Tea 101

Tea 101

This is an overview on tea and a great place to start for those beginning their tea journey. Many topics will be covered in greater detail in later posts.

Herbals/Tisane

When it comes to talking about tea I like to start with what is not tea to clear up some misconceptions. Tisanes, or more commonly called “herbal teas” are infusions made from herbs, spices, bark, fruit, roots, or other plant matter that do not come from the tea plant. They are usually caffeine-free and drank for medicinal and wellness purposes with each one having its own nutrients and biochemistry.

  • Chamomile
  • Lavender
  • Turmeric
  • Mint
  • Rooibos
  • Ginger
  • Passionflower
  • Yerba Mate

Photo by fotografierende from Pexels

So what is tea really? By definition it is a herb since the brew uses the leaf part of the plant, but it belongs to a specific plant family.

Camellia

A genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. There are at least 300 species and around 3,000 hybrids. Camellias are evergreen shrubs or small trees.
The species we are focusing on is camellia sinensis.

Photo by Mak on Unsplash

Camellia Sinensis

The tea plant is a species of flowering evergreen trees and bushes. In the wild, trees can grow over 50 feet tall. On average the bushes grow 3 to 6 feet tall and the trees grow 30 to 50 feet tall. The glossy leaves have an elongated oval shape, a smooth but leathery texture, net-like vein patterns and serrated edges.

image © Golden Monarch Tea LLC

There are three factors that determine the characteristics of any tea:

  • The specific variety or cultivar of the Camellia sinensis plant
  • The way the leaves are processed
  • The terroir in which the plants are grown

-Variety-

Varieties are members of a species with distinct characteristics that can interbreed. There are three varieties of Camellia sinensis:

  • Camellia sinensis var. sinensis (aka Chinese variety) has small leaves and are more compact. This sturdy plant has a greater resistance to cold and drought and can grow well at higher altitudes.
  • Camellia sinensis var. assamica (aka Assam variety) are known to have large, thick and board leaves. Better suited to tropical climates, this variety can survive regions with abundant and heavy rainfall.
  • Camellia sinensis var. cambodiensis is not normally used in tea consumption and rarely in cultivation but is used in hybridization with the other varieties to create new cultivars.

Open content Köhler’s Medicinal Plants, 1897

-Cultivar-

Cultivars are cultivated varieties that are scientifically developed for certain characteristics.

image © Golden Monarch Tea LLC

-Terroir-

The set of all environmental factors that affect a crop’s phenotype, including unique environment contexts, farming practices and a crop’s specific growth habitat.

image © Golden Monarch Tea LLC

Types of tea

All tea starts with Camellia sinensis and end in 6 main categories that are determined by oxidation and processing methods. The types, in order of least oxidized to most are:

  • Green Tea – This tea gets de-enzymed in a defining process called “kill-green” to keep it from oxidizing through the application of heat.
  • White Tea – The least handled or processed of all teas, the leaves are left to wither naturally. This causes very light spontaneous oxidation as the leaves and buds dry. White teas produce the most delicate flavors.
  • Yellow Tea – This type starts its processing the same as green tea. The defining process for the rare yellow tea is piling or sweltering. During this time, the tea ferments and chemical transformations take place that create yellow colored compounds that lend their hue and name to the tea.
  • Oolong Tea – Oolongs are the most unique and board category of tea because they can range from lightly oxidized to heavily oxidized and baked or aged in post-process. They are the most processed and usually comprised of unbroken leaves that are compacted in its defining process of rolling and shaping.
  • Black Tea – The most well known and popular tea in the US, Black teas are fully oxidized and are named for the dark color of the leaves. In China it is called red tea due to the red and cooper colors of the liquor.
  • Dark Tea – Teas that follow a post-process of fermentation giving it a characteristic flavor, dark liquor, and unique aroma. The most well-known is Pu-erh.

Oxidation

Very commonly is oxidation confused with fermentation. However, the two are very different chemical reactions. Fermentation requires bacteria, yeast, or other microorganisms for the breakdown of a substance. Oxidation, in the sense of tea production, requires exposure to air and is an enzymatic process that converts the smaller molecular weight polyphenols to larger molecular weight species such as theaflavins and thearubigins, reactions mediated by enzymes such as polyphenol oxidase and peroxidase. This causes the tea leaves to turn brown and changes its chemical makeup, aroma, flavor, and appearance.

Tea leaves in the first stages of withering beginning to oxidized © Golden Monarch Tea LLC

-Taste and Oxidation-

As oxidation levels increase the taste of tea changes from vegetal to floral to fruity to earthy.

              Vegetal                       Floral               Fruity                      Earthy

This just scratches the surface of the world of tea. If you’d like to know more, check out the Education page for detailed information.