Tea 101

Previously, we started this series by easing the tea novice into the world of tea with black teas, green teas and oolongs. Today, we’ll go a little deeper and introduce yellow teas, white teas and flowering teas. According to The New Tea Companion (2015), these teas are “among China’s rarest teas.” Yellow tea is only produced in China – specially in the high mountains of Hunan, Zhejiang and Sichuan provinces. Like green teas, they are not oxidised but are largely fermented. This means that the processing journey is largely similar to green teas, but with an extra fermentation step, called “men huan”, or “sealing yellow”. Like white tea, yellow teas are harvested in early Spring, when leaves are still in their bud form – leaving a small window in which the tea can be picked. These buds are then pan-fried, and wrapped in a special cloth or paper, and stored in wooden boxes. The tea is refired and rewrapped periodically

read more Types of Teas (Part 2)