok-roasted ones and gives it a sweeter taste.

TCM Characteristics:

Yellow tea retains much of the characteristics of green tea- i.e. cooling- albeit to a lesser extent.

Oolong Tea (乌龙茶)

Overview

Oolong tea is the most diverse category of tea with levels of oxidation ranging from ~10-70%.

Oolong teas are wilted, then ‘rattled’ to ‘bruise’ the leaves which in turn expedite oxidation before undergoing ‘shaqing’ to halt the oxidation and dried.

Famous Oolong Teas:

Tieguanyin, Taiwan High Mountain Teas, Dong Ding Oolong, Wuyi Yancha, Phoenix Dancong

Characteristics:

Oolong is very diverse, it can be fruity like dancong, woody like yancha, sweet like Taiwan High Mountain teas or citrusy sweet and sour like Tieguanyin.

It is also the category of tea most predicated on the skill of the maker where ‘rattling’ and roasting can make a world of difference in the taste.

TCM Characteristics:

Depending on their processing, oolong teas can be ‘cooling’ or neutral or warming.

Generally speaking, in TCM speak, the lighter the liquor, the most ‘cooling’ it is.

Black Tea (红茶)

Overview

Black teas are almost fully oxidized (around 90%) and resultantly much of the natural characteristics of tea has been altered.

Famous Black Teas:

Zhengshan Xiaozhong, Qimen Black, Yunnan Black and most Indians, Ceylonese and teas outside of East Asia.

This is the most consumed tea globally although it is the 4^th most produced tea in China, after green, oolong and dark tea.

Characteristics:

Black teas are characterized by its reddish liquor and distinct fragrance. Due to its oxidation, black teas have more than 400 fragrance compounds (as opposed to 230 for green tea).

This makes it an excellent entry point for those new to tea to get their toes wet.

TCM Characteristics:

Black teas are considered ‘warming’ (温性) in nature which makes it a good breakfast tea, before the body has warmed up. It is also great for people with weaker constitutions where the ‘cooling’ nature of tea will hurt the digestive system.

Dark Tea (黑茶)

Overview

Dark teas are also known as post-fermented teas. These teas undergo a process known as ‘wodui’ (渥堆) where through heat and humidity the teas undergo fermentation.

Unlike most other teas, dark teas usually get better with age.

Famous Dark Teas:

Pu-er, Liubao Heicha, Hunan Heicha

Characteristics:

Dark teas have a deep, maroon color liquor and aged ones are smoother and sweeter.

TCM Characteristics:

Dark teas are considered ‘warming’ (温性) in nature. Due to its fermentation, it is considered an excellent digestive and good to wash the grease which is why it is virtually synonymous with ‘Dim Sum’.

See more articles on overviews of various categories of tea