The different types of tea in order of lightest to strongest

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White tea is the lightest of the six types of tea, and originate from Fuding county in the Fujian region of China. They are also produced in parts of India, such as Darjeeling or Nilgiri Hills.

  They are called white teas because of the white downy hairs on the exterior, which have the same function as our white blood cells, these teas are harvested while the leaves have not fully opened, as a result the buds are still covered in these hairs, which naturally occur but disappear as the plant matures.

They are the lightest and most delicate of teas, they are typically made from the buds or tips of the plant, although some white teas, such as White Peony King (Bai Mu Dan) use the leaves as well, the Silver Needle (Bai Hao Yin Zheng) is the highest quality of white teas due to using the youngest white buds during the first flush and are made from a special cultivar known as Dai Bai, which is Chinese for “Big White”. 

This is known as a tribute tea as it was originally made for the Chinese Emperor in the 7th century, usually produced in the high mountains of Hunan, Sichuan, Zhejiang, Anhui and in more recent years, Yunnan, for this reason yellow tea is very rare and due to the history of the tea, is usually only considered to be authentic yellow if it is produced in China.

The yellow tea typically starts off as a Chinese green tea, which undergoes a few additional steps of steaming and wrapping in damp cloth, which causes a chemical reaction in the tea leaves that changes their colour to a shade of yellow and introduces more complex flavours as well.

Green teas are a completely unoxidised type of tea, which are mainly produced in China and Japan. The leaves remain unoxidised as there are enzymes in the leaves which, when reacted with oxygen, cause the leaves to change from their shade of green to a dark brown colour. When heat is introduced to the tea leaves,  these enzymes are killed off, which allows the tea leaves to retain their vibrant green colour. In China, the teas are pan fried in a wok to stop the oxidation process, which gives the tea a nuttier and sweeter flavour, whilst in Japan the leaves are steamed or boiled, which gives the leaves a grassier and more vegetal flavour. Green teas are often said to be very bitter, which is typically the result of the teas being brewed at the wrong temperature or for the wrong amount of time, which allows more chlorophyll to break down, creating the bitter flavours often associated with green tea.

Oolong teas are a partially oxidised tea, which can range from closer to a green or black tea depending on the level of oxidation. They can typically range anywhere from 5 - 90% oxidation and the leaves are checked by a certified tea master, who visually judges the level of oxidation. They are mainly produced in China and the name means "black dragon" as the leaves are said to resemble the tails of dragons. There are three main types of oolongs:

  -Jade oolongs – these can range between 5 – 35% oxidised but are typically around 10% oxidised and are closer to green teas.

-Dark oolongs – these can range between 65 – 90% oxidised but are typically around 90% oxidised and are closer to black teas.

-Milk oolongs – people often ask what these are, these are a specially cultivated variation produced in Taiwan in 1980, which have a milky and buttery taste, this variation of the plant is known as Jin Xuan.

Black teas are a fully oxidised type of tea, and are produced in most parts of the world, mainly in Sri Lanka, India, China and Africa. Black teas are typically either made using CTC (cut/ crush, tear, curl) to produce faster brewing teas with a stronger flavour (such as irish Breakfast) or they are produced using orthodox hand rolling methods. These teas are not heated at all during the production process. Oddly enough, "hong cha" actually translates to "red tea", due to the colour of the liquor when the tea is brewed.

 Puerh is a post-fermented tea which originates from, and is also named after the Pu’er city in Yunnan. It is usually rinsed in water before brewing and was said to have been created during the Tang Dynasty. These are usually drank on Sundays in China as a delicacy and is said to be great for digestion. 

Despite originating from China, it uses the Assamica variation of the Camellia Sinensis plant as this naturally grows in Yunnan – Puerh started out as a green tea, which did not turn out well due to the Assamica variation having bolder flavours, this left the tea in an “unfinished” state known as maocha, which was further processed to become Puerh tea. Oddly enough, the name "hei cha" translates to black tea.

There are two types of Puerh tea:

-Sheng (raw) – the tea is compressed into raw tea cakes and left for at least 3 – 5 years to age, traditionally done to make transport easier.

-Shou (ripe) – the tea leaves are stacked into piles where they sit for several months and are exposed to high heat and humidity to speed up fermentation.