Tea Types

Every true tea — green, black, oolong, white, pu-erh, and yellow — comes from the same plant, Camellia sinensis. What separates them is processing, above all oxidation. This collection explains those differences in plain language: how each type is made, what it tastes like, roughly how much caffeine to expect, and how to tell a style you will love from one you will find bitter or bland. Explainers here are written for people standing in front of a tea shelf wondering where to start. We describe flavor honestly, note which types are forgiving for beginners and which punish careless brewing, and cross-link to the brewing guides so you can go from choosing a tea to steeping it well in one sitting.