Types of tea: how many and what are they

The world of tea, rich in different aromas and flavors, offers us very different taste experiences depending on what we choose to taste: there are teas that are more full-bodied and intense in flavor, incredibly delicate teas with the clearest liquor, teas with rolled, flattened, and crumpled leaves… How to untangle this multitude?

In order to learn how to distinguish the various types of tea, choose the one that suits us best, and above all, prepare it best by following the correct infusion parameters, it is worth delving into their subdivision into types based on color. Oh yes, because each type of tea requires appropriate infusion times and temperatures so that its leaves can give us the best in terms of aroma, taste and fullness.

Let us then see what and how many types of the tea exist and how they differ from each other.

How many kinds of tea are there?

Following the 1979 official subdivision by Professor Chen Chuan according to the process of processing (and not according to the color of the liquor, although there is undoubtedly a relevancy in the nomenclature) we have six types of tea:

• White tea
• Green tea
• Yellow tea
• Oolong tea
• Red tea
• Dark tea

The important thing to point out is that all these types of tea come from a single plant: camellia sinensis. Anything that is mistakenly called tea but whose leaves are not derived from this plant-well, it’s not tea! This is the case with roiboos, for example, a South African shrub with a very sweet and vanilla taste that is improperly called “red tea”: instead, it is correct to call it an “infusion,” since it is made of parts from the same plant (as opposed to herbal tea, which involves a mix of several ingredients and/or herbs).

The two most frequent varieties of camellia sinensis used in tea production are the camellia sinensis sinensis and the camellia sinensis assamica, a classification made by Japanese professor Kitamura in 1950. The former has smaller leaf size, grows at medium-high altitudes and in cool, foggy climates, while the latter has larger leaves, likes warm, humid climates, and grows at low altitudes.

As we said, what actually differentiates the types of tea is the processing undergone by the leaf, which leads to having a liquor of a certain color with clearly recognizable organoleptic properties.

And here are all six types of tea below: let’s delve into them one at a time.

White tea

White tea, also called “naturally oxidized,” is the least processed tea of all. After harvest, in fact, the leaves undergo withering (either outside taking advantage of the sun’s heat or inside at controlled temperatures and humidity, sometimes a mix of the two) and final drying. The leaves are not manipulated and the shape remains as it was, with a minimum of natural oxidation.

The buds selected for white tea are tender and often covered with bai hao, that silvery-white down that protects the younger leaves and buds. There are many types, such as the Bai Hao Yin Zhen (also known by its Western name Silver Needle) consisting only of buds, or the famous Bai Mu Dan (“white peony”) which is made from a bud and one or two apical leaves. China, and particularly Fujian province, offers the best white teas of the oldest tradition, but many other countries in recent years (such as Nepal and Malawi) have experimented with this type of tea, achieving surprising results.

White tea is definitely the most delicate in terms of aroma and flavor, with an almost transparent or pale yellow liquor, floral and fruity notes, and frequent hints of honey.

Recommended infusion parameters (Western method):

• 3g tea x 200ml water
• 70-80°C
• 4-5 minutes

Discover our selection of White Teas.

Green tea

Green tea is undoubtedly one of the most famous and oldest types of tea production. It originated in China, like all teas, but later became a staple of Japan as well.We can say that these are the two most famous green tea producing countries in the world.

At the processing level, as with white tea, we have the harvesting and then the withering stage: here, however, it is a very short withering (a couple of hours) because the tea must not oxidize. In fact, green tea is the only tea that does not oxidize: the enzymes responsible for this process are deactivated by a process that in Chinese is called Shaqing, “killinggreen,” which involves applying very intense heat to the leaves. In China, this step involves the use of woks, in which the leaves are quickly blasted, or electric machinery; in Japan, on the other hand, the oxidation blocking is done with steam, a method also formerly used in China and later replaced by the application of dry heat. After this stage, the leaves are processed to give them the desired shape and finally undergo drying, to fix the flavors and determine the final moisture content of the leaf.

Japanese green teas, such as bancha, sencha, and gyokuro, are teas with a vegetal taste, with umami and savory notes that are almost reminiscent of seaweed and the sea. Thinking instead of Chinese teas, such as the Long Jing and the Mao Feng, we have notes that are still vegetal but more delicate, turning to roasted or vaguely floral hints.

As with everything in life, there are of course exceptions: in both China and Japan there are teas that do not follow this general trend in the oxidation-blocking stage. Kamairicha, for example, is a Japanese pan-fired tea, just as in China they produce the partcolar green tea Enshi Yulu, which undergoes steaming.

Recommended infusion parameters (Western method):

• 3g tea x 200ml water
• 70-80°C for Chinese green teas / 50°C-75°C for Japanese green teas
• 2-3 minutes for Chinese green teas / 1-2 minutes for Japanese green teas

Discover our selection of Green Teas.

Yellow tea

Yellow tea is a highly prized tea produced only in China, with a long and complex process that certainly makes its value clear.

Up to the oxidation-blocking stage, yellow tea is processed like green tea, but with an additional crucial step: menhuang or yellowing. How does it take place? It involves wrapping the leaves, still hot and moist, in sheets of paper or cloths, rolling them up and allowing the leaves inside to remain piled on themselves. This heat results in what is known as the Maillard reaction, which is a nonenzymatic oxidation in which the sugars and carbohydrates in the leaves caramelize from the heat, just as baked fruit would. Aesthetically, the leaf turns yellow; taste-wise, it develops a distinct and unique sweetness.

There are yellow teas made solely from buds, yellow teas made from large leaves such as the Huang Da Cha with a sweet taste reminiscent of nuts, or yellow teas made of leaves and buds together, such as the Huoshan Huangya, a very high quality tea formerly served at the imperial court.

Recommended infusion parameters (Western method):

• 3g tea x 200ml water
• 75°C
• 3-4 minutes

Discover our selection of Yellow Teas.

Oolong tea

Oolong tea or Wu Long (“black dragon”), is sometimes also called blue-green, taking its cue from another Chinese term for this type of tea, namely Qingcha (“blue tea”).

This is a semi-oxidized type of tea: what does this mean? It means that the degree of oxidation is determined by the tea master and can range from very low percentages (8-10% of Taiwanese Baozhong) to very high percentages (most commonly we stop around 60%-65% but can go beyond that).

After the standard stages of harvesting and withering, there is a processing step for oolong, absent for other types of tea, called “shaking“: the leaves are placed on huge bamboo trays that are cyclically shaken and allowed to rest, so that the leaves bang together bruising and causing an onset of oxidation. Another function of this key step is to stimulate the recirculation of water and essential oils, which can then flow back from the stem through the veins and redistribute evenly throughout the rest of the leaf, contributing to the development of aromas. When the tea master decides that the optimum degree of oxidation has been reached, the leaves move on to the next steps, namely processing to shape them and finally drying.

As for low-oxidation oolongs, such as the well-known Tie Guan Yin from Anxi or Jin Xuan from Taiwan, the shape given to the leaves is that of a ball rolled more or less tightly; these oolongs retain a green color, so much so that they are also called “jade oolongs.” They have very sweet, fresh and floral flavors, reminiscent of magnolia, wisteria and lily of the valley, with just a hint of vegetal.

High-oxidation oolongs, on the other hand, have rolled leaves and a brownish-brown color-their long, wavy shape resembles that of small dark dragons and actually explains the name Wu Long given to the category. Their flavors are enveloping, roasted and often with mineral and chocolate notes. Famous are the rock oolongs from the Wuyi Mountains, such as the Da Hong Pao and the Shui Jin Gui, intense and soft as velvet.

Recommended infusion parameters (Western method):

• 3g tea x 200ml water
• 85°C for low-oxidation oolongs / 90°C for high-oxidation oolongs
• 3 minutes

Discover our selection of Oolong Teas.

Red tea

In the West, as a result of British cultural hegemony, we have been accustomed to knowing it as black tea, but the correct name for this type of tea (in deference to the culture from which it comes) is red tea: if you pause to take a good look at the color of the liquor, you cannot tell otherwise.

Red tea is the only 100% oxidized tea. This means that there is no oxidation-blocking stage for this tea: after harvesting and withering, the tea is processed by rolling the leaves and then left to oxidize completely in special tanks before proceeding with the last step, which is always drying.

In China, where green tea or white tea had traditionally been produced, red tea production did not begin until the mid-1500s and was initially largely for foreign trade. Among the best Chinese red teas, we have some with sweet hints of cocoa and rose, such as the Wuyi Wild Floral produced in Fujian in the Wuyi Mountains area, and others in which a roasted component emerges such as the Yixing Hong Cha, from the area of the same name famous for its clay teapots.

Lots of red teas are being produced in the world today: countries such asIndia and Sri Lanka have made them their flagship product, producing delicious red leaf teas that are very complex in terms of aromatic range, often malty and woody, with spicy and fruity notes.

Recommended infusion parameters (Western method):

• 2.5-3 g of tea x 200ml of water
• 90°C – 95°C
• 2-3 minutes

Discover our selection of Red (Black) Teas.

Dark tea

This type of tea often tends to create some confusion in its nomenclature and definition-let’s try to shed some light on it.

Dark tea(heicha in Chinese) is fermented, not oxidized tea: there is a big difference between the two terms. Oxidation is a purely enzymatic process, a chemical reaction between enzymes in the tea cells and oxygen; fermentation , on the other hand , is carried out by living microorganisms such as molds and bacteria, which, by feeding on the leaves, produce substances that significantly change the organoleptic properties.

Dark tea also has a characteristic very similar to some fine red wines: it gains sweetness and value with the passage of time. There are fermented teas aged 50 years or 70 years that are very expensive!

Included in the category of dark or fermented teas are various teas, including the very famous Puer tea from the village of the same name, Liubaocha from Guanxi, and the Fucha from Hunan (nicknamed “golden flowers” because the fermentation process creates yellow dots resembling tiny golden flowers on the tea leaves).

Let us return to the best-known dark tea, viz. Puer tea, which we can further distinguish into Puer Sheng (= raw) and Puer Shu (= cooked): let us see what is the difference in processing and flavors.

• Sheng: The leaves are processed similarly to a green tea, but cooking in the wok to stop oxidation is done at lower temperatures (no more than 80°C) so as to leave some enzymes active. Next, the leaves are softened with steam and pressed into the form of discoidal cakes. These cakes are then stored in special spaces with high humidity, little oxygen and adequate temperature for fermentation to proceed.

The taste of Puer Sheng is reminiscent of a walk in a pine forest: it usually has fruity notes of pear, hints of resin and green wood, with hints of incense.

• Shu: this is an artificially accelerated fermentation process by human intervention, so that the tea reaches maturity in weeks rather than years and can thus be marketed more quickly. After the oxidation freeze, in common with Puer Sheng, the main steps involve piling or stacking the leaves in large heated rooms, possibly with wooden floors; some sort of watering of the tea, which is kept constantly moist and warm and turned over several times so that the temperature is even on all sides; and covering with cloths (including plastic) to promote fermentation, trapping heat and moisture and giving a sprint to the action of mold and bacteria. When finished, the tea can be pressed into cakes or bricks or even sold in loose leaves.

Puer Shu’s aromatic notes are reminiscent of underbrush, leather, moist earth, and wood; it is an extremely sweet and enveloping tea, becoming sweeter and sweeter as it ages.

Interestingly, to limit counterfeiting of a culturally and traditionally important commodity, in 2008 the Chinese government intervened by establishing by law what the characteristics must be for a tea to be called Puer: in addition to peculiarities required in the processing steps, the tea must be produced in Yunnan province and from large leaves (Daye Zhong).

Recommended infusion parameters (Western method):

• 2.5-3 g of tea x 200ml of water
• 95°C
• 3-4 minutes

Discover our selection of Puer Teas.

Want to know what benefits different types of tea bring to the body? Find all the information in the Tea Benefits section of the blog!