Four Basic Types of Tea

Hello all!  I figured the best way to kick off my tea blog would be a brief little rundown on the most basic  types of teas that are out there.  All tea comes from the Camellia Sinensis plant, a shrub that's native to China and India.  

• Black Tea is one of the most commonly known and drank type of tea.  It the more fermented and oxidized than the other types of tea and because of this has the highest caffeine content out of all the different types of teas, with about 20% the caffeine of a cup of coffee.  Black tea is stronger in flavor than less oxidized teas.

• Green Tea is also one of the most popular types of tea.  As opposed to black tea, green tea is heat-treated and steamed to stop fermentation.  Green tea has only 5-10% of the caffeine in a cup of coffee and has been proven to have a wide range of health benefits.  

• White Tea is totally uncured and unfermented, and is the purest and least processed of all the types of teas.  

• Oolong Tea is is semi-fermented, which gives it about 15% of the caffeine of coffee.  The taste of oolong ranges widely among the different subvarieties, but most people recognize oolong tea as 'Chinese Tea' that is served in Chinese restaurants.  

My personal favorite is black tea, with green tea coming up as a very close second, but I cannot say I have had much oolong tea or white tea to compare sufficiently.  Right now I've been drinking a lot of mint green tea and darjeeling tea.  In my next post I'll go into detail about some of my favorite blends of tea, and with that good night everyone, have a happy monday!