Walk into a tea shop and you might see green tea, white tea, oolong and black tea sitting side by side. With such different colours, aromas and flavours, it is easy to assume they come from completely different plants.
But many of them share the same origin: the tea plant, Camellia sinensis.
So how can one plant produce so many different kinds of tea? A large part of the answer lies in what happens after the leaves are picked.
One Plant, Many Different Teas
The difference between major tea categories is not simply the colour of the leaves.
After harvesting, tea leaves can be withered, heated, rolled, oxidised and dried in different ways. The choices made during processing have a major influence on the final aroma, colour and flavour of the tea.
One particularly important process is oxidation. When tea leaves are exposed to oxygen after picking, chemical changes begin to take place. Controlling this process helps tea makers create very different styles from the same plant.
Green Tea: Fresh and Minimally Oxidised
Green tea is processed to limit oxidation soon after the leaves are picked.
In Chinese tea production, this often involves heating the leaves, which helps preserve their greener colour and fresher character.
The result can range from vegetal and grassy to sweet, nutty or lightly roasted. Longjing, or Dragon Well, is a well-known example, recognised for its distinctive flat leaves and delicate roasted notes.
White Tea: Simple, but Not Ordinary
White tea goes through relatively little processing.
The young leaves and buds are generally withered and dried, allowing some natural oxidation to take place without the extensive rolling or shaping used for many other teas.
This gentle approach can produce subtle flavours, often with delicate floral, sweet or hay-like notes.
Its appearance may look simple, but that simplicity is part of what gives white tea its distinctive character.
Oolong Tea: Somewhere in Between
Oolong is one of the most varied tea categories because it is partially oxidised.
Depending on how it is produced, an oolong can be light, floral and fresh or deeper, roasted and more full-bodied.
This wide range is one reason exploring oolong can be particularly interesting. Two teas within the same category can offer surprisingly different experiences.
Black Tea: Deeper and Fully Oxidised
Black tea undergoes much more oxidation than green or oolong tea before it is dried.
This creates darker leaves and generally produces richer flavours, which may include malty, fruity, honeyed or sometimes slightly smoky notes depending on the tea.
Interestingly, what English speakers call “black tea” is known as hong cha (红茶) in Chinese — literally “red tea”, referring to the reddish colour of the brewed tea rather than the dry leaves.
So, Which Tea Should You Try?
There is no single “best” category. It comes down to the flavours you enjoy.
Hidden East | The Baijiu Collection