Types of Tea [split from LA]

[Mr Taster]

(Note: this was in response to a question asked here: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/815323#6927434 -- The Chowhound Team)

OK, remedial tea 101.

I'm no tea expert, so I'm providing the absolute basics. Other more knowledgeable tea hounds can supplement or add as they see fit.

Anything called "tea" comes from one specific plant. "Herbal teas" like chamomile are not truly "tea", but the word tea has become a shorthand for "any leaf brewed in hot water." True tea comes from the tea plant.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Csi...

The really short version of this process is that when these green leaves are simply dried, they become green tea (surprise!).

When these leaves are fully fermented and then dried, they become black tea. Think about it... when you ferment something, the bacteria consume and transform the leaves. It's essentially a controlled rotting of the vegetation, which is why the leaves turn black.

Oolongs are somewhere in between. They are partially fermented, and the process of partially fermenting is a much more complicated one. There is more of an artistry that goes into making oolongs, similar to the way a master vintner has to have the palate. An oolong tea maker needs to have the palate to know when to stop the fermentation, how to roll the leaves, how long to dry/roast them. There's an infinite number of variables. The best oolongs are all produced by hand. The cheaper and lower grade ones are produced by factories.

If you have Netflix streaming, I suggest watching "All In This Tea" which is a very interesting documentary about an eclectic tea maker's adventures in China.

Mr Taster

[will47]

The thing about oolongs is that they can range from very low oxidation to very high oxidation, and also from a very low fired roast to a higher roast, so it's really a very broad category of tea. You can have oolongs that are very close to a green tea, very close to a red (black) tea in oxidation, and the level of roasting (and, occasionally, re-roasting) can bring out some additional flavors not usually found in other teas. While it's not as famous for being aged as, say, raw pu'er, oolong teas can also be aged in various ways, sometimes with good results.

Just to be a little pedantic, while it's sometimes called 'fajiao' (发酵) in Chinese, it's technically oxidation, not fermentation.

I really like the wikipedia flowchart about tea processing - I think it does a better job than words to illustrate the ways tea is processed.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia...

In a broad sense it's mostly true that tea is all the same plant (camellia sinensis), there are two major varietals, and many, many different cultivars, some of which are traditionally mostly used for a certain type of tea.