Tea Knowledge

What goes into our teas, the types of Chinese tea and where it comes from. Short articles: taste, aroma and their place in the Chinese tea tradition.

Tea types

Black Tea The tea we call black is known in China as red tea (hong cha, 红茶) — after the colour of the liquor: amber-ruby, warm as a setting sun. It is... Green Tea Green tea (lü cha, 绿茶) is the oldest and most spring-like of Chinese teas. Freshly picked leaves are quickly heated to stop oxidation (sha q... Oolong Oolong (wulong cha, 乌龙茶 — “black dragon tea”) is the family of partially oxidised teas between green and red. It is the most virtuoso chapte... Pu-erh Pu-erh (pu’er cha, 普洱茶) is the famous post-fermented tea of Yunnan, named after the town of Pu’er through which tea caravans passed for cent... Sheng Pu-erh Sheng pu-erh (sheng cha, 生普洱 — “raw pu-erh”) is the liveliest tea of Yunnan. Leaves from broad-leaf, often ancient trees are withered, pan-h... Shou Pu-erh Shou pu-erh (shu cha, 熟普洱 — “ripe pu-erh”) is the dark, velvety tea of Yunnan. The wet-piling technique (wo dui, 渥堆), perfected in Kunming i...

Ingredients

Chrysanthemum Chrysanthemum (ju hua, 菊花) is one of the great flowers of Chinese tea. The small white and yellow blossoms have been brewed in China for mor... Coconut The coconut (yezi, 椰子) is the taste of China's deep south: the palm-lined island of Hainan lives on coconut groves, and an old southern chro... Grape The grape (putao, 葡萄) came to China along the Silk Road more than two thousand years ago and settled in the north-west: Xinjiang and Turpan... Jasmine Jasmine (moli hua, 茉莉花) is probably the most famous flower in Chinese tea. Its fragrance — delicate, sweet, with the cool freshness of a sum... Lychee Lychee (lizhi, 荔枝) is the sweet tropical fruit of southern China, fragrant with rose, grape and honey. Legend has it that imperial couriers... Orange The orange (cheng, 橙) is a native of China — citrus has been cultivated here for thousands of years, and the word itself sounds like 成, “suc... Osmanthus Osmanthus (guihua, 桂花) is the tiny golden blossom of an evergreen tree that flowers across southern China in early autumn. Its fragrance is... Peach The peach (tao, 桃) is more than a fruit in China — it is the emblem of longevity and immortality: the peaches from the goddess Xiwangmu’s ga... Rose Rose (meigui, 玫瑰花) in Chinese tea culture means above all the buds and petals of the tea rose: deep pink, with a warm, honeyed floral aroma...

Regions

Fujian Fujian (福建) is a coastal province of south-eastern China — mountainous, humid and green. If Yunnan is the birthplace of the tea tree, Fujian... Yunnan Yunnan (云南 — “south of the clouds”) is China’s south-western province on the borders of Laos and Myanmar and, by the general verdict of bota...