Learn More About Your Everyday Drink--Tea.

Tea is the second most widely consumed beverage in the world, just after water. A cup of finely brewed tea can sooth your mind, and provide you a reason to stop and think. Although slightly bitter and astringent, tea is still very popular among every generation and countries. Some tea (especially green tea) is also beneficial to human’s health and longevity since it provides significant antioxidant, flavanols, flavonoids, and polyphenols content.

From green tea to Oolong, from black tea to Pu-Erh, there are a lot of different kinds of tea in the world. During the processing of tea, one key factor to determine and classify the types of tea is using the degree of fermentation that tea leaves are allowed to sustain. Fermentation is an enzyme oxidation process that allowing the fresh-picked tea leaves to dry. This process can be stop by either pan-frying or steaming the leaves before they are completely dried out.

There are four classifications of tea according to the degree of fermentation, rolling, baking, and tealeaf maturity:

a)     Non-Fermented Tea: In this classification, tealeaf retains part of their original taste. The most well-known and popular green tea is part of this classification. Manufacturer use either pan-frying or steaming process to stop the fermentation. There are:

1.     a.Pan-Fried: Dragon Well (龍井), Xingyang Maojian (信陽毛尖), Biluochun (碧蘿春)

1.     b.Steamed:  Japanese Green Tea (Sencha)

b)     Semi-Fermented Tea: According to the oxidation degree of polyphenolic substances, tea which undergo 8%~60% fermentation falls into this class, including:

1.     a.Pouchong Tea (包種茶)
2.     b.Oolong (烏龍茶)
3.     c.Tung-Ting Oolong (凍頂烏龍茶)
4.     d.Ti-Kuan Yin (鐵觀音)
5.     e.Oriental Beauty Tea (東方美人茶)
6.     f .Herbal Tea
7.  

c)      Fully-Fermented Tea: All kinds of black tea are fully fermented, including Keemun Black Tea (祁門紅茶), Yunnan Black Tea (滇紅). 

d)     Post-Fermented: The famous Pu-Erh (普洱茶)is part of the post-fermented tea. It is fermented, stopped the ferment process, and then later fermented again.