food and beverage

Probably you are familiar with the Chinese saying
“Firewood
rice
oil
salt
sauce
vinegar
and tea are the seven necessities to begin a day.” Though tea is last on the list
we can still see how important the tea is for the Chinese.

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

Now
let’s take a look at these classes one by one.

Green Tea

Green tea is said to be the most natural type of Chinese tea. It is usually picked
naturally dried and fried briefly to get rid of its grassy smell. Unlike the other types
green tea skipped fermentation process.

According to some experts
green tea has the most medicinal value and the least caffeine content of all Chinese tea classes. The aroma of this type of Chinese type range from medium to high
while the flavor is usually light to medium. Today
about 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 that it is half fermented. Chinese also call it “Qing Cha” and its typical leaves are green in the middle and red on the edges as a result of the process to soften tea leaves.

Oolong tea leaves are basically withered and spread before undergoing a brief fermentation process. 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 while
and then roasted. The leaves of this variety become completely oxidized after processing.

Red Tea

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

White Tea

This type of Chinese tea is sometimes considered as subclass of green tea. Perhaps it is for the fact that it is only withered and then roasted. Just like green tea
white tea escaped fermentation process. And
it has low caffeine content.

Yellow Tea

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

Flower Tea

Here is a unique type of Chinese tea – the Flower tea. It actually subdivides into Flower Tea and Scented Tea. Well
the Flower Tea is just based on a simple concept that dried flowers are used
without much processing
to make tea. The Scented Tea
on the other hand
uses green tea and red tea as base and mix with scent of flowers. Generally
this class has light to medium flavor and medium to strong aroma.

Compressed Tea

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