TEA

My autism has decided that tea shall be one of my main interests. The purpose of this page is to introduce you to the different types of traditional tea and as a resource for myself for whenever I forget any info.

clarification of terms:
• tea varietals: strains of the tea plant
• tea types: black, green, etc.
• tea variety: specific tea of a certain type (eg. sencha green tea)

WHAT *IS* TEA REALLY?

The Plant

"True" tea is harvested from the tea tree/plant/shrub (Camellia sinensis). It's grown in subtropical and tropical areas from India to Japan, often in mountainous areas. Its area of origin is unknown due to its extremely long history of cultivation, but commonly believed to be China's southern Yunnan province. The wild plant is usually 1 to 5 meters tall, but can reach up to 20m. In farms, it's usually trimmed to around 1m for easy harvesting of the waist-high leaves. It has multiple subspecies and dozens of cultivars (strains), which are specialised to produce higher quality tea of a specific type. For example the Japanese Asatsuyu varietal is used mainly for Gyokuro greens. You can read more about varietals here.

The Six Types

Tea is made primarily from young leaves and buds (except for the japanese kukicha, made from stems). The main types of tea are: white, yellow, green, oolong, black and pur'erh, in order of oxidation.
While China produces every one of the six types, the rest of the major producers specialize in 1 or 2:

• India, Nepal: black
• Japan, Korea: green
• Taiwan: oolong/black
• Vietnam: green/white

Of course every country produces more types than these - the ones listed above are the vast majority of the countries' production.

What about herbal/floral/rooibos/mate?

These are not technically tea. A more accurate term for herbal/fruity/floral teas is tisane. Rooibos and yerba mate are their own things.

TEA PROCESSING CHART

GREEN TEA

Production

After the leaves are plucked, they're heat treated either by pan-frying or steaming (a process also called kill-green), producing different flavors and halting natural oxidation. Afterwards it's rolled, breaking down the cell walls to release more flavor compounds and lower moisture content. It is then rolled further into the desired shape (like the needle shapeof sencha) or shaped into another form (like the flat longjing). The tea is ready after being dried completely. Sometimes there are extra steps after drying.

Flavors

• If Pan-Fried: light, nutty, slightly sweet, grassy, herbal
• If Steamed: more grassy, seaweed-y, umami, fresh, floral

PU'ERH

Production

The initial process is similar to that of green tea (kill-green, rolling, drying). There are two types of pu'erh: shou (cooked) and sheng (ripe).
Shou is made by re-moistening the leaves, stacking them in piles in a hot, humid, climate-controlled room to ferment and covered wth a cloth or tarp. Fungi and bacteria start the fermentation process, raising the pile's internal tempreature. The process lasts a total of 45-60 days.
Sheng is made by pressing the partially processed tea into a cake, with the entore fermentation process happening naturally. The process lasts years and yields unpredictable results.
Afterwards the tea is dried and usually pressed into a cake/brick

Flavors

• Shou: smooth, spicy, earthy, soil-like
• Sheng: wildcard

WHITE TEA

Production

The tea is picked and dry. That's it. Sun vs heat drying influences the flavor to some degree. Buds are often used instead of leaves.

Flavors

REMAINING TYPES UNDER CONSTRUCTION