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Most tea lovers know that every one tea comes from the identical plant – camellia sinensis. Whether or not you’re consuming inexperienced, black (also referred to as purple), oolong, pu-erh, or yellow tea, camellia sinensis is the steeped leaf you’re consuming. It may be type of astonishing to maintain this in thoughts as we get pleasure from so many various flavors and types of tea.
How can teas be so completely different and all come from the identical inexperienced leaves? The extraordinary distinctions of tea are a deep testomony to how versatile camellia sinensis is, and the way lengthy people have been working and designing tea. Relying on the tradition producing the tea and their specific types of manufacturing, processing and ending — the outcomes shall be very completely different — and make the world of tea so endlessly fascinating.
Tea leaves, Picture, Oleksandr Canary Islands
A case research of tea may start with inexperienced tea. Many Chinese language inexperienced teas are pan-fired, and most Japanese inexperienced teas are steamed, leading to two completely completely different experiences. This instance additionally works effectively in our introduction to tea, as a result of it’s additionally vital to needless to say there are a lot of exceptions to the overall guidelines that outline areas and kinds, akin to the truth that there are a number of uncommon, pan-fired Japanese inexperienced teas.
Inexperienced tea, Picture, Jia Ye
Earlier than launching our common overview, it’s vital to outline a phrase typically used on the earth of tea, cultivar.
When farmers deliberately develop crops to have significantly advantageous traits, they’re referred to as cultivars. The phrase cultivar is actually an abbreviation of cultivated selection. Over time, tea farmers have discovered methods to domesticate tea crops to yield the most effective outcomes for a specific geographic area, local weather, and style profile. There are millions of cultivars all over the world and tons of in Japan. Yabukita is by far the commonest cultivar in Japan, and others embrace Saemidori, Koshun and Okumidori.
With this in thoughts, let’s leap into our broad overview of every kind of tea, with an in-depth deal with the class of Japanese inexperienced tea!
WHITE TEA is a fragile and aromatic tea hailing from China. It’s referred to as white due to the fragile, wonderful white hairs that cowl its younger tea buds. White tea leaves endure minimal processing that features withering and drying.
YELLOW TEA is golden in coloration and has a light and mellow style. This can be very uncommon and solely produced in China. Buds and leaves are harvested after which wrapped in paper or fabric and left to dry for a number of days. This sluggish oxidation/micro-fermentation course of “seals the yellow.”
Oolong tea, Picture Jose Esquivel
OOLONG TEA is a standard tea that’s withered underneath the solar after which partially oxidized. The oxidation quantity will decide if the tea shall be inexperienced/lighter in coloration (oxidized round 30%) or deepen right into a darker shade (when oxidized round 70%). This partial oxidation is what offers oolong its character. After drying, leaves are basket-tossed (breaking down the cells of the leaves) and pan-fired, halting the oxidation course of.
Black tea leaves, Picture, Oleg Guijinsky
RED/BLACK TEA, known as “purple tea” in Japan and China and referred to as “black tea” within the West. It is a absolutely oxidized and fermented tea and one of the vital common on the earth. Widespread purple/black varieties are Darjeeling and Assam.
Black tea, Picture Reyhaneh Ahmadi
PU-ERH is called for a metropolis within the Yunnan province in southwest China, which is its origin. There are two sorts of pu-erh, Sheng Pu (uncooked pu-erh) which is pan-fired at a decrease temperature to permit some fermentation to naturally proceed, and Shou Pu (cooked pu-erh), which is manually fermented with helpful microbes and turns into a compressed black tea. Pu-erh ages effectively and the molded muffins could be extremely valued.
Natural tea, Picture, lil artsy
HERBAL TEA, aka TISANES are usually not truly teas as they don’t come from the camellia sinensis plant. They’re typically fabricated from herbs, akin to lavender, peppermint, or roots akin to cinnamon, or fruit, like an orange peel, or flowers, akin to hibiscus. Natural blends create wealthy and various flavors. Natural teas are additionally sometimes caffeine free until blended with an precise tea, (normally black.)
Lastly, we finish with inexperienced tea.
GREEN TEA, as we shared at the start of this put up, grown exterior of Japan is commonly pan-fired. In Japan, leaves are sometimes not pan-fired however steamed to neutralize lively enzymes and halt oxidation. After steaming, the tea leaf is withered after which manipulated (rolled by hand or allowed to twist) to attain the specified end earlier than steaming once more.
Inexperienced tea, Picture Na visky
A number of types of Japanese inexperienced tea:
煎茶 SENCHA: The most well-liked tea in Japan! Sencha leaves are steamed for between 60-90 seconds, which locks of their pure vegetal traits. This steaming course of accentuates the inexperienced spinach and asparagus-like notes.
番茶 BANCHA: Whereas the cultivation and processing of bancha are an identical to sencha, bancha is constituted of the tea leaves which are sorted after the harvest, tending to be bigger and extra coarse, and due to this fact thought-about to be of a decrease grade. The leaves are sometimes to be collected later within the season, generally the third or 4th flush. These leaves have decrease caffeine than sencha.
新茶 SHINCHA: The inexperienced tea leaves of the primary harvest are celebrated for his or her brilliant, sturdy freshness. These early leaves are normally collected within the spring and kick off the tea harvesting season in Japan.
粉茶 KONACHA: This tea is composed of the mud, flakes, tea buds and small leaves left behind after processing gyokuro or sencha.
釜炒り茶 KAMAIRICHA: It is a uncommon, pan-fired inexperienced tea and accounts for round 2% of Japanese tea manufacturing. It’s a centuries-old specialty and is also referred to as “Chinese language inexperienced tea.”
ほうじ茶 HOUJICHA: is a standard model of Japanese inexperienced tea made with bancha from the autumn and winter harvests. A further roasting transforms the leaf, making a clean, amber brew.
玄米茶 GENMAICHA: is a basic inexperienced tea, blended with toasted and popped rice.
茎茶 KUKICHA: also referred to as twig tea or bōcha (棒茶) is a mix of stems, stalks and twigs. Common kukicha comes from the manufacturing of sencha or matcha. When the tea materials comes from gyokuro manufacturing it’s referred to as karigane (雁ヶ音 / かりがね).
京番茶 KYOBANCHA: is a standard bancha roasted within the prefecture of Kyoto, famous for its smoky aroma and low ranges of bitterness, caffeine and astringency. In contrast to most Japanese teas, the leaves are usually not rolled and are a lot older and bigger than the leaves used for gyokuro and sencha.
かぶせ茶 KABUSECHA: is a high-quality, umami-rich inexperienced tea that’s shaded from the solar for round 10-14 days earlier than harvesting.
深蒸し煎茶 FUKAMUSHI SENCHA: tea leaves are steamed for an extended time than common sencha. This course of breaks them down and creates a deep inexperienced coloration and full wealthy taste.
玉緑茶 TAMARYOKUCHA: is a uncommon “coiled inexperienced tea” that’s steamed. It accounts for under 3% of all Japanese tea and is also referred to as guricha or mushiguri, which implies “curly tea” and “steamed curly.”
玉露 GYOKURO: This high-grade tea is shaded from the solar for as much as three weeks earlier than harvesting. It’s considered one of Japan’s best teas and excessive in amino acids. The shading slows the expansion and allows the tea extra time to develop depth and complexity. The brew is sort of broth-like, clean and wealthy, with no astringency. The tea is brewed in small portions at a decrease temperature, permitting for a number of infusions.
Matcha, Picture, Matcha & CO
碾茶 TENCHA: Tencha is the identify for tea leaves used for matcha earlier than they’re floor into wonderful powder. The leaves are shade grown, like gyokuro, however processed in a different way — the steamed leaves for tencha are dried however not kneaded, making it ideally suited for grinding into matcha powder and being whisked.
抹茶 MATCHA: The tea leaves used for matcha are shade-grown for 3 to 4 weeks earlier than harvest (tencha); stems and veins are eliminated throughout processing. The complete leaf is consumed when it’s whisked into sizzling water. That is extraordinarily wholesome and generally utilized in Japanese tea ceremonies.
We hope this intro to the distinctive world of tea can assist you begin tasting — and going deeper — with the various fantastic choices obtainable!
Featured picture credit score: Ben Moreland
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