Most people don't know this, but... Your favorite 'tea' might not be tea at all! Chamomile? Chrysanthemum Peppermint? Ginger Lemon? Mountain Berry? Lavender? Guess what-none of them are actually tea. So, what really is?

Just like all wine comes from Vitis vinifera, all true tea comes from just one plant-Camellia sinensis. Which means... anything not from Camellia sinensis isn't technically tea! If this surprises you, you're not alone-even some tea connoisseurs don't know this.

To understand the name better: Camellia is the genus, and sinensis is Latin for 'China. Together, Camellia sinensis literally translates to 'the tea tree from China’.

Just like the countless varietals within Vitis vinifera, there are many unique varieties and cultivars within Camellia sinensis! A variety occurs naturally, adapting on its own and reproducing through seeds. While a cultivar is carefully bred by humans through grafting to lock in specific traits, like aroma, flavor, or even disease resistance.

After harvesting, leaves from Camellia sinensis are crafted into different categories of tea.

If all tea comes from one plant—Camellia sinensis—what makes green tea different from black tea? To put it simply, it’s all about oxidation. 

Once a Camellia sinensis leaf is picked, it begins to oxidize. This means the polyphenols and enzymes in the leaf react with oxygen, altering the leaf’s composition. The extent of this oxidation determines the tea’s category. 

Tea can be crafted into six basic categories: the well-known green tea and black tea, and the less familiar yellow tea, white tea, oolong tea, and dark tea. 

The oxidation spectrum ranges from low to high, with green tea being the least oxidized, followed by white, yellow, oolong, black, and dark tea. Fresh green tea retains nearly 100% of its tea polyphenols, making it the richest in these beneficial compounds compared to other categories of tea.

Technically, any fresh Camellia sinensis leaf can be made into any tea category, but in practice, this is not ideal. The variety and cultivar of Camellia sinensis play a crucial role in determining which tea category is best suited. With hundreds of varieties and cultivars, each brings unique qualities that make them ideal for specific types of tea. 

Through meticulous tea-making processes, different levels of oxidation are achieved. For some teas, this involves more than 10 intricate steps, each requiring exceptional skill and artistry. 

Origin, tree variety & cultivar, tree age, harvest date, and vintage are the five essential criteria that every tea must satisfy to ensure its authenticity.

• Origin - Microgeographic regions make a significant difference. Soil composition, altitude, climate, and weather patterns of each tea’s unique core region all contribute to its distinctive terroir.

• Tree variety & cultivar - The tree variety & cultivar play a crucial role in shaping each tea’s specific characteristics. Each species has its preferences for environmental conditions, moreover, only select varieties or cultivars are best suited for each renowned tea.

• Tree age - In addition to selecting the right variety and cultivar, the age of the tea tree determines when its leaves are ready for harvest. Each tree has an optimal age range for harvesting, and older isn't always better.

• Harvest date - The harvest date is crucial as it reflects seasonal variations in weather and environmental conditions, directly influencing each tea’s appearance, color, aroma, and flavor. Depending on the ecological environment and the varieties or cultivars of a specific year, each tea has its optimal harvest date for achieving the highest grade. You may have heard terms like “mingqian,” indicating teas picked before the “Clear and Bright” solar term in early April, or “first flush,” broadly used for spring plucks. However, these terms encompass a wide timeframe and lack precision.

• Vintage - Like fine wine, the vintage of renowned Chinese tea is a quintessential factor. For some teas, it’s crucial to consume them in the year of their production, while others benefit from aging, and some have an optimal range or specific year that enhances their quality.

Imagine saying all wines taste the same and only the cocktails make them interesting—it would come across as shockingly unsophisticated, wouldn’t it? Yet, so many of us make this very mistake about tea, assuming it’s all the same and that it’s only about the blends.

The truth is, just like fine wine, real tea doesn’t need added flavors or ingredients to stand out. Its soul, aroma, and complexity are brought to life through meticulous craftsmanship.

Here are some of the most common techniques in tea-making that transform humble leaves into something extraordinary:

• Withering - This process ensures that fresh tea leaves lose moisture evenly. As the leaves lose water, their internal substances undergo physical and chemical changes. Enzyme activity increases, leading to the breakdown of insoluble proteins, starches, and other components. Tea polyphenols also begin to oxidize.

• Fixation - This technique uses high temperatures to stop oxidation and stabilize the quality of the tea. At the same time, the high temperature helps further eliminate the low-boiling-point grassy odors from the original aromatic components, allowing the higher-boiling-point floral and fruity aromas to become more prominent. Under these heat conditions, new aromatic compounds may also form.

• Rolling - By applying kneading and twisting forces, the cell structure of the withered tea leaves is disrupted, releasing tea juices that coat the surface. This reduces the surface area, tightly curls the leaves into strips, and completes their physical transformation. At the same time, the polyphenols are fully exposed to enzymes and oxygen, triggering rapid enzymatic oxidation and promoting the chemical transformations essential to tea production.

• Piling - People discovered that after rolling the leaves and letting them sit in a pile for a while before drying, the flavor became smoother, with less bitterness, making it more enjoyable. Controlling the pile’s thickness, moisture, and heat is critical, requiring experience. If not handled properly, the tea leaves can overheat and spoil, turning black and losing their flavor.

• Roast-Drying - A high-temperature roasting method is used to quickly remove moisture from the tea leaves until 60-70% dry. Visible open fire may be used, but without direct flames. The roasting process further inhibits enzymatic oxidation, evaporates moisture, and reduces bitterness.