Tea Classification

Throughout history, tea has been classified by the color of the leaves, by the color of the tea liquor, by type of tea plant, by type of tea leaf, by country of origin.

All these categories do not have a general classification method applicable for all teas. Classifying teas by the processing methods (or by the degree of oxidation of the leaves), however, allows us to achieve this goal as the categories of tea can be easily distinguished by the similarities of processing styles.

One of the most interesting tea facts is that all true teas come from the same plant, Camellia sinensis. It is possible to derive 6 different types of tea from the same tea plant. These tea types are broad categories which unite tea types that share similar processing methods and as a result, similar final products. Most of the knowledge surrounding tea classification is based on Chinese systems as the Chinese were the first to create all of the types and many of the styles of tea we drink today.

Chinese tea experts recognize the following 6 types of tea:

Green tea 绿茶 (lǜ chá)

Yellow tea 黄茶 (huáng chá)

White tea 白茶 (bái chá)

Oolong tea 乌龙茶 (wū lóng chá) (semi-fermented tea)

Red tea 红茶 (hóng chá)(or Black tea in Western countries, fully fermented tea)*

Dark tea 黑茶 (hēi chá) (or Aged tea, post-fermented tea)**.

There are two major differences when comparing the Chinese classification to Western classification systems - the recognition of Red tea and Dark tea.

*Black tea in Western countries is Red tea in China

Red tea is the translation of the Mandarin 'hong cha' which refers to what most Western countries call Black tea. The Chinese named this tea after the reddish color of the tea’s liquor and those systems that call it Black tea refer to the color of the finished tea’s leaves.

**Dark tea or Aged tea in Western countries is Black tea in China

The Chinese already have a tea category called 'hei cha' which translates to Black/ Dark/ Aged tea (“post-fermented tea” to avoid confusion). This tea is named after the color of the tea’s liquor which can be very dark, nearly black. The post-fermented tea category includes Pu-erh Tea as well as many other post-fermented teas.