What is Tea?
Tea or cha (茶) is a word that refers to a drink made by infusing parts of a specific plant called Camellia sinensis (and other closely related species of Camellia)in water. Tea plants vary in size from small shrubs to tall centuries old trees.
Where is tea from?
People have been cultivating and making food and beverages out of tea for almost 5000 years. But making tea by steeping dried loose leaves only became common about 800 years ago during the Ming dynasty in China. Tea is native to an area of east Asia that today includes southwest China, northern Myanmar, and far eastern India.
Today tea is grown all over the world, from Scotland, to Argentina, to New Zealand, but the three most well known regions that focus on high quality processing and growing of tea are China, Taiwan, and Japan.
What about herbal teas?
There are many other drinks made from plants, such as rooibos, mint, or chamomile to name a few. These are often referred to as teas, or herbal teas, but they are in fact more correctly referred to as herbal infusions, or tisanes, as they are not made from the Camelia sinensis plant, but from various others. You’ll often find blends of real tea, and herbs or spices as well, or tea scented with flowers such as jasmine, or osmanthus, this is still tea, but not in it’s purest form, and often not of high quality.
Can you get decaf tea?
All tea naturally contains caffeine.
Some tea is decaffeinated through an intense process that has many other effects on the end product.
You might have heard that some types of tea have less or more caffeine than others, this is not really true, most tea has similar levels of caffeine. However due to the presence of an amino acid in tea called L-theanine that binds with the caffeine, the high associated with caffeine present in other drinks like coffee is generally less of a spike and more of a sustained buzz. Green tea generally has higher levels of theanine compared to black tea, so while the caffeine levels are similar, the way it affects your body are different.
If you want to drink a tea with a lower amount of caffeine, I recommend drinking a herbal infusion instead, or a dark roasted tea such as the Japanese Houjicha (roasted green tea), or a Taiwanese Dark roasted oolong, the caffeine in heavily roasted tea is generally less accessible than usual.
Finally Camellia crassicolumna var. multiplex is a close relative of the tea plant that’s found in Yunnan, and has similar properties to Camellia Sinensis but does not appear to contain caffeine. Crassicolumna plants are rare, and endangered.
What are the tea types? What do they mean?
There are thousands of individual varieties of tea in the world, but most of them can be broken down into six categories based on how they’re processed, these are:
The least processed type of tea, fresh leaves and buds are allowed to whither naturally, and then are lightly heated and dried (usually in the sun). As a result of this lack of processing white tea is the most naturalistic category, and because the oxidization level is not fully sealed in, it will very slowly oxidize over time, changing the flavour, white tea often improves with age. White tea is named as such due to the white fuzzy hair that remains present on the leaves after processing. Due to the lack of any shaping, rolling or other compression, white leaves are much more dense than other tea leaves, and can break easily if not stored carefully.
Green tea tries to capture the fresh flavour of tea the most, shortly after picking it is quickly transported to a processing facility where it is subjected to a process known as fixing, kill-green, or shāqīng (殺青), this involves heating the tea with steam, or roasting in a large pan or heated chamber. This process prevents the tea from oxidizing over time and seals in the fresh flavour, the leaves are then rolled or shaped and finally dried. Green tea is named for the colour of the liquor when brewed, and the colour of the leaves.
Green is the least shelf-stable category of teas, and will gradually go stale over 1-2 years, you can refrigerate green tea to extend it’s freshness, however before you open the bag you will need to give the tea ample time to come back up to ambient temperatures to avoid condensation making the leaves damp and ruining them. I’d recommend waiting at least half a day before opening a bag you’ve taken out of the fridge. If you choose to store your green tea in the fridge, make sure it is completely sealed, and not sharing the space with any pungent or highly aromatic food.
Yellow Tea:
Yellow tea is exceedingly uncommon, and is not very different from green tea, the main difference is that after the kill-green process is performed, the tea is then sweltered, or yellowed, this involves heating the warm, damp leaves in a closed container, which causes the leaves to turn yellow. The leaves are heated to temperatures close to 40°C for up to 8 hours. As well as changing the colour of the leaves, this also removes some of the grassy aromas that are common to green tea, and gives it a more mellow and brisk taste.
Oolong has the most involved processing method of all tea types, methods vary but after some time wilting in the sun or in a controlled indoor environment, the leaves are usually tossed in baskets to bruise them, which speeds up the oxidation process, after they’re oxidized to the desired amount (this varies drastically from roughly 10%-85% oxidization), they then halt the oxidization with the kill-green method, either roasting them in a pan or baking them in an oven, they’re then shaped (often rolled into balls) and dried, and finally in the case of roasted oolongs: fired, often with charcoal to imbue a specific roasted flavour profile to the tea.
Because oolong is such a broad spectrum of teas, it’s often subdivided further into regional categories, these include but are not limited to, Anxi Oolongs, Wuyi Oolongs (or Yancha), Fenghuang (Phoenix) Oolongs (Dancong oolongs are from Fenghuang), and Taiwanese Oolongs. Oolongs are produced in other regions as well, and there is plenty of variation within these regions, especially in Taiwan. You’ll also find Wuyi style oolongs being produced in Taiwan, and Taiwanese style oolongs being produced in China.
Known as red tea in most of Asia for the colour of the liquor, but black tea in the west for the colour of the leaves. This tea is defined by being very highly oxidized from 85 to 100% oxidization. It is processed similarly to Oolong, but the tea is more heavily bruised and left longer to allow it to fully oxidize, then the kill-green is skipped since it’s not necessary and the leaves are directly rolled and dried.
Due to being much more shelf-stable than Green tea, and being easier to process compared to Oolong, black tea is the default tea for most of the western world, it was the first tea exported from China to Europe and America, and is what most people are familiar with drinking in their teabags, boba, and milk tea. The standard teabag style black tea is generally made from a blend of Indian, Sri Lankan, and Kenyan leaves processed using the Crush, Tear, Curl (CTC) method that is highly efficient and results in a very quick to infuse, strong, tannin-rich brew ideal for dilution with water, milk, or sugar, however due to the lack of care taken during processing, the leaves are not left whole and lose much of their quality. Whole leaf black tea from China or elsewhere that’s processed using more orthodox methods tastes quite different and is a lot more nuanced, often having more fruity, sweet, rich, and savoury flavours.
Due to the heavy bruising and rolling that black tea undergoes during processing, the oils that imbue flavour are present mostly on the surface of the leaves, this means black tea infuses very quickly, so it will get bitter if you let it steep for too long. So I’d advise to experiment with your brewing times for black tea (start very short and work your way up), to get the right balance between flavour and bitterness that suits you.
Hei cha meaning black tea (not to be confused with red tea), is named for the dark colour of the liquor if left long enough. It is a very old category of teas, defined by fermentation in the form of the presence of specific fungi, bacteria, or other microbial organisms. This is achieved in a variety of ways, the most common method is wet piling, in the case of Shou Puerh, or Liu Bao. This involves taking dried green tea or mao cha (mao cha has usually not been fixed at temperatures as high as traditional green tea) and stacking it in large piles, then spraying them with water, these piles are then left, being turned occasionally for several weeks to ferment. Once sufficient fermentation has occurred the leaves are then heated and dried to remove excess moisture, and either stored loose, or often pressed into cakes, bricks, or other shapes for long term storage.
The end result of hei cha is often stored for many years before drinking, which allows the flavours to mellow out, it will also eventually reach full oxidization, like black tea, but will taste very different. Because of the storage conditions a lot of hei cha often has a rather dank, fishy, or earthy smell. The more fishy the more humid the storage conditions, increase humidity speeds up the aging of the teas, but the smell is the trade-off. If stored in a suitably dry environment for long enough, these smells should mostly go away, though this can take many years. The smells are generally not representative of the taste of these teas, when brewed for short durations they tend to be quite soothing and mellow, and have a very wide range of flavours due to a breadth of extra factors that can lead to variations in taste due to their extended processing and aging.
The most famous of hei cha is shou pu’er. Sheng pu’er is not intentionally fermented, but often does attain some form of fermentation after years of aging, it is not commonly considered hei cha however. Shou pu’er is also generally not referred to as hei cha, but just as shou or shu pu’er.
There are outliers that don’t clearly fit into these categories, and additional labels such as Purple Tea, that refer to a genetic colour variation in the plant, rather than any particular processing method, but for the most part the majority of tea will fit into one of these six categories.
How do I know what type of tea to try?
Here are some personal suggestions:
If you want something light and refreshing, to drink on a hot day, or to just chuck in a cup with some water I recommend green, or yellow tea (if you don’t like the vegetal notes, or want to try something different), just don’t use water that’s too hot, I recommend 70°C-75°C for most Japanese green tea and 75°C-85°C for any other green or yellow teas.
If you want a nice allrounder that isn’t too strong or too light, or you want to experience an array of different flavours and try your best picking out as many different smelling notes and aromas as you can, I recommend oolong tea.
If you want something short and strong, but with nuance and sweetness, I recommend black/red tea.
If you want something light but very aromatic; floral, or fruity I recommend white tea.
If you want something unique and powerful that you can keep reinfusing forever, and don’t mind some funky smells I recommend hei cha, if you’re used to drinking painfully bitter coffee every morning, feel free to try and emulate this by steeping a shu puerh till the liquor is completely dark.
Within these categories, I’d recommend reading the descriptions and picking a few different options to try. These are just my personal recommendations so don’t tie yourself down to one type of tea, experiment and enjoy.
How do I get my water to a specific temperature?
There are several ways to get your water down to more suitable temperatures for fussy teas, the easiest way is to just use a thermometer or if you can afford it a temperature variable kettle. However assuming you don’t want to buy anything unnecessary, then all you need to do is follow some simple rules, and while you might not get the exact temperature you’re hoping for, you’ll be close enough.
If you have decent instincts you can make a good guess at what temperature the water is at based on the sound or the appearance of bubbles. Generally when the water first starts forming tiny bubbles on the surface and whining quietly it’s about 70°C which is perfect for Japanese green teas, wait a little longer and once the bubbles are a bit bigger and the noise a bit louder you’re closer to 80°C, and if you want water from 90°C to 95°C take it off the heat just a bit before it’s done, or just let it cool for a bit before pouring.
If you don’t have decent instincts then another method is heat transfer, as a rough rule if you pour boiling water into a room temperature glass or clay vessel, the water will heat up the vessel after about 20 seconds and decrease in temperature by about 10°C, (this means if you pour boiling water into a teapot or gaiwan without heating the vessel up first, you’re effectively brewing at closer to 90°C than 99°C). So if you want to cool your water enough for green tea, the classical method is to pour your water into the teapot, cooling it to 90°C, then into into the cups and back into the teapot, cooling it to around 80°C degrees, for Japanese teas just wait a bit before pouring the cups back into the teapot, another benefit of this method is you end up having the perfect amount of water to fill all your cups. If you think it still feels a bit too hot, just wait a bit! Water from the hot tap in a standard home is usually about 55°C.
You can also mix in some cool water to your hot water to reduce the temperature, or use maths to calculate how long to wait for it to cooldown in your environment, but practice will make it a lot easier to go by ear.
What do I have to buy to make tea?
Nothing! Well nothing unless you want to, all you need is a mug or glass (that’s hot water safe), and the tea (a tea towel helps too if you’re clumsy like me). If you want a bit more control of the brewing process, I’d recommend the gaiwan, a simple lidded cup with a saucer to brew tea in and strain into your cup using the lid, you can also drink directly out of it. If you’re brewing for several people, then get yourself a pitcher and brew directly out of that, or pour your gaiwan into it to homogenize the strength of the tea and serve to everyone easily.
You can also use a teapot, it’s a little easier to pour with, depending on the material can alter the flavour of the tea (negatively and positively) and they look super cool. I wouldn’t recommend using a western style teapot unless you’re serving a lot of people, as they’re usually way too large, something from 100-200ml is ideal for up to 4 people.
As far as boiling your water goes, anything will do, though an electric kettle is extremely convenient, and some kind of spout rather than a lip is preferred for more controlled pouring. If you want to be fancy, and make your water a little more mineral rich in general, then you can try a Japanese tetsubin (cast iron) kettle) just make sure it’s not actually a teapot with a ceramic or enamel lining on the inside (real tetsubins are quite expensive). There are also clay kettles of varying quality out there that will have some affect on your water but it’ll depend heavily on the make-up and quality of the clay.
If you want to go even further and build yourself an elaborate gong fu cha style setup, then you could get some tea tools (tweezers, scoops, pokey sticks, etc), a tea tray, or tea boat, if you want to throw water everywhere, or just a simple kansui or waste water bowl (these are really helpful if you plan on brewing multiple sessions in a row, or one very long session).
But really all you need is tea and a mug.
What about iced tea?
I don’t know much about iced tea, but there are a few ways you can try to make it, and find out for yourself works best.
The simplest and maybe best way is cold brewing, you put some leaves in some water and put them in the fridge for 12 hours or overnight, I’d recommend trying 9g per 1L of water. It’s pretty much impossible for the tea to go bitter doing this, because the heat required for the bitter compounds in tea to be released is never present.
You can also brew your tea hot to the desired strength, and then put it in the fridge after it cools down. Or purposefully over-steep your tea so it’s really strong, then dilute it with cold water and put that in the fridge.
Finally if you want iced tea quickly, then you can try again over-steeping your tea hot, then adding enough ice cubes to it to bring it down to suitable temperature, without diluting you might have to do some maths to figure out how many you need.
You can also try the Japanese Kōridashi method where they place about 6g of leaf ontop of 100ml (100g) of ice cubes, then put a lid on the vessel and let the ice melt before drinking. Or you can add some hot water ontop of the ice to speed it up, but you’ll need to get the ratios right.