The Six Families of Tea: A Complete Beginner's Guide

All real tea comes from a single plant, *Camellia sinensis*. The six recognised families of tea are not different plants — they are different ways of treating the same leaf after picking. Once you understand the families, every tea on every menu starts to make sense.

**White tea** is the least processed. The young, downy buds are simply withered in shade and gently dried. There's no rolling, no firing, almost no oxidation. Expect a pale liquor, a soft sweetness, and notes of melon, peach, or hay. Silver Needle and White Peony are the classics.

**Green tea** is leaf that has been heated quickly after picking — pan-fired in China, steamed in Japan — to halt oxidation. The character is fresh, vegetal, often grassy or marine. Japanese sencha tastes of seaweed and steamed spinach; Chinese Longjing of toasted chestnut.

**Yellow tea** is the rarest of the six. After an initial heating step, the leaves are wrapped in paper or cloth and left to undergo a gentle yellowing process called *men huang*. The result tastes like a mellower, sweeter green — fewer rough edges, more buttered corn. Junshan Yinzhen is the benchmark.

**Oolong** is partially oxidised, anywhere from 10% to 80%, and the variation within the family is enormous. Lightly oxidised, rolled-ball oolongs from Taiwan taste of orchid and cream. Heavily oxidised, roasted oolongs from China's Wuyi mountains taste of stone fruit and woodsmoke.

**Black tea** (called *red tea* in China) is fully oxidised. Indian Assam is malty and brisk; Sri Lankan Ceylon is bright and citric; Chinese Keemun is subtle, with notes of cocoa and pine. This is the family that built the British tea trade.

**Dark tea** is post-fermented — aged, often for years, with the help of microorganisms. Pu-erh from Yunnan is the most famous example. Dark teas are the only category that genuinely improves with age.

Memorise the families. Once you know them, every new tea has a starting point.