The Tea Journal
There are six true types of tea, and every one of them comes from the same plant: Camellia sinensis. Black, green, white, oolong, yellow and pu-erh differ not by species but by how the leaves are handled after picking. Everything else sold as tea, including peppermint, chamomile and rooibos, is technically a tisane rather than a tea at all.
That single fact surprises most people, and it explains nearly everything else about tea.
What separates them is oxidation: what happens when a picked leaf is exposed to air and its compounds begin to change, the way a sliced apple browns. Tea makers control that process, and where they stop it determines what you end up with.
Fully oxidised. The leaves are withered, rolled to break their cell walls, left to oxidise completely, then dried.
The result is dark, brisk and robust, holding up to milk and sugar in a way lighter teas cannot. This is the backbone of British tea drinking: English Breakfast, Assam, Ceylon, Darjeeling and Earl Grey are all black teas, and a good strong one is what you want alongside warm scones. Brew at a full boil, around 212°F, for three to five minutes.
Unoxidised. Immediately after picking, the leaves are heated to halt oxidation before it starts, by steaming in Japan or pan-firing in China.
That difference in method matters more than most guides admit. Japanese green teas such as sencha and gyokuro taste grassy, marine, almost savoury. Chinese green teas such as dragon well are nuttier and gentler. Never brew green tea with boiling water. Around 175°F for two to three minutes. Boiling water scorches the leaf and produces the bitterness people wrongly assume is just what green tea tastes like.
Barely processed. Young buds and leaves are picked, withered and dried. Nothing more.
The lightest and most delicate of the six, with a subtle sweetness. Silver Needle and White Peony are the classics. Because so little is done to it, quality of leaf shows nakedly. Around 175°F for four to five minutes.
Partially oxidised, anywhere from roughly 10% to 80%, which makes it the broadest and most varied category of all.
A lightly oxidised oolong tastes floral and close to green tea. A heavily oxidised, roasted one tastes closer to black tea, with stone fruit and toast. Oolongs also reward multiple infusions, changing character across each one. Around 195°F for three to five minutes.
Fermented and aged. Genuinely fermented, by microbes, which no other tea is. Pu-erh is pressed into cakes and aged for years, sometimes decades.
Earthy, deep and smooth, with none of the astringency of black tea. Sheng, or raw, pu-erh ages slowly. Shou, or ripe, pu-erh is fermented deliberately to speed the process. Good pu-erh appreciates like wine. Full boil, and rinse the leaves briefly before the first proper infusion.
Rare, and the one most guides omit. Made like green tea but with an added slow, damp resting stage that mellows the grassiness into something rounder and sweeter.
Production is small and largely limited to a few regions of China, so you will rarely encounter it. Worth trying if you do. Around 175°F for two to three minutes.
Strictly speaking, herbal tea is not tea.
Peppermint, chamomile, rooibos, hibiscus and the rest come from other plants entirely. The correct term is tisane, or herbal infusion. Most are naturally caffeine free, which is why they suit the evening.
Nobody minds you calling them tea. But if you have ever wondered why a shop lists teas and tisanes separately, that is why.
Rooibos deserves a mention of its own. From South Africa, naturally sweet, red in the cup, and robust enough to take milk. It behaves more like a black tea than most tisanes do.
A persistent myth holds that black tea has the most caffeine and green the least. It is not that simple. Caffeine depends more on the leaf, the growing conditions and how you brew than on the category.
As a rough guide, per cup:
| Type | Approximate caffeine |
|---|---|
| Black | 40 to 70 mg |
| Oolong | 30 to 50 mg |
| Green | 25 to 45 mg |
| White | 15 to 30 mg |
| Pu-erh | 30 to 70 mg |
| Herbal tisane | None |
For comparison, a cup of coffee runs roughly 95 to 165 mg. Brewing time and water temperature move these numbers more than the category does. A long-steeped green can easily outdo a briefly steeped black.
Loose leaf is not more difficult than a teabag. It only asks for a little room.
Use about one teaspoon of leaf per cup, or a slightly heaped teaspoon for larger leaves like white tea, which take up more space for the same weight.
Give the leaves space to move. This is the single biggest reason loose leaf beats a bag: the leaves need to unfurl and circulate. Cramped infusers defeat the point. Use a roomy basket infuser or simply brew in the pot and strain.
Match the water temperature to the tea. Boiling for black and pu-erh, around 195°F for oolong, around 175°F for green and white. If you have no thermometer, boil and then wait: about a minute off the boil lands near 195°F, two to three minutes near 175°F.
Time it. Over-steeping is what makes tea bitter, not the tea itself. Start with the times above and adjust to taste.
Re-steep the good stuff. Quality loose leaf, especially oolong and pu-erh, gives several infusions and often improves on the second.
If you are new to loose leaf, start with a black tea such as English Breakfast or Assam. They are forgiving, familiar, and hard to brew badly.
From there, oolong is the most rewarding next step, because the range within it is enormous and it will teach your palate more than anything else.
If you want something caffeine free that still feels like a proper cup, rooibos.
We are an authentically British tea room on Union Boulevard in St. Louis, near Forest Park, and we pour a great deal of tea.
Every afternoon tea service comes with a pot of premium loose-leaf tea, brewed properly and refreshed throughout. Our teas come from The London Tea Merchant, and our in-house boutique carries a wide range of loose leaf, along with teapots, infusers and accessories, to take home.
If you would like to learn more than a page can teach, we run tea classes and guided tastings through the year, covering tea education, tasting technique and seasonal themed services. New to it all? Start with what afternoon tea actually is.
Six true types: black, green, white, oolong, yellow and pu-erh. All come from the Camellia sinensis plant and differ by how the leaves are processed. Herbal infusions such as chamomile and peppermint are tisanes rather than true teas.
Oxidation. Black tea is fully oxidised, giving it a dark colour and robust flavour. Green tea is heated straight after picking to prevent oxidation, keeping it light and fresh.
Usually black or pu-erh, though brewing time and water temperature affect caffeine more than the type does.
Not technically. Herbal infusions come from other plants and are properly called tisanes. Most contain no caffeine.
Boiling for black and pu-erh, around 195°F for oolong, around 175°F for green and white. Boiling water scorches delicate leaves and creates bitterness.
About one teaspoon per cup, slightly more for large-leaf teas such as white tea.
Yes. Quality loose leaf gives several infusions, and oolong and pu-erh often improve on the second.
A naturally caffeine-free South African herbal infusion, red in the cup and sweet enough to drink without sugar. It takes milk well, unlike most tisanes.