WHAT IS TEA?
There are thousands of types of tea, and all of them come from the same plant: Camellia Sinensis.
Camellia Sinensis is an evergreen plant that grows in tropical and subtropical climates. If left in it’s natural state, Camellia Sinensis grows into a tree. Smaller varieties of tea trees can reach 6 feet tall, while ancient broad leaf tea trees can grow to over 50 feet tall.
Cultivated tea gardens are managed by pruning tea trees into bushy rows. This makes it easier to pick young leaves. Most tea is still plucked by hand, an incredibly labor intensive process.
Tea plants are highly sensitive to their environment. The terroir (or growing environment) of the tea plants is one of the most fundamental factors in a tea’s flavor. By manipulating moisture, heat and physical disturbance of tea leaves, Camellia Sinensis yields endless variations in taste and aroma. Tea is generally categorized based on how it’s been processed.
HOW TEA IS MADE
Harvesting: Fresh tea leaves are plucked from the living plant.
Withering: Freshly plucked leaves are laid out on fabric or bamboo mats and left to wilt. This reduces the water content of the leaves by as much as half. After withering, processing methods for various types begin to diverge.
Bruising: For Oolong, Black and Puer teas, the leaves are rolled, twisted or crushed. The purpose of bruising is to break down cell walls in the leaves - necessary to facilitate the next step: oxidization.
Oxidization: After bruising, oolong and black teas are laid out to wither a second time. They begin to oxidize. Oxidization is an enzymatic reaction that causes the leaves to turn brown, just like a cut apple. This browning process is the primary factor differentiating between different styles of tea. (Green tea skips this step entirely, creating a tea that is unoxidized by definition - therefore still green in color) A black tea is fully oxidized, without any green color left. Pu-er teas lie outside of this spectrum - usually undergoing bruising, but skipping the wilting that creates oxidation.
Fixing: The tea leaves are heated to stop the oxidization process and fix in the flavor. There are many different ways you can heat tea leaves for this step. For example, Japanese green teas are steamed while Chinese green teas are roasted - resulting in great differences in flavor.
Drying: The final step in tea processing is drying the leaves to remove any residual moisture and lock in the flavor for a shelf-stable tea.
PROCESSING BY TYPE
WHITE TEA - The least processed of all teas. Fresh leaves are plucked once a year in early spring and withered before drying. No bruising or oxidation occurs.
GREEN TEA - Plucked, heated, shaped and dried. Generally harvested 3 times per year, the “first flush” produces the best leaves, from late April to early May. 0% oxidized.
OOLONG TEA - Landing in the space between green and black, the widest range of flavors for all tea types belongs to Oolong. Oolong leaves are semi-oxidized - between 5%-90%. The result is a wide variety in flavor profiles, ranging from fruity to floral to dark and roasted.
BLACK TEA - Tea leaves are not heated until they have withered and oxidized 100%. This results in a dark, bold red infusion with the highest caffeine content. In China, this type of tea is called Red tea - only in the West is it referred to as Black tea.
PUER TEA - Puer gets its name from Pu-erh City in Yunnan Province, China. Like Champagne, authentic Puer must come from this region. The defining characteristic of Puer is that it’s aged, and it’s flavor and character develops from this aging process. Two types of Puer: Raw (Sheng) and Ripe (Shou) are differentiated by how the aging occurs. Raw Puer ages naturally over time. Ripe Puer is aged at an intentionally accelerated rate - using a process called “Wet Piling”.
HERBAL TEA/TISANE - Herbal tea is not technically a true tea because it does not come from the Camellia Sinensis plant. Another word for herbal tea is Tisane, defined as an infusion or blend of medicinal herbs, dried leaves or flowers steeped in boiling water - always caffeine free.
SOURCES & MORE INFO
BOOKS
Tea: History, Terroirs, Varieties