(I) Green Tea
Green tea is made by first subjecting the freshly picked tea leaves to high-temperature fixation, which kills various oxidizing enzymes and keeps the tea leaves green. Then, the leaves are rolled and dried. Clear soup and green leaves are the common characteristics of green tea in terms of quality. Based on different fixation and drying methods, green tea can be further divided into four types: steamed green tea, pan-fried green tea, oven-dried green tea, and sun-dried green tea. Green tea made by steam fixation is called “steamed green tea”. If the final drying is done by frying, it’s called “pan-fried green tea”; if it’s dried by baking, it’s called “oven-dried green tea”; and if it’s dried in the sun, it’s called “sun-dried green tea”.
Steamed green tea is the oldest type of tea. The steamed loose green tea that emerged in the Tang Dynasty has continued to this day, and similar production methods are still retained in many places. “Enshi Yulu” from Hubei Province, “Yangxian Tea” from Yixing, Jiangsu, as well as Gyokuro and Sencha in Japan all belong to steamed green tea. The “matcha” commonly used in the Japanese tea ceremony is finely ground steamed green tea.
Pan-fried green tea is the most widely produced and distributed type of green tea in China. According to the different shapes of the finished tea, there are long-fried green tea, round-fried green tea, and flat-fried green tea. Long-fried green tea is simply referred to as fried green tea. Famous fried green teas include “Wulv Fried Green Tea” from Wuyuan, Jiangxi, “Tunlv Fried Green Tea” from Tunxi and Xiuning in Anhui, “Suilv Fried Green Tea” from Chun’an in Zhejiang, and “Yulv Fried Green Tea” from Henan. After refined processing, the products of fried green tea are collectively called “Mei Tea” and are mainly exported to European, Asian, and African countries such as Morocco. Round-fried green tea is mainly Zhucha. Zhucha is a specialty of Zhejiang. It has a round and compact shape, a high fragrance, a strong taste, and good resistance to brewing. It is mainly sold to countries in Western and North Africa. In addition, in addition to ordinary pan-fried green tea, the pan-fried green tea made by carefully selecting tender buds and leaves and using different craftsmanship is collectively called “tender pan-fried green tea”. It has various shapes such as flat, curly, and straight. All kinds of famous pan-fried green teas developed and inherited in various places, such as West Lake Longjing, Lu’an Guapian, Anhua Songzhen, Xinyang Maojian, and Nanjing Yuhua Tea, all belong to this category.
Oven-dried green tea is simply referred to as oven-dried. Ordinary oven-dried green tea is not commonly drunk directly. It is usually used as the base tea for scented tea. In addition, the oven-dried green tea made by picking tender buds and leaves is called “tender oven-dried green tea”. Huangshan Maofeng, Taiping Houkui, Huading Yunwu, Gaoqiao Yinfeng, and Yongchuan Xiuya all belong to this category.
Sun-dried green tea is mainly produced in Sichuan, Yunnan, Hubei, Guangxi, Shaanxi and other provinces (autonomous regions). Except for a part of sun-dried green tea that is drunk in loose form, most of the raw materials of sun-dried green tea are relatively coarse and old, and are mostly used to press compressed tea, such as “Qingzhuan”, “Kangzhuan”, and “Tuochai”.
(II) Black Tea
The raw materials of black tea leaves are the same as those of green tea. However, instead of high-temperature fixation, it is made by withering, rolling, then fermenting to make the leaves turn red and finally drying. The quality characteristics of black tea are red soup and red leaves. Black tea can be divided into three types: souchong black tea, congou black tea, and broken black tea.
Souchong black tea is a unique type of black tea in Fujian Province. Its manufacturing method is special. When drying, it uses pine firewood for burning and fumigation, so the tea has a pine smoke fragrance. Famous souchong black tea includes Lapsang Souchong, Waishan Souchong, and smoked souchong.
Congou black tea is a kind of fine and tight-strip black tea. It is produced in more than 10 provinces (autonomous regions) and is also a traditional export tea in China, which is exported to more than 60 countries and regions in Eastern and Western Europe. Famous congou black tea includes Qimen Hongcha (Keemun) from Anhui, Dianhong from Yunnan, Minhong from Fujian, Yihong from Hubei, and Ninghong from Jiangxi.
Broken black tea is a granular black tea made by chopping during processing. India and Sri Lanka mainly produce this kind of tea. China began to produce it in large quantities after the 1960s and it is the main product in the international tea market. When brewing broken black tea, the tea juice is extracted quickly and in large quantities. It is suitable for adding sugar and milk after one-time brewing and is the main type of “tea bags” that are popular internationally.
(III) Oolong Tea
Oolong tea belongs to semi-fermented tea and is a type of tea between non-fermented tea (green tea) and fully fermented tea (black tea). Its appearance color is bluish-brown, so it is also called “green tea”. After brewing oolong tea, the leaves are partly red and partly green. In typical oolong tea, the middle of the leaves is green and the leaf edges are red, and it has long been known as “green leaves with red edges”. This is because there are shaking and green-making processes in the manufacturing process of oolong tea, and the leaf edges are damaged and turn red due to shaking and collision. Oolong tea has a strong and mellow taste and a natural floral fragrance, and is very popular among tea drinkers in Hong Kong, Macau, and Southeast Asia. Oolong tea is mainly produced in Fujian, Guangdong, and Taiwan. Famous oolong teas include Wuyi Rock Tea from Chong’an in Fujian, Anxi Tieguanyin, Huangjingui, Dongding Oolong in Taiwan, and Taiwan Baozhong.
(IV) White Tea
White tea belongs to slightly fermented tea. The basic technological process is withering, sun-drying or oven-drying. White tea is usually made from varieties with a lot of white down on the buds and leaves. After drying, the finished tea is covered with white down, so it is named as such. The soup color and taste of white tea are relatively light. It is said to have the effects of clearing heat and detoxifying. White tea can be divided into bud tea and leaf tea. The one made from single buds is called “silver needle”, the one made from leaves is called “Shoumei”, and the one with buds and leaves not separated is called “White Peony”. White tea is mainly produced in Fujian, Guangdong and other provinces.
(V) Yellow Tea
Its quality characteristic is yellow soup and yellow leaves, which is the result of yellowing by piling and stewing during the tea-making process. Famous yellow teas include Junshan Yinzhen and Weishan Maojian in Hunan, Mengding Huangya in Sichuan, Huoshan Huangya and Huangda Tea in Anhui, Pingyang Huangtang in Zhejiang, Yuan’an Luyuan in Hubei, and Dayeqing in Guangdong.
(VI) Dark Tea
The basic technological process of dark tea is fixation, rolling, piling, and drying. Generally, the raw materials of dark tea are relatively coarse and old. In addition, the accumulation and fermentation time is usually long during the manufacturing process, so the leaf color is black or dark brown, so it is called dark tea. Dark tea is mainly produced in Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guangxi and other provinces (autonomous regions). Dark tea is the raw material for making compressed tea (brick tea, cake tea, etc.). It is mainly sold to Tibet, Qinghai, Xinjiang and other provinces (autonomous regions) and is the main type of tea favored by ethnic minorities.
★ Re-processed Tea
(I) Scented Tea
It is fragrant tea made by blending and scenting tea leaves with fragrant flowers, so that the tea leaves absorb the floral fragrance. It is also called smoked flower tea. The fragrant flowers used for scenting tea include jasmine, rose, chloranthus, Milan, daidai, pomelo, white orchid, osmanthus, gardenia, honeysuckle, etc. In addition to oven-dried green tea, in recent years, more tender green tea, Maofeng, Dafang, etc. have been used as the base tea for scented tea. Good tea paired with good tea makes the quality of scented tea more upscale. The intensity of the tea fragrance of scented tea depends on the amount of flowers used and the number of scenting times. The greater the amount of flowers used and the more scenting times, the stronger the floral fragrance. Famous producing areas of scented tea include Fuzhou, Suzhou, Jinhua, Guilin, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Chengdu, Taipei, etc. Scented tea is mainly sold to North China, Northeast China, Shandong, Sichuan and other provinces (autonomous regions).
(II) Compressed Tea
Various loose teas that are reprocessed by steaming and pressing into certain shapes are called compressed tea or pressed tea. According to the different types of raw material tea, it can be divided into four types: green tea compressed tea, black tea compressed tea, oolong tea compressed tea, and dark tea compressed tea. Green tea compressed tea includes Tuochai from Sichuan, Pu’er Fangcha from Yunnan, bamboo tube tea, and Baba Tea from Guangxi; black tea compressed tea includes Mizhuan Tea and Xiaojingzhuan from Hubei; oolong tea compressed tea includes Narcissus Cake Tea from Fujian; dark tea compressed tea mainly includes Tiejian, Heizhuan, Huazhuan, and Fuzhuan from Hunan, Laoqingzhuan from Hubei, Kangzhuan, Jinjian, Fangbao Tea from Sichuan, Jincha, Yuancha, Bingcha from Yunnan, and Liubao Tea from Guangxi.
(III) Extracted Tea
Using finished tea or semi-finished tea as raw materials, hot water is used to extract the soluble substances in the tea leaves. After filtering and discarding the tea dregs, the obtained tea juice is made into liquid tea with or without concentration. After concentration and drying, it is made into solid tea. The main products of extracted tea include canned beverage tea, concentrated tea, and instant tea.
(IV) Flavored and Fruit-flavored Tea
It is made by adding spices or fruit juices to semi-finished or finished tea products. This kind of tea has both the taste of tea and fragrance or fruit flavor, with a unique taste, meeting the needs of the modern market. The main flavored teas include clove tea, mint tea, and vanilla tea; fruit-flavored teas include litchi black tea, lemon black tea, kiwi tea, orange juice tea, coconut juice tea, hawthorn tea, strawberry tea, apple tea, longan tea, etc.
(V) Medicinal and Health-care Tea
Various health-care teas are made by blending and mixing tea leaves with certain Chinese herbal medicines or foods, which further strengthen some of the functions of preventing and treating diseases of tea leaves that already have nutritional and health-care effects. There are a wide variety of health-care teas with different effects (see the chapter on tea therapy prescriptions for preventing and treating diseases in this book). Health-care tea is very popular among consumers because it is convenient to drink and can achieve the purpose of health care.
(VI) Tea-containing Beverages
Tea juice is blended into beverages to make various tea-containing beverages, such as tea cola, tea soda, tea dew, tea music, multi-flavored tea, green tea ice cream, tea popsicles, tea champagne, tea wine, milk tea, etc. Tea-containing beverages are an expansion of tea products and have a very broad market prospect.
