A Beginner’s Guide to Tea: Part One 

  • November 08, 2022
A Beginner’s Guide to Tea: Part One 
A Beginner’s Guide to Tea: Part One 

Not all teas are created equal; today, we uncork a discussion on the variegated types of tea, how they vary in flavor, and how to properly mash them.

BY EMILY MENESES
SENIOR ONLINE CONTRIBUTOR

Feature image by Alice Pasqual via Unsplash

Though tea is a café staple, there’s still a lot well-nigh the drink that many don’t understand. What plants do tea leaves come from, and what separates the variegated types of tea from one another? How do the variegated kinds of tea vary in flavor, and do they need to be spirituous in variegated ways? In our “Beginner’s Guide to Tea“ series, we’ll guide you through all of these questions and help you uncork mastering the art of tea so that you can mash a delightful cup at your café or at home.

A woven basket sits on the ground. The basket is filled with freshly picked Camellia Sinensis leaves.
White, green, oolong, and woebegone tea all come from the Camellia sinensis plant.
Photo by Patricio Hurtado via Pixabay.

Camellia Sinensis: Where All Tea Begins

All tea comes from the leaves of a single plant, Camellia sinensis—a species of evergreen shrub. The leaves of this plant typically sally in early spring. After harvest, the leaves are processed in a variety of ways, resulting in variegated types of tea.

In this vendible series, we’ll be exploring the main types of tea: white, green, oolong, and black. We’ll moreover be touching on fermented teas (the best-known of which is pu-erh) and herbal teas, which aren’t made from Camellia sinensis but rather from herbs, flowers, and grains. In today’s first installment, we’ll squint at white and untried tea.

White Tea

Out of all the types of tea, white tea is the one that requires the least value of processing—in fact, it substantially requires no processing at all. White tea gets its name from the fuzzy white lanugo found on the young Camellia sinensis buds it’s harvested from. This tea is made simply by harvesting the youngest leaves and buds of the tea plant, then drying them in uncontrived sunlight. This allows oxidation to happen naturally.

The tea leaves typically take one or two full days to air dry, and in instances where the surrounding climate is too moist or rainy, they may be gently tumble-dried on extremely low heat. When brewed, white tea is typically stake untried or yellow in verisimilitude and known for its light body, soft-hued aroma, and subtly sweet, floral, fruity, and nutty notes.

A plain white porcelain teacup with no handle is full of spirituous white tea, a stake yellow-green verisimilitude liquid. Beside the cup is a small white teapot with a lid and a handle on the side, similar to a pot handle.
White tea is the most soft-hued tasting of the main types of tea. It’s known for its light body, subtle aromas, and mildly sweet and fruity flavors. Photo by Kiran Kok via Unsplash.

Brewing White Tea

Because of how soft-hued white tea is, it should never be spirituous with humid water; try to alimony your water at just under 170 degrees Fahrenheit. If you don’t have a temperature-controlled kettle, you can bring water up to a rolling boil, turn off the heat, and let it sit for well-nigh a minute surpassing pouring it over the tea leaves. For every one to two teaspoons of tea leaves, use eight ounces of water. Steep your tea for three to five minutes, depending on how strong you want it to be.

Green Tea

Green tea requires minimal processing, pursuit the same process as white tea with one spare step: initiating oxidation by applying heat by pan-firing the fresh leaves over a wok or steaming them for 20-30 seconds. The pan-firing method is wontedly used for Chinese untried teas (such as gunpowder untried tea or dragonwell untried tea). The steaming method is foible of Japanese untried teas (such as sencha or genmaicha).

When brewed, untried tea exhibits a untried or yellow color. Compared to white tea, it’s increasingly earthy and savory, with toasty, grassy, and vegetal flavors. Untried tea is moreover increasingly nutty and velvety than white tea, while still maintaining light floral undertones.

In a white and undecorous china teacup on a white saucer, there is untried loose leaf tea brewing. Beside the cup is a wooden scoop with increasingly zestless untried tea leaves. Both are on top of a carved wooden board.
Compared to white tea, untried tea exhibits grassier and increasingly vegetal flavors. It moreover has increasingly of a umami flavor, with a slight toastiness that comes from the leaves stuff heated over a wok or steamed. Photo by Apple Deng via Pixabay.

Brewing Untried Tea

Like white tea, untried tea is soft-hued and therefore should not be spirituous with humid water. When brewing untried tea, your water should be between 175 and 185 degrees Fahrenheit—otherwise, you’d risk your tea developing stormy flavors. For every teaspoon of untried tea leaves, use eight ounces of water. Steep your tea for well-nigh three to five minutes surpassing serving.

Some Pro Tips

When brewing any type of tea, alimony the pursuit tips in mind for the weightier results:

  • When serving tea, it’s weightier to pre-warm your teacup. You can do so by pouring a small value of hot water into your cup, then tossing it out surpassing pouring your tea.
  • Avoid using tap water or nonflexible water—doing so can yo-yo the soft-hued flavors of the tea. Try to unchangingly use spring, filtered, or purified water.
  • If you don’t have a temperature-controlled tea kettle, using a thermometer can help unzip proper brewing conditions.
  • Covering your tea while it’s steeping is essential to permitting the flavors to fully develop. This is why it’s weightier to use a covered teapot or kettle.

Stay tuned for part two of this vendible series, where we’ll explore oolong, black, fermented, and herbal teas in depth.

The post A Beginner’s Guide to Tea: Part One appeared first on Barista Magazine Online.

Popular Blogs

Bedrock Coffee Roasters...
Bedrock Coffee Roasters...
Hailing from Neenah, Wisconsin, Bedrock Coffee Roasters has been a single-origin roaster since 2018. Originating in Appleton and making Read More
How Much Caffeine Is in a Death Wish Latte? 2023 B...
How Much Caffeine Is in a Death Wish Latte? 2023 B...
Read More
How Much Caffeine Is in a Mocha? 2023 Breakdown...
How Much Caffeine Is in a Mocha? 2023 Breakdown...
Read More
How Much Caffeine Is in Stipe Miocic Extra Strengt...
How Much Caffeine Is in Stipe Miocic Extra Strengt...
Read More