Chinese Tea Types with Explain

Probably you know the Chinese saying, "Firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea are the seven necessities to begin a day." Although tea is last on the list, you can still see how tea is for the Chinese.

There are currently thousands of varieties of Chinese tea. They are usually classified by procedure, quality and methods of preparation and so on. However, if we consider tea in terms of quality, there are currently eight classes of Chinese tea. These include green tea, oolong, black, red, white, yellow, flower, and compressed tea.

Now let's look at these classes one by one.

Green Tea

Green tea is considered the most natural form of Chinese tea. It is generally chosen, naturally dried and fried briefly to get rid of the smell of grass. Unlike other types, green tea jumped fermentation process.

According to some experts, green tea has the value of most drugs and less caffeine content of all classes of Chinese tea. The aroma of this type of Chinese type range from medium to high, while the flavor is usually mild to moderate. Today, approximately 50% of China's tea is green tea.

Oolong Tea

This type of Chinese tea is halfway between green tea and black tea in a sense it is half fermented. Also called Chinese "Qing Cha" and its typical leaves are green in the middle and red on the edges as a result of the process to soften the tea leaves.

The oolong tea leaves are basically withered and spread before undergoing a process of fermentation of short duration. Then it is fried, rolled and roasted.

Black tea

The Chinese black tea produces full-bodied amber when brewed. Also, this type of Chinese tea undergoes withering, then left to ferment for a long time, then roast. The leaves of this variety become completely oxidized after processing.

Red Tea

As its name implies, this type of Chinese tea has red leaves and red tea. This color is strongly highlighted during the fermentation process. It is also considered that red tea has the aroma and flavor from low to medium, and is now divided into three subclasses: Kung Fu Red Tea, Ted Tea Bits, and smaller species of red tea.

White Tea

This type of Chinese tea is sometimes considered as subclass of green tea. Maybe for the fact that it is only withered and then roasted. Like green tea, white tea escaped fermentation process. And it is low in caffeine.

Yellow tea

Apparently, yellow tea has yellow leaves and yellow tea. According to some experts, this type of Chinese tea is an uncommon class of Chinese tea. The flavor of yellow tea is usually light and refreshing.

Flower Tea

Here is a unique type of Chinese tea - the tea flower. It is actually divided into a fragrant tea and flower tea. Well, tea flower rests on a simple concept that dried flowers are used without much treatment, to make tea. The fragrant tea, on the other hand, uses green tea and red tea as base and mix with the scent of flowers. In general, this class has a light flavor for medium and medium-sized companies with strong aroma.

Compressed Tea

The last type of Chinese tea is the compressed tea. This class uses black tea as the tea base. It is steamed and compressed into bricks, cakes, columns and other forms. Also, compressed tea has all the characteristics of black tea. It can be stored for years and decades.