How to understand and differentiate tea (not only) for beginners.

by Will Battle (from Eighty Degrees, issue 01)

The world of tea can be a maze of terminology and confusion for many. In our search for classification and order, we run the risk of putting off would-be devotees who are afraid of perpetrating some sort of etiquette error. I worry that, as fine and rare tea spills into the mainstream, an emperor’s new clothes mystique is developing around the product that could ultimately act to dissuade the young enthusiasts the industry needs. So, here follows a terminology-free introduction to the world of tea — may it educate and inspire a search for great tea.

The basis of any classification of tea is usually related to the degree of oxidation to which the tea has been subjected — much like the browning of the flesh of an apple. As oxidation influences flavour, not only is it crucial for the development of its taste, but it also impacts on the method you should choose for brewing. Oxidation influences the colour of the leaf, and because of this we get the most frequently encountered classifications: green and black. But before any oxidation can happen, the producer needs some leaf to work with, hence the start point for any tea is the plucking process.

Plucking

The ostensibly simple act of removing leaf from a tea bush can be performed in a number of ways. Machines may be more suited to high-wage economies such as Argentina or Japan, whilst plucking by hand is still common in parts of Africa and India. The question of whether a tea has been manually or machine-plucked is less material than the leaf itself. 

The best-quality leaf is the youngest growth, found on the uppermost part of the bush. Tea producers talk about “fine” plucking, which takes just the youngest leaf, usually two leaves and the bud, or “coarse" plucking in which three or more leaves and the bud may be removed. We all prefer young tender leaf, as this has a higher concentration of all those natural things that give tea its characteristic taste and appearance, and it usually follows that manual plucking is the optimum method to achieve this, but that is not to say that excellent machine-plucked tea cannot be found. 

The long-term future of tea harvesting is one of mechanisation, which permits higher wages to be paid and potentially, through bringing greater wealth to producing communities, gives those growing up around tea gardens options outside of tea. We should, therefore, base our tea selection more on questions of taste than discriminating whether it has been harvested by human hand. Japanese tea growers produce outstanding steamed green teas, usually as a consequence of mechanical harvesting, so we should remember that it is the final product that counts, not how it gets there. Plucking is the cornerstone of good tea-making and when done well it gives the producers the very best materials to work with.

Oxidation… or not

It is at the factory that the green leaf becomes one of a number of different tea types, depending upon its treatment by the tea-maker. The most common types are black and green tea, together accounting for more than 95% of the world’s tea, but with white, dark, yellow and wulong teas also as potential alternatives. The key differentiator usually lies in oxidation: whether the tea has been more completely oxidised as in a black tea, or has remained unoxidised as with typical green teas. There are, however, a number of other key stages of the journey from green leaf to made tea that should be understood.

Black tea (not to be confused with dark tea) is the most popular tea, accounting for around 70% of the world’s tea. Upon arrival in the factory, it is subjected to a lengthy spell of withering in which leaf moisture is reduced and certain enzymatic changes start to take place within the leaf. At this stage, a seductive aroma starts to manifest itself around the leaf, which is steadily becoming flaccid. After a period of around 12 hours, the leaf is ready for processing. 

Black teas are the result of two methods in which cell walls are broken down to allow oxidation to occur: orthodox or CTC (crush, tear, curl). The orthodox process, as the name suggests, is a more traditional method in which tea is twisted in a machine that replicates the rolling of tea in the palms of the hand. Orthodox teas yield a mellow, lighter, milder and lighter-coloured liquor (the tea taster’s name for the brew); whereas CTC is a style that has grown in tandem with the tea bag, giving the tea its characteristic granular appearance by crushing and tearing the leaf in a series of rollers, resulting in a quicker-brewing and stronger tea.

There is a school of thought that characterises orthodox as inherently good and CTC as an evil newcomer — this is a crass over-simplification when, in fact, there are good and bad versions of both. For a strong cup of morning tea to be consumed with milk and accompanying a fry-up, there is not much to beat a full-bodied strong CTC-based blend, whilst a subtle refreshing afternoon cup of tea will be more suited to a predominance of orthodox in the blend. As with many food products, there is much snobbishness, and enthusiasts should be guided more by taste than process.

Following the orthodox or CTC process, the leaf is permitted some time to react with the oxygen in the air, a period that sees it change colour from green to a coppery brown. Simultaneously, it also undergoes an evolution of flavour from greenish, raw, grassy notes to the characteristic taste we all recognise in tea. Oxidation is halted via exposure to high temperatures in a dryer — a measure that de-activates the enzymes that have been key elements in the reaction. The leaf is then sorted into different sizes and packed into cartons or foil-lined sacks.

Selecting and brewing a black tea

At this point, you have the option of buying one of a number of different leaf grades: from the smallest dusts to the largest pekoes (highest grade, young leaves). Furthermore, there is a choice between more fibrous off grades, that may contain the leaf veins or pieces of stalk, and the cleaner, blacker main grades that contain just the leaf. The rule of thumb I always apply is that the taste of a tea is more important than its appearance. Hence, just because a tea is a large particle size and carries a grand-sounding leaf grade such as FTGFOP1 (Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe 1 — the highest grade of Indian teas), it is potentially no better, or may even be worse, than a less grand-sounding leaf grade from a superior tea producer.

Green tea

The lack of an oxidation stage in green tea manufacture is the fundamental difference between green and black teas. Green teas are usually further identified according to their processing methods — roasting or steaming. Both processes involve heat, which forces oxidation to stop and creates a green tea.

When this heat is applied at the beginning of the process, enzymes become deactivated whilst the leaf is still in its green form, allowing the leaf to retain its green colour, as well as the characteristic profile and typical taste of a green tea.

Steamed or roasted?

Whilst we sometimes think of green tea as a style in its own right, in reality we ought to dive deeper into the process to understand how the heat has been applied, as this dramatically impacts on the taste of the tea. 

The méthode ancienne is to heat the leaf in a giant wok, now also electrically heated, but traditionally placed over fire. The exposure of a green leaf to a hot pan stabilises the product. A mechanised version applies for the green teas at the more mainstream end of the price scale, whilst handmade, pan-roasted teas at the more premium end of the market can command prices at the oligarch level. The typical taste notes of the latter involve fruity characteristics overlaid with elements of toastiness, while the liquors are usually straw coloured to amber. Watch out for hints of smokiness and rubber, which would suggest lack of diligence in roasting.

The Japanese industry has taken a different approach to its green teas, eschewing the hot pan and preferring to expose the green leaf to steam. Steaming is more effective at deactivating enzymes so a paler colour is retained than with panned green teas. However, this comes with more spinachy-vegetal notes as the predominant taste characteristic. The Japanese word for the teas made in this way is sencha, but there are multiple quality levels in Japan reflecting more attention to detail in the cultivation and factory processes.

Drinking green tea

Whilst most black teas benefit from being brewed in boiling water, green teas tend to perform better at lower temperatures — they permit the sweeter notes to develop in the brew without being hot enough to extract the more astringent ones. This becomes increasingly important for the better teas, especially really fine spring crop teas from China and top-end teas from Japan such as Gyokuro, where there is an additional intense sappy flavour to relish.

Other teas

We often think of teas as sitting in either the green or the black camp, and it is true that these constitute more than 95% of the world’s tea, but there remain four more exciting types yet to explore.

White tea

There is much written on the theme of what is and what isn’t white tea — much of it hyperbolic in nature. The earliest white teas hailed from Fujian province and were usually the product of an especially downy bush variety known locally as Da Bai (or Big White). This does not mean that good white teas must come from Fujian — almost every producing region from African Malawi to Indian Darjeeling now produces a white tea, many outstanding in quality.

The manufacture of white tea starts with a withering period which helps to create a small amount of oxidation (and releases a beautiful aroma), followed by drying and then packing. This minimal intervention tends to mean that most white teas are large in leaf size and the best variants are not packed in teabags. The most commonly seen versions are Silver Needle (yín zhēn 银针, which is the top grade and is comprised just of the bud, and Bai Mudan (also known as Pai Mu Tan 白牡丹 or White Peony), which also features one or two leaves alongside the bud. Both can be exquisite when hailing from the earliest spring crop and brewed at the same sort of temperature one may apply for a top-quality green tea. 

Wulong (oolong) tea

Often regarded as a middle ground between black and green tea, wulong is in reality much more than this, arguably requiring the highest expertise to produce really well. The home of good wulong tea is Fujian and Taiwan, which in any case has deep historical links to the mainland’s wulong producing areas. Nowadays though, good wulongs can be found as far afield as New Zealand and Thailand, where it is often produced by ethnic Chinese well-schooled in the art of wulong production. 

Wulong manufacture relies upon a source of high-quality leaf from special varieties of the tea bush that lend a distinctive characteristic. Plucked leaf is usually laid out in the sun for a period of solar withering before it is moved indoors for further withering. When the time is right — usually signalled by the intoxicating aroma permeating the room — the leaf is charged into a large wicker basket, the rotation of which results in each individual leaf bruising itself as it collides in the basket. This bruising means that the exterior edges of the leaf start to oxidise whilst the centre remains greenish. Basically, wulongs are teas that have been partially oxidised through this bruising.

What sort of wulong do you want?

Wulongs can occupy any point along the scale from very slight oxidation (lighter) to full-on, almost black tea (darker). It is up to the tea-maker to halt the oxidation process to suit the style of tea that he or she aspires to. The lighter greenish wulongs, depending upon the variety of bush, will carry a scent of honeysuckle and sweet pea — these are known as jade wulongs. The more famous variety here is arguably Jin Xuan (金萱 Golden Daylily), which delivers an especially distinctive lily character. The more oxidised variants — such as Oriental Beauty (also known as Champagne wulong or Baihao 白毫) — carry a Darjeeling-esque quality, whilst others may undergo a secondary baking process to become loosely grouped as amber wulongs. These work very well as after-dinner teas due to the loss of much of their caffeine during baking. Light wulongs can be brewed more like high-quality green teas, whilst amber wulongs can handle a higher temperature.

Yellow tea

What? 

There remain even professional tea tasters who have never tasted a yellow tea, so rarely are they found. Yellow tea starts its life much like a roasted green tea with a withering, roasting and rolling phase. However, what differentiates it is a period of yellowing, often known as sweating, in which the leaf in its pre-drying phase is allowed to mature in humid conditions, often overnight. This yellowing gives the tea a complexity and sweetness that replaces the otherwise-greenish notes of a typical green tea.

Due to its complex production involving ambient temperature and leaf moisture as key variables, making yellow tea remains the domain of the skilled artisan. Hence, because good yellow tea is as rare as hen’s teeth, we occasionally find imposters claiming yellow tea provenance and pricing despite more humble origins. 

Brewing should be much as for a good green tea at between 70°–80℃, with variations in the process and the seasonality bringing a diversity of tastes to the finished tea: notes of chocolate in some, a floral character in others. Arguably the most famous yellow tea is Jun Shan Yin Zhen (君山银针) from Hunan province which, with its silvery-yellow needles and astronomical price tag, screams for multiple brews.

Dark teas

Our final category is dark tea, the most famous of which is pu’er, named for the Yunnanese county where such teas were traditionally traded. Today, there are multiple dark teas produced both across the border in Laos and Myanmar, as well as elsewhere in China. Dark teas are so called because of a microbial fermentation period that acts to darken the leaves, but also has the effect of lending secondary flavours to the liquor. 

There are a number of variations of the process in making dark tea. The more accelerated and cheaper method is known in Yunnan as shou (or ripe), in which a moistening and heaping process creates in around 40–50 days a blackish, full-bodied tea with notes of freshly-tilled earth and farmyard, on better exemplars not unlike a well-aged Burgundy. 

The more traditional method is known as sheng (or raw), in which sun-dried green tea is processed into a compressed cake and permitted to age in relatively humid conditions that permit it to evolve in taste and develop greater complexity. Such teas, due to their rarity, offer the potential for financial speculation and price bubbles, resulting in brief periods of frenetic trading, when fortunes are made and lost. Sheng teas, for those lucky enough to taste them, may have a musty honeyed sweetness or, indeed, a variety of characteristics depending upon the storage conditions they have undergone. 

Experts will recommend brewing dark teas at around 90℃, but drinkers should be wary of temperatures much lower than 80℃, given that a key stage of the manufacturing process is sun-drying with the inevitable risks passing birdlife carries on more artisanal examples.

Next steps 

Go and explore. Don’t be put off by the terminology and snobs. The great thing about tea is that you can discover its incredible variety on any budget at your own pace and access a remarkable new world of flavour and cultures.

Will Battle is a UK-based tea wholesaler.  His business, Fine Tea Merchants, imports and supplies small and medium-sized tea companies in the UK and Europe. Will’s book, The World Tea Encyclopaedia, won a Gourmand World Cookbook Award for 2018.