General Types of Tea
Black Tea
It’s a strong flavored tea, characterized by dark brown or black leaves. It goes under complete oxidation, a process in which water evaporates entirely out of the leaves & the leaves absorb oxygen. Because these tea leaves undergo complete oxidization, they retain their flavor for more prolonged periods of time.
Cultivation of black tea leaves is native to mainland China, where it’s popularly known as ‘Red Tea’.
Black tea can be further classified, depending on their origin:
Keemun Black Tea
Yunnan Black Tea
Assam Black Tea
Darjeeling Black Tea
Nilgiri Black Tea
Ceylon Black Tea
Bai Lin Gong Fu Black Tea
Lapsang Souchong Black Tea
White Tea
If you fancy delicate taste & aroma, give white tea a try. It comes from the same plant as black tea, but the leaves are picked before they start to oxidize.
It has a naturally sweet flavor & is minimally processed. So, your cup of tea will taste almost the same as it would right after being picked from the plant.
White tea can be further categorized, depending on how it is graded:
Silver Needle
White Peony
Tribune Eyebrow
Long Life Eyebrow
Green Tea
It has a subtle flavor,
This is another light and delicately flavored tea which is prevented from excess oxidization by rapidly heating the leaves by pan-firing or roasting the leaves while the Japanese people usually prevent oxidization by steaming the leaves at high temperature. All these processes of prevention add a different flavor to the tea.
A straight of green tea without any flavor addition has a delicate test and aroma but, usually, it is consumed with scented flowers or fruits to add more flavor to it. Many other leaves and herbs often when ground and brewed like tea have a green appearance and are thus classified as green tea. Some of them are:
- Tencha: The tea leaves are covered for a good duration before plucking, and then the leaver is steamed and dried after which the veins and stem are removed from the leave leaving behind dry flakes which are used in and as sencha tea.
- Shincha: During the extreme winters all nutrient get stored in the shoots of the tea plant, The first picking of the season for tea is often called Shincha and it is very rich in its taste and nutrient content.
- Sencha: This is the most commonly available variant of Green tea, in this, the tea leaves are usually steamed and rolled up to make the crudest form of Green Tea.
- Fukamushi Sencha: The process of making Fukamushi Sencha is very similar to that of Sencha just the steaming time is doubled thus, giving it a stronger taste and a robust aroma.
- Gyokuro: This form of tea is grown in a manner which suppresses the stringent flavors and just keeps the richness intact.
- Genmaicha: Mix brown rice and green tea in half and half ratio and enjoy the delectable light flavor of the Genmaicha.
- Kabusecha: Similar to the Gyokuro tea just a little more strongly as the Gyokuro leaves are covered for a long time as compared to the ones picked for Kabusecha.
- Hojicha: Take any one of the green tea varieties and roast it to receive this highly aromatic tea. It has a light and savory taste which can be enjoyed by people of all ages equally.
Yellow Tea
Dark Tea
Pu-erh Tea
Herbal Tea
Rooibos Tea
Mate Tea
Oolong Tea
Blooming Tea
Matcha Tea
Types Of Tea According To Culture/Location
Masala Chai
Flower Tea
Fruit Tea
Leaf Tea
Barley Tea
Mushroom Tea
Pau d’arco Tea
A Nice Cup Of Tea…
If you’re a coffee person, you can read about types of coffee.
Ft. Image Credits – Drew Taylor on Unsplash.com