What is Tea?

Most people don't know the difference between white, green, black, and oolong tea. Rooibos is even stranger on it's own! Other than taste and color, most people probably couldn't tell you very much about these teas. Strangely enough, all these teas (except rooibos) are harvested from the same plant. The Camellia sinensis. The difference between these teas have to do with how much oxidation the leaf in question goes through. Not to go into too much detail about oxidation, but the simplest terms are: Oxidation is the loss of electrons or an increase in oxidation state by a molecule, atom, or ion.

On a small side note, we also have 'Kukicha' which is twig tea and made from the stems and twigs of the camellia rather than the leaves.

For those that have never seen a 'tea plant', here is a nice picture:



It's a beautiful plant and if you ever get the chance to actually handle one, I highly recommend it. To get an idea of how big one plant is...the flower is usually about 2-4 centimeters with about 7-8 petals. The leaves are about 4-5 centimeters long and about 2-5 centimeters wide, and contain about 4% caffeine. As for height, they can grow higher than six feet and are considered a tree or a shrub.

White tea is taken from the buds and younger leaves. It's allowed to wither naturally in the sun light before placed through production to prevent further oxidation. White tea also tends to contain more of the natural 'goodness' that is in tea. White tea also contains less caffeine than other teas (with the exception of rooibos).

Green tea leaves are just barely more developed than white tea and put through the bare minimum of oxidation. This gives it that 'bitter' taste people associate it with. Unless specifically stated on the packaging, green tea contains caffeine.The amount varies per cup and how many leaves you use and such, but a good way to judge is the average serving of brewed coffee contains 145 mg of caffeine, the same serving size of green tea provides 25 mg. That isn't perfectly right, but it's about as close as you can get. The average serving would be an 8oz cup.

Black tea is a very highly oxidized tea. More so than white, green, and oolong. It also contains the most caffeine. Despite it being called a 'black' tea, the color is actually a rich reddish color. Strange since rooibos is the 'red tea'. Where green tea tends to lose it's flavor after sitting on the shelf for a year or so, black tea travels and sits much better. It can hold it's flavor for several years of shelf life. This makes it one of the most widely traveled teas (in the past and before better shipping methods emerged). Some of the most well known tea blends are made from black tea. Such as Earl Grey, English Breakfast, and Irish Breakfast. If green tea provides about 25 mg of caffeine per average serving, black tea provides about 45-60 mg; so this is not the tea for people trying to avoid caffeine.

Oolong tea is withered under a strong sun and then highly oxidized to get it's flavor and 'curled' look. It is one of the only teas that you can use the same leaves more than once. Most teas lose much of their flavor after the first brew, but oolong can be used 2-4 times and still maintain much of the flavor. While it's hard to pin point how much caffeine is in oolong, it is less than black and green tea.

Another, strange, tea is Pu-erh tea. I've never tasted this tea before, but I've seen it and plan on tasting it sometime in the future. The strange thing about this tea is that it's compacted very tightly into a ball. It's sometimes called 'dark tea'. While with other teas you just want to heat the water, not boil it, with Pu-erh you have to boil the water. Since many forms of Pu-erh are sold in brick or large ball form, you'll need a knife/letter opener/pu'er knife to pry chunks off.  Or you can steam it and flake pieces off for brewing.

Rooibos is one of the only teas not made from the Camellia plant. It is grown in South Africa and considered the 'red bush' or 'red tea'. It is also considered an herbal tea. Rooibos comes in two specific types. Red and Green. Red is more easily produced and oxidized, while the Green is unoxidized and much harder to produce (it's produced much like green tea is and is more expensive than the 'red'). It is commonly drank with a slice of lemon  and sugar or honey to sweeten. Though many do drink it naturally because it is said to have a sweet, nutty flavor on it's own. The color of natural rooibos tea is a beautiful, deep amber color. This is also one of the only teas I've had to fight with. The fine, needle like leaves slip through even my mesh tea ball. I had to wrap it in cheese cloth and stuff it into my tea ball. Rooibos is also naturally caffeine free!

Rooibos Plant:



Well...I've rambled on long enough. I hope some people found this informative.

~Teacup Fairy