How Is Tea Made? From Leaf to Cup, Explained

Here is something that surprises a lot of people: green tea, black tea, white tea, oolong and pu'erh all come from the same plant. Camellia sinensis. The difference between a grassy green tea and a malty black tea is not the leaf. It is what happens to the leaf after it is picked.

The Basic Steps

Most tea goes through some version of these steps. Which steps are used, in what order and for how long decides what kind of tea you get.

1. Plucking: picking the tender buds and young leaves at the top of the bush, often "two leaves and a bud." The finest teas are still picked by hand.
2. Withering: spreading the fresh leaves out so they lose moisture and soften, making them easier to roll.
3. Rolling or shaping: twisting, rolling or pressing the leaves. This breaks the leaf cells, releases juices and starts flavor development. It also gives the tea its shape, from needles to balls to twists.
4. Oxidation: letting the broken leaves react with air, the same browning that happens to a cut apple. More oxidation means darker, richer, maltier tea.
5. Fixing (kill-green): heating the leaves, by steaming or pan-firing, to stop oxidation at the right point.
6. Drying: removing the last moisture so the tea is shelf-stable.

How Each Type of Tea Is Made

Green tea

Green tea is heated soon after picking to stop oxidation almost completely, so the leaves stay green and fresh. Chinese green teas are usually pan-fired in a hot wok, which gives a toasty, nutty taste. Japanese green teas are usually steamed, which gives a grassier, more savory taste. Gunpowder tea is green tea rolled into tight pellets. See Gunpowder Green Tea.

White tea

White tea is the least processed. Young buds and leaves are simply withered and dried, with no rolling. The result is light, delicate and naturally sweet.

Oolong tea

Oolong is partly oxidized. The leaves are gently tossed or shaken to bruise their edges, rested, and tossed again until they reach the right level, anywhere from light to quite dark. Then they are heated, shaped and often roasted. See What Is Oolong Tea?

Black tea

Black tea is fully oxidized. After withering and rolling, the leaves are left to oxidize until they turn a deep copper brown, then dried. That gives black tea its rich, malty, robust flavor.

Pu'erh

Pu'erh starts like a green tea, but it is sun-dried and then fermented with the help of natural microbes, either slowly over years (raw) or faster with a damp piling method (ripe). It is often pressed into cakes. See What Is Pu'erh Tea?

Orthodox vs CTC

There are two big ways to process black tea:

• Orthodox: leaves are rolled more gently, staying larger and more whole. This is the traditional method and is used for most loose leaf tea.
• CTC (crush, tear, curl): machines cut the leaves into tiny, even pellets. CTC brews fast, dark and strong, which is why it fills most tea bags. Kenya is the world's biggest producer of it. See Kenyan Tea.

That difference is a big part of why loose leaf tastes smoother and more complex than most bagged tea. More in Loose Leaf Tea vs Tea Bags.

What About Herbal Tea?

Herbal teas, like rooibos, chamomile, peppermint and hibiscus, are not made from the tea plant at all. They are dried flowers, leaves, roots, fruit or bark from other plants. Most have no caffeine. Some, like rooibos, are oxidized much like black tea, which is what turns them red. See Green Rooibos to compare.

How Processing Changed Over History

Tea making has changed a lot over the centuries, from boiled cakes of pressed leaves in Tang China, to whisked powder, to the loose leaf teapot of the Ming dynasty, to machines and tea bags in the 1900s. That story is told in The History of Tea.

Taste the Difference Yourself

The best way to understand tea processing is to taste the types side by side. Try these:

• Green: Tranquil Jasmine Pearl Green
• White: Organic Coconut Cream White Tea
• Oolong: Wuyi Whisper Oolong
• Black: Organic English Breakfast Tea
• Pu'erh: Mengku Iceland Pu'erh Raw Tea
• Herbal: Coconut Cream Lavender Rooibos

A side-by-side tasting like this is a fun way to spend a rainy Portland afternoon with friends.

Steep intentionally. Sip with intention.

Related Reading

Read The 6 Types of Tea Explained, The History of Tea and What Is Oolong Tea?