Oolong a traditional Chinese tea (Camellia sinensis) somewhere between green and black in oxidation. It ranges from 10% to 70% oxidation.^[1] It is among the most popular types of teas served in typical Chinese restaurants.

In Chinese tea culture, semi-oxidised oolong teas are collectively grouped as qīngchá. Oolong has a taste more akin to green tea than to black tea: it lacks the rosy, sweet aroma of black tea but it likewise does not have the stridently grassy vegetal notes that typify green tea. It is commonly brewed to be strong, with the bitterness leaving a sweet aftertaste. Several subvarieties of oolong, including those produced in the Wuyi Mountains of northern Fujian and in the central mountains of Taiwan, are among the most famous Chinese teas.

Oolong tea leaves are processed in two different ways. Some teas are rolled into long curly leaves, while some are pressed into a ball-like form similar to gunpowder tea.^[1] The former method of processing is the older of the two.

The name oolong tea comes into the English language from the Chinese name (traditional Chinese: 烏龍茶), which is pronounced as O·-liông tê in the Min Nan spoken variant. The Chinese name means "black dragon tea". There are three widely accepted explanations on how this Chinese name came about.

According to the "tribute tea" theory, oolong tea was a direct descendant of Dragon-Phoenix Tea Cake tribute tea. Oolong tea replaced it when loose tea came into fashion. Since it was dark, long and curly, it was called the Black Dragon tea.

According to the "Wuyi" theory, oolong tea first existed in Wuyi Mountain. This is evidenced by Qing dynasty poems such as Wuyi Tea Song (Wuyi Chage) and Tea Tale (Chashuo). It was said that oolong tea was named after the part of Wuyi mountain where it was originally produced.

According to the "Anxi" theory, oolong tea had its origin in the Anxi oolong tea plant. A man named Sulong, Wulong or Wuliang discovered it.

Another tale tells of a man named Wu Liang (later corrupted to Wu Long, or Oolong) who discovered oolong tea by accident when he was distracted by a deer after a hard day's tea-picking, and by the time he remembered about the tea it had already started to oxidize.

Black tea is a variety of tea that is more oxidized than the oolong, green, and white varieties. All four varieties are made from leaves of Camellia sinensis. Black tea is generally stronger in flavor and contains more caffeine than the less oxidized teas. Two principal varieties of the species are used, the small-leaved Chinese variety plant (C. sinensis subsp. sinensis), also used for green and white teas, and the large-leaved Assamese plant (C. sinensis subsp. assamica), which was traditionally only used for black tea, although in recent years some green has been produced.

In Chinese and Chinese influenced languages, black tea is known as "crimson tea" perhaps a more accurate description of the colour of the liquid. The name black tea, however, could alternatively refer to the colour of the oxidized leaves. In Chinese, "black tea" is a commonly used classification for post-fermented teas, such as Pu-erh tea. However, in the Western world, "red tea" more commonly refers to rooibos, a South African tisane.

While green tea usually loses its flavor within a year, black tea retains its flavour for several years. For this reason, it has long been an article of trade, and compressed bricks of black tea even served as a form of de facto currency in Mongolia, Tibet, and Siberia into the 19th century. It was known since the Tang Dynasty that black tea steeped in hot water could also serve as a passable cloth dye for the lower classes that could not afford the better quality clothing colours of the time.^{[citation needed]} However, far from being a mark of shame, the "brown star" mark of the dyeing process was seen as much better than plain cloth and held some importance as a mark of the lower merchant classes through the Ming Dynasty.^{[citation needed]} The tea originally imported to Europe was either green or semi-oxidized. Only in the 19th century did black tea surpass green in popularity. green tea has recently seen a revival due to its purported health benefits, black tea still accounts for over ninety percent of all tea sold in the West.

The expression "black tea" is also used to describe a cup of tea without milk ("served black"), similar to coffee served without milk or cream.

Green tea

Green tea is a type of tea made solely with the leaves of Camellia sinensis that has undergone minimal oxidation during processing. Green tea originates from China and has become associated with many cultures in Asia from Japan to the Middle East. Recently, it has become more widespread in the West, where black tea is traditionally consumed. Many varieties of green tea have been created in countries where it is grown. These varieties can differ substantially due to variable growing conditions, processing and harvesting time.

Over the last few decades green tea has been subjected to many scientific and medical studies to determine the extent of its long-purported health benefits, with some evidence suggesting regular green tea drinkers may have lower chances of heart disease and developing certain types of cancer.Green tea has also been claimed as useful for "weight loss management" - a claim with no scientific support according to medical databases such as PubMed.

White tea

White tea is the uncured and unoxidized tea leaf. Like green, oolong and black tea, white tea comes from the Camellia sinensis plant. Oolong and black teas are oxidized before curing.

White tea contains buds and young tea leaves, with higher caffeine than older leaves, suggesting the caffeine content of white teas may be higher than that of green teas.^[1]

White tea is a specialty of the Chinese province Fujian.^[2] The leaves come from varieties of tea cultivars. Popular are Da Bai (Large White), Xiao Bai (Small White), Narcissus and Chaicha bushes. According to the standards of picking and selection, white teas can be classified into a number of grades, described in the varieties section.

Chinese white teas

• Bai Hao Yinzhen (Silver needle): The highest grade of the Bai Hao Yinzhen should be fleshy, bright colored and covered with tiny white hairs. The shape should be very uniform, with no stems or leaves. The very best Yinzhen are picked between March 15 and April 10 when it is not raining and only using undamaged and unopened buds. Fujian Province, China.
• Bai Mu Dan ( (White Peony): A grade down from Bai Hao Yinzhen tea, incorporating the bud and two leaves which should be covered with a fine, silvery-white down. From Fujian Province, China. (Sometimes spelled Pai Mu Tan.)
• Gong Mei (Tribute Eyebrow): The third grade of white tea, the production uses leaves from the Xiao Bai or "small white" tea trees.
• Shou Mei (Noble, Long Life Eyebrow): A fruity, furry white tea that is a mix of tips and upper leaf, it has a stronger flavor than other white teas, similar to Oolong. It is the fourth grade of white tea and is plucked later than Bai Mu Dan hence the tea may be darker in color. From Fujian Province and Guangxi Province in China
• White Puerh Tea: Harvested in the spring from plantations found high on remote mountain peaks of Yunnan Province, China. Incredibly labor intensive with each step processed by hand, these luxury whites are wonderfully rich in fragrance, and possess an alluring, sweet nectar-like quality.

Other white teas

• Ceylon White: Grown in Sri Lanka. Ceylon White tea can fetch much higher prices than black tea from the area. The tea has a light liquoring with notes of pine and honey and a golden coppery infusion.
• Darjeeling White It has a delicate aroma and brews to a pale golden cup with a mellow taste and a hint of sweetness. It has a delicate taste. A tea from Darjeeling, India.
• Assam White: White tea production in the Assam, north eastern region of India is rare. Lighter in body than the traditional black teas, a white Assam yields a refined infusion that is sweet with a distinct malty character.
• African White: Produced in minuscule amounts in Malawi and Kenya, mostly as silver needles (Yin Zhen) type made of assamensis buds; usually higher in caffeine and richer in flavour than Chinese whites, sometimes approaching yellow teas, and often changing flavours in the cup.