"What's the difference between different varieties of Taiwan tea?"
"Why do tea soups of the same color taste different?"
Aside from Oolong tea, there're hundreds of Varieties of Tea in Taiwan
You know what? In addition to the most common oolong tea, there are hundreds of varieties of Taiwan professional tea or Taiwan high mountain tea. We often hear green tea, black tea, oolong tea, white tea, dark tea, and even honey-scented black tea, Baozhong tea, Tieguanyin, Oriental tea. Meiren and other tea styles, coupled with new varieties such as Jinxuan, Hongyun, Hongyu and other new varieties developed from Taiwan tea improvement institutes. So many varieties must be quite complicated for friends who first came into contact with Taiwan tea. But in fact, you can try to get to know Taiwan teas from three aspects. The connotation of tea includes varieties, terroir, and craftsmanship. Each tea tree has a unique aroma, and different origins breed tea trees with different temperaments. In addition, different tea production techniques such as baking, fermentation, etc., create so many different types of tea
But going back to the teas mentioned above, what’s the difference?The comparison method that is often heard is: "different degrees of fermentation"
In terms of our most common tea types: black tea, green tea, oolong tea:
Black tea is a "fully fermented" tea
Oolong tea is a "partially fermented" tea
Green tea is "unfermented" tea
In fact, according to the characteristics of tea, it can be roughly divided into six categories called "six major tea series" in the world. They are:
Black tea, green tea, green tea (oolong tea), white tea, dark tea, yellow tea.
Six Common Tea Types & Taiwan High Mountain Tea
Black tea (80%-90% fermented tea)
Black tea is a type of nearly fully fermented tea among the six major tea families. The tea making process starts with withering after tea picking, and then undergoes a fermentation process to a fully fermented state.
The common classic tea styles such as honey-flavored black tea, Hongyu, Hongyun, Assam black tea, Ceylon black tea, Darjeeling black tea are all tea styles of this tea series.
Green tea (unfermented tea)
Green tea is an unfermented type of tea among the six major tea families, and its tea-making process immediately kills green tea and destroys enzymes after picking the tea.
Taiwan's classic green teas such as Sanxia Biluochun and Longjing are green teas.
Yellow tea (10%-20% fermented tea)
Yellow tea is a type of slightly fermented tea among the six major tea families, and its tea-making process is the same as that of green tea.
However, after many piles of yellowing, the fermentation operation occurred.
Green tea (30%-60% fermented tea)
Green tea is also widely known as oolong tea, and it is also the most common type of tea. Among the six major tea families, it is a partially fermented tea, and the degree of fermentation is between green tea and black tea.
It has the freshness of green tea and the sweet taste of black tea.
Commonly found in Taiwan, such as: Dongding Oolong, Tieguanyin, Baozhong tea, Alishan Oolong, Lishan Oolong, Oriental Beauty, Guifei tea, etc. are all types of green tea series.
White tea (20% to 30% fermented tea)
In the process of tea making, do not fix or knead, so that when the tea leaves wither, there will be a little micro-fermentation
Less damage to tea cells
In addition to "white peony" in Taiwan, there are also many white teas made from green heart oolong seeds, referred to as "Taiwan white tea".
Black tea (post-fermented tea)
Among the six major tea series, dark tea is 100% fermented tea. After the tea leaves are processed, the accumulation and fermentation time is long, which makes the tea leaves appear dark brown.
Common tea types such as: China's "Pu'er Tea"
The six major tea series are actually a collective name for production?
Do you know? In fact, each type of tea tree can be made into six major types of tea. The only difference is whether the tea can give full play to the best flavor.
For example: in summer, the sunshine time of tea leaves is longer, and if the nutrients of the tea leaves are made into green tea, the flavor may not be as good as in winter or spring.
However, the tea in summer has a better aroma after fermentation, so many classic tea styles, such as Oriental Beauty, Xiaoyezhong black tea, and honey-scented imperial concubine tea, are made from summer raw tea.
Therefore, in fact, each type of tea has a different flavor, and it is not just the tea tree species involved.
It is more like the factors of the time of origin and the difference in the tea-making process.
The next time you choose Taiwan tea, you might as well take a look at the flavor behind the tea. Take your time to find and buy the flavor you like so that you can drink happily with satisfaction.
