Types of Tea

When we go to "Yum Cha" in Chinese restaurants, the more popular teas are Jasmine tea, Tieguanyin, Pu-erh tea etc., but how many types of tea in the world?

In general, tea can be divided into six main types, namely green tea, yellow tea, white tea, oolong tea, black tea and dark tea. The classification is based on the producing process, i.e. the level of fermentation.

Tea comes from a special type of tea plants. Because its tea leaves are rich in polyphenols and other healthy ingredients, it is said that drinking tea is healthy. The fermentation methods of the tea making process can generally be divided into non-fermentation, partial fermentation, complete fermentation and post-fermentation.

In theory, each tea plant can be made into these six types of tea with different levels of fermentation, but each tea plant has its own uniqueness, which lies in which type of tea it is suitable for and tastes better.

Catechin, the most important antioxidant in tea, will decrease with the level of fermentation. The caffeine that helps to refresh depends on the type of tea.

Green tea and yellow tea are not fermented (or slightly fermented) tea, so it retains the most catechins with antioxidant effects, and the caffeine content is also the lowest. While white tea and oolong tea are partially fermented, catechins are in the middle level. Black tea is a fully fermented tea with the least catechin content but higher caffeine. Dark tea is different, it is a post-fermented tea (such as Pu-erh tea) that is fermented from green tea and contains lower caffeine.