Types of tea

1. Green tea

Green tea is tea that does not undergo fermentation. The fresh leaves are dried and then directly heated to one to two hundred degrees. Stir-fried in a pan to preserve its green character.

The rare varieties include: Longjing tea, Biluochun tea, Huangshan Maofeng tea, Lushan Yunwu, Lu'an Guapian, Mengding tea, Taiping Houkui tea, Junshan Silver Needle tea, Guzhu purple bamboo shoot tea, Xinyang tea Maojian tea, Pingshui pearl tea, Xishan tea, Yandang Maofeng tea, Huading Yunwu tea, Yongxi Huoqing tea, Jingting green snow tea, Emei Erui tea, Duyun Maojian tea, Enshi Yulu tea, Wuyuan Mingmei tea , Yuhua tea, Mogan Huangya tea, Wushan Gaimi tea, Putuo Buddha tea.

2. Black tea

Black tea is exactly the opposite of green tea. It is a fully fermented tea (the degree of fermentation is greater than 80%). Black tea gets its name from the red color of its soup.

The rare varieties include: Qihong, Dianhong and Yinghong.

3. Dark tea

Dark tea was originally mainly sold to border areas, such as Pu'er tea from Yunnan. Pu'er tea is made by pouring water on prepared green tea and then fermenting it. Pu'er tea has the effects of lowering fat, losing weight and lowering blood pressure, and is very popular in Southeast Asia and Japan. But when it comes to weight loss, oolong tea has the most significant effect.

4. Oolong tea

Oolong tea, also known as green tea, is a semi-fermented tea between red and green tea. Oolong tea has the most complex and time-consuming process among the six major categories of tea, and the brewing method is also the most particular. Therefore, drinking oolong tea is also called drinking Gongfu tea.

Precious varieties include: Wuyi Rock Tea, Tieguanyin, Phoenix Dancong, and Taiwan Oolong Tea.

5. Yellow tea

The famous Junshan Silver Needle tea is yellow tea. The production method of yellow tea is a bit like green tea, but it needs to be simmered for three days;

6. White tea

White tea is basically made by sun-drying. The appearance, aroma and taste of white tea and yellow tea are very good.

The rare varieties include: Baihao Silver Needle Tea and White Peony Tea.

Based on the above common classification methods, Chinese tea can be divided into two parts: basic tea and reprocessed tea:

Basic tea:

Green tea——This is the most produced type of tea in my country, and its variety of colors ranks first in the world. Green tea has the characteristics of high aroma, mellow taste, beautiful shape, and resistance to brewing. Its production process goes through the process of greening, rolling and drying. Due to different drying methods during processing, green tea can be divided into fried green tea, roasted green tea, steamed green tea and sun-cleaned green tea.

Green tea is the most produced type of tea in my country. Green tea is produced in 18 tea-producing provinces (regions) across the country. my country has the largest number of green tea varieties in the world, exporting tens of thousands of tons every year, accounting for about 70% of the green tea trade volume in the world tea market. my country's traditional green tea - eyebrow tea and pearl tea, are popular among consumers at home and abroad for their high aroma, mellow taste, beautiful shape and resistance to brewing.

Black tea----The difference between black tea and green tea lies in the different processing methods. Black tea is processed without being greened and withered, causing the fresh leaves to lose part of their moisture. Then they are rolled (rolled into strips or cut into particles), and then fermented to oxidize the tea polyphenols and turn them into red compounds. Part of this compound is soluble in water, and part is insoluble in water, and accumulates in the leaves, forming red soup and red leaves. There are three main categories of black tea: Souchong black tea, Gongfu black tea and black broken tea.

Green tea (oolong tea) - is a semi-fermented tea, that is, it is properly fermented during production, causing the leaves to turn slightly red. It is a type of tea between green tea and black tea. It has the freshness and richness of green tea and the sweetness and mellowness of black tea. Because the middle of the leaves is green and the edges of the leaves are red, it is called "green leaves with red edges".

White tea----is a specialty of our country. It is processed without frying or kneading. Only the tender tea leaves with hairy backs are dried in the sun or over a slow fire to keep the white hairs intact. White tea is mainly produced in Fuding, Zhenghe, Songxi and Jianyang counties in Fujian, including "Silver Needle", "White Peony", "Gongmei" and "Shou Mei".

Yellow tea——In the process of making tea, it is piled yellow, resulting in yellow leaves and yellow soup. It is divided into "Huangya Tea" (including Junshan Yinya from Dongting Lake, Hunan, Mengding Huangya from Ya'an, Sichuan, Mingshan County, Huonei Ya from Huoshan, Anhui), "Huang Xiaocha" (including Beigangzai from Yueyang, Hunan, and Weishan from Ningxiang, Hunan). There are three categories: Maojian, Pingyang Huangtang from Pingyang, Zhejiang, Luyuan from Yuanan, Hubei), and "Huang Dacha" (including Dayeqing, Huoshan Huangcha from Anhui).

Dark tea - the raw materials are coarse and old, and the accumulation and fermentation time during processing are long, making the leaves dark brown. It is an indispensable daily necessity for Tibetan, Mongolian, Uyghur and other fraternal ethnic groups. There are "Hunan Dark Tea", "Hubei Laoqing Tea", "Guangxi Liubao Tea", Sichuan's "West Road Tea" and "South Road Tea", Yunnan's "Jin Tea", "Bian Tea", "Fang Tea" " and "Round Tea" and other varieties.

Reprocessed tea:

Reprocessed tea is called reprocessed tea, including scented tea, pressed tea, liquid tea, instant tea and medicine. With tea etc.

Medicinal tea--combining drugs with tea leaves to make herbal tea to exert and enhance the effect of the drug, facilitate the dissolution of the drug, increase the aroma, and reconcile the taste of the medicine.

There are many types of this tea, such as "noon tea", "ginger tea", "longevity tea", "slimming tea", etc.

Scented tea——This is a relatively rare variety of tea leaves. It is a product that uses floral aroma to increase the aroma of tea, and is very popular in our country. Generally, green tea is used as the tea base, and a few also use black tea or oolong tea as the tea base. It is made from fragrant flowers and scented materials based on the characteristics of tea leaves that easily absorb odor. The chemical varieties used include jasmine, osmanthus, etc., with jasmine being the most common.

From a global perspective, among the above types of tea, black tea has the largest quantity, followed by green tea, and white tea has the smallest quantity.

Classification of tea

1. Classification by color (or production process)

Green tea is an unfermented tea (fermentation degree is zero) Longjing tea, Biluochun, Xinyang Maojian

Black tea is fully fermented tea (fermentation degree is 80-90%) Keemun black tea, lychee black tea

Yellow tea is fermented tea (fermentation degree is 10-20%) ) White Peony, Baihao Yinzhen, Anji Bairong

Green tea semi-fermented tea (fermentation degree is 30-60%) Tieguanyin, Wenshan Baozhong tea, Dongding Oolong tea

Black tea is fermented tea (fermentation degree is 100%) Liubao tea, Pu'er tea scented tea

White tea is lightly fermented tea (fermentation degree is 20-30%) Junshan Yinzhen

2. Classification by season

1. Spring tea: refers to tea picked from late March to mid-May of that year. The temperature in spring is moderate, the rainfall is sufficient, and the tea trees have been recuperating for half a year in winter. The tea buds in spring are plump, green in color, soft in leaves, and rich in vitamins, especially amino acids. It not only makes the spring tea fresh in taste, but also has a pleasant aroma and has health-care effects.

2. Summer tea: refers to tea picked from early May to early July. The weather is hot in summer, and the new shoots and leaves of the tea tree grow rapidly, resulting in a relatively reduced content of water extracts that can dissolve the tea soup, especially amino acids. The reduction in water content makes the taste and aroma of the tea soup less intense than that of spring tea. Because the content of bitter anthocyanins, caffeine, and tea polyphenols is higher than that of spring tea, it not only increases the color of the purple buds and leaves, but also makes the taste more bitter.

3. Autumn tea: tea picked after mid-August. The climate conditions in autumn are between spring and summer. After the tea trees grow in spring and summer, the contents of new shoots and buds are relatively different, which reduces the size of the leaves. The bottom of the leaves becomes brittle and the leaf color turns yellow. The taste and aroma appear to be relatively mild.

4. Winter tea: harvesting begins around late October. Winter tea is grown after the autumn tea is harvested and the climate gradually turns colder. Because the new shoots and buds of winter tea grow slowly and their content gradually increases, they have a mellow taste and strong aroma. In addition to the above classification by tea color and four seasons, it can also be divided by its growing environment. 1. Flat tea: The tea buds and leaves are small, the bottom of the leaves is hard and thin, the leaves are flat, and the leaves are yellow-green and not smooth. The processed tea leaves are thinner, lighter in body, less aromatic and light in taste.

5. High mountain tea: Because the environment is suitable for tea trees’ habits of loving temperature, humidity and shade. Therefore, there is a saying that good tea comes from high mountains. The difference in altitude creates unique characteristics of the alpine environment, from temperature, rainfall, humidity, soil to the trees growing on the mountain. These environments provide unique conditions for the growth of tea trees and tea buds. Therefore, compared with lowland tea, high mountain tea has plump buds and leaves, green color and more hairs. After processing, the tea leaves are tightly knotted and plump. The pekoe is exposed, the aroma is rich and it is resistant to brewing.

1. Classification by color (or production process):

Tea name

Green tea production characteristics: representative of unfermented tea (zero fermentation degree) Products: Longjing tea, Biluochun

Yellow tea production characteristics: Anhui fermented tea (fermentation degree is 10-20%) Representative products: White Peony, Baihao Yinzhen, Anji Bairong

White tea production characteristics: lightly fermented tea (fermentation degree is 20-30%) Representative product: Junshan Yinzhen

Green tea production characteristics: semi-fermented tea (fermentation degree is 30-60%) Representative products: Tieguanyin, Wenshan Baozhong tea, Dongding Oolong tea

Black tea production characteristics: fully fermented tea (fermentation degree is 80-90%) Representative products: Keemun black tea, lychee black tea

Dark tea production characteristics: post-fermented tea (fermentation degree is 100%) Representative products: Liubao tea, Pu'er tea

2. Classification by season:

Spring Tea

refers to tea leaves picked before late March to mid-May of that year. The temperature in spring is moderate, the rainfall is sufficient, and the tea trees have been recuperating for half a year in winter. The tea buds in spring are plump, green in color, soft in leaves, and rich in vitamins, especially amino acids. It not only makes the spring tea fresh in taste, but also has a pleasant aroma and has health-care effects.

Summer tea

refers to the tea leaves harvested from early May to early July. The weather is hot in summer, and the new shoots and leaves of the tea tree grow rapidly, resulting in a relatively reduced content of water extracts that can dissolve the tea soup. , especially the reduction of amino acids, makes the taste and aroma of the tea soup not as strong as spring tea. Since the content of bitter anthocyanins, caffeine, and tea polyphenols is higher than that of spring tea, not only does the purple buds and leaves have different colors, but also The taste is rather bitter.

Autumn tea

It is tea picked after mid-August. The climate conditions in autumn are between spring and summer. After the tea trees grow in spring and summer, the contents of new shoots and buds are relatively different, which reduces the size of the leaves. The bottom of the leaves becomes brittle and the leaf color turns yellow. The taste and aroma appear to be relatively mild.

Winter tea

Starts harvesting around late October. Winter tea is grown after the autumn tea is harvested and the climate gradually turns cold. Because the new shoots and buds of winter tea grow slowly and their content gradually increases, they have a mellow taste and strong aroma.

3. Divide according to its growth environment:

Pingland tea

The tea buds and leaves are smaller, the bottom of the leaves is hard and thin, the leaves are flat, and the leaves are yellowish-green in color. Smooth. The processed tea leaves are thinner, lighter in body, less aromatic and light in taste.

Alpine tea

Because the environment is suitable for the tea tree's habit of loving temperature, humidity and shade. Therefore, there is a saying that good tea comes from high mountains. The difference in altitude creates unique characteristics of the alpine environment, from temperature, rainfall, humidity, soil to the trees growing on the mountain. These environments provide unique conditions for the growth of tea trees and tea buds. Therefore, compared with lowland tea, high mountain tea has plump buds and leaves, green color and more hairs. After processing, the tea leaves are tightly knotted and plump. The pekoe is exposed, the aroma is rich and it is resistant to brewing.

Classification of tea

The classification of tea can be divided into different ways according to various standards. However, the most common and commonly used ones are divided into six major categories of tea according to the degree of fermentation and preparation method.

Green tea: tea that does not go through any fermentation process during production, but is directly killed, rolled, and dried after picking. The taste is fresh and mellow, refreshing and pleasant. Due to different processing methods, it can be divided into fried green tea made by frying in a pot, such as Longjing and Biluochun, and steamed green tea cooked with high-temperature steam, such as Japanese Sencha and Gyokuro. The former has a strong aroma, while the latter has a fresh green feel. .

Yellow tea: The production method is similar to green tea, but it is yellowed during the process, making the tea leaves and tea soup yellow in color. It is a slightly fermented tea with a fermentation degree of about 10 to 20%. The taste is fragrant and sweet, such as Junshan Silver Needle, Mengding Huangya, etc. are all well-known tea styles.

White tea: After the leaves are picked, they undergo only a slight fermentation of about 10 to 30%, and are directly sun-dried or dried without any roasting or rolling. It has fine hairs and a light and smooth taste, which is very unique. Specialties are produced in the Fujian area of ??China, such as Silver Needle and Shoumei Peony, which are all well-known teas.

Green tea: also known as oolong tea. The degree of fermentation is about 20 to 60%, making it a semi-fermented tea between green tea and black tea. The taste is varied and combines the refreshing greenness of green tea with the mellow and sweet taste of black tea. It often has diverse and rich aromas such as floral, fruity, and cereal aromas. It is the most famous tea in Taiwan. (In addition to oolong, well-known teas include Baozhong, Tieguanyin, Narcissus, and Wuyi tea.)

Black tea: Fully fermented tea with a fermentation degree of 80 to 90%. The production process does not involve cyanide, but is directly withered, kneaded and cut, and then completely fermented to oxidize the tea polyphenols contained in the tea leaves into thearubigins, thus forming the dark red tea leaves and red tea soup unique to black tea.

Dark tea: a post-fermented tea. In the manufacturing process, after the green tea is killed, rolled, and dried, it then goes through a process of accumulation and storage (called "Wodui") to allow it to ferment again. Therefore, the tea leaves and tea soup are darker in color and have a richer and thicker taste. Pu'er tea, Hunan dark tea, etc. are all famous teas.