Did you know black teas, whites, natural teas, green teas, and more all come from the same plant? It’s true. Each has their own unique flavors and benefits, with key differences between them. If you’ve ever wondered, beyond the taste, what makes black tea different from green, here’s a little more into the different types of teas.
Black tea is the most popular tea type in North America and has been for a long, long time. Containing up to 50 mg of caffeine per cup, black tea comes from leaves of the plant camellia sinensis. The leaves are rolled and oxidized until they turn black. The tea they produce is quite robust and is traditionally used in spiced chai among other products.
There’s oolong tea which is made from the exact same leaves however the process of creating oolong begins with withering the leaves under the sun. The oxidization period is much shorter, compared to black, and the leaves give off a fruity fragrance. The leaves get rolled and fired, ultimately resulting in a lower amount of caffeine at only 30 mg.
Green tea is a natural tea with a dramatically different flavor from other teas. The reason for this are the leaves experience no oxidization and are heated immediately following harvest. The natural green color of the leaves are retained. As green tea can taste like grass to some consumers, it’s often mixed with ingredients that make it more palatable such as flower petals, peppermint, and dried fruits. In Asia, green tea is the most popular tea and contains 25 mg of caffeine.
White tea is completely different from the teas we’ve mentioned. Light in color and light in caffeine with only about 15 mg per cup, it is made with young tea buds. Comparatively, a white tea uses leaves that have barely been oxidized which is what retains the soft and silvery tone. Steamed and dried after harvest, these teas are more delicate and subtle with a natural sweetness.
These aren’t the only varieties of tea that come from the same plant, either. There’s the variant on green tea, known as matcha tea, which is made from the whole of the tea leaf grounded into powder. There’s yellow tea which involves drying the leaves slower which turns them to yellow instead of green. There’s twig tea which is made from stems, stalks, and twigs of a tea plant. Caffeine content is low in a twig tea and the flavor is round. There’s also pu-erh tea, herbal teas, and much more. The world of teas are truly something unique!
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