White Tea leaves undergo even less processing
than Green Tea leaves. Not only are the leaves not allowed to ferment; they
are harvested before they completely open, when the buds are covered by the
fine white hair that gives White Tea its generic name. For this reason, White
Teas have a distinctive light and sweet taste.
Types Of Chinese Tea
by Tony Newton
Probably you are familiar with the Chinese saying, "Firewood, rice, oil,
salt, sauce, vinegar, and tea are the seven necessities to begin a day."
Though tea is last on the list, we can still see how important the tea is for
the Chinese.
There are actually thousands of Chinese tea varieties. These are usually classified
by procedure, quality, and preparation methods and so on. However, if we will
consider tea in terms of quality, there are actually eight classes of Chinese
tea. These include green tea, oolong, black, red, white, yellow, flower, and
compressed tea.
Now, let's take a look at these classes one by one.
Green Tea
Green tea is said to be the most natural type of Chinese tea. It is usually
picked, naturally dried and fried briefly to get rid of its grassy smell. Unlike
the other types, green tea skipped fermentation process.
According to some experts, green tea has the most medicinal value and the least
caffeine content of all Chinese tea classes. The aroma of this type of Chinese
type range from medium to high, while the flavor is usually light to medium.
Today, about 50% of China's tea is green tea.
Oolong Tea
This type of Chinese tea is halfway between green tea and black tea in a sense
that it is half fermented. Chinese also call it "Qing Cha" and its
typical leaves are green in the middle and red on the edges as a result of the
process to soften tea leaves.
Oolong tea leaves are basically withered and spread before undergoing a brief
fermentation process. Then, it is fried, rolled and roasted.
Black Tea
The Chinese black tea produces full-bodied amber when brewed. Also, this type
of Chinese tea undergoes withering, then left to ferment for a long while, and
then roasted. The leaves of this variety become completely oxidized after processing.
Red Tea
As the name implies, this type of Chinese tea has red leaves and red tea color.
This color is strongly highlighted during the fermentation process. It is also
considered that red tea has low aroma and medium flavor and it is now divided
into three subclasses: Kung Fu Red Tea, Ted Tea Bits, and Small Species Red
Tea.
White Tea
This type of Chinese tea is sometimes considered as subclass of green tea. Perhaps
it is for the fact that it is only withered and then roasted. Just like green
tea, white tea escaped fermentation process. And, it has low caffeine content.
Yellow Tea
Apparently, yellow tea has yellow leaves and yellow tea color. According to
some experts, this type of Chinese tea is an uncommon class of Chinese tea.
The flavor of yellow tea is usually mild and refreshing.
Flower Tea
Here is a unique type of Chinese tea - the Flower tea. It actually subdivides
into Flower Tea and Scented Tea. Well, the Flower Tea is just based on a simple
concept that dried flowers are used, without much processing, to make tea. The
Scented Tea, on the other hand, uses green tea and red tea as base and mix with
scent of flowers. Generally, this class has light to medium flavor and medium
to strong aroma.
Compressed Tea
The final type of Chinese tea is the compressed tea. This class uses black tea
as base tea. It is steamed and compressed into bricks, cakes, columns, and other
shapes. Also, compressed tea has all the characteristics of black tea. It can
be stored for years and decades.
About the Author
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