Trying to get into Chinese tea — but totally confused by all the types. Any advice?

Hey everyone,

I’ve recently started getting into tea (trying to cut back on coffee), and I keep seeing people talk about Chinese teas like green tea, oolong, pu-erh, and white tea.

I tried a jasmine green teaa while back and really liked it, but when I started looking into buying more, I realized there are so many kinds and it’s honestly kind of overwhelming. Some are floral, some earthy, some super light.

I’ve heard of Dragon Well, Tie Guan Yin, Da Hong Pao, Pu-erh, and others — but I have no idea what makes them different or how to choose.

Does anyone here know more about this stuff or have personal favourites? I’m looking for something smooth and not too bitter, ideally something I can drink in the morning or afternoon.

Also, is it really worth going for the “loose-leaf” stuff instead of just bags?

Any tips or beginner-friendly recommendations would be super appreciated 🙏

Wikipedia says that Chinese Tea can be classified by six categories:

White, green, yellow, oolong, black and post-fermented.

To me it is the flavor of tea that I like and I feel that would be black tea.

Though is Chinese Tea better that the other kinds of teas?

Most Chinese teas are cultivated and consumed in China

So where are all the Chinese Teas on the grocery shelf produced?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_tea

Oooh, I love this topic! YES, loose leaf is noticeably better. I disliked green tea until I was 35 and went on a trip to China where we toured a tea plantation and were given a taste of their best Dragon Well (of 3 quality levels they offered; and of course their goal was that we buy some afterwards, which I did, lol)... I LOVED it!! I thought, how can this be the same green tea I've tried at home in tea bags? Well, liken it to growing your own herbs and gently drying them and using them versus buying a dollar store jar of the crushed dregs of getting-old spices not stored properly.

I am a Supertaster. Yes, it's a thing, and in a college nutrition class we did an experiment with blue dye on our tongues, counting the bumps, lol, and it confirmed my suspicions of why I go "BLECH" at bitter things, and have been a social outcast around food, disliking olives, wine, beer, mustard, mushrooms, and some other things (green tea). Well, turns out I like *high quality* wine, beer, mustard, green tea, etc (haven't found a mushroom I like yet).... so I understand about not wanting bitter, believe me!
And even the supposedly highest quality matcha from Dr Weil's site is very bitter to me, though I'm using it as an iced tea, with a generous amount of sugar or honey. The best way to get the health benefits is to ingest the leaves, hence matcha.

Pu-er will taste like a campfire. There is actually a tea called "campfire tea", which is reeeeally like a campfire (weird, very smokey), but pu-er leans toward that direction, and I find it bitter even when of high quality. I also don't like white tea, though I haven't tried many and don't know much about it.
My favorites are Tie Guan Yin and Dragon Well, loose. I can no longer drink any green tea from a bag; and believe me that's not bragging or acting superior about my tastebuds, lol, because the better the tea, the more expensive, in general. I wish I could be happy with a cheap box of bags.

So, in China, workers everywhere will fill a thermos or even a random glass jar with hot water and loose leaves. They'll sip at it all day, adding more hot water later as needed. The leaves sink; no need to strain, just leave them there. If one finds its way to your mouth, eat it! Even better! If the leaves unfurl into obvious leaves or parts of broken leaves (as opposed to crumbled tiny bits), it's a decent quality.

Some say tea gets bitter the longer you leave the leaves in. I have found that definitely true with black tea! Green tea, not so much, but if bitterness is a problem, try actually timing it and using the suggested temperature water, removing the leaves when the time is up. Different constituents of any plant come out at different temperatures, or after different lengths of time; it's real science, so don't let anyone tell you it's BS. However, most people won't notice these slight differences, so they'll say it doesn't matter. But maybe YOUR tastebuds are picking something out of it, so "you do you" after experimenting; don't toss a tea without giving it a chance in different ways. If you have one you really don't like but you want the health benefits (like me with my matcha), make it into iced tea with a sweetener and maybe other flavors (lemon juice, splash of other juice, etc) to use it up.

I’m a tea fan (and a grower/producer).

once upon a time, my favorite tea was lapsang souchong, the ‘campfireyest’ black tea, dried over a pine or tamarack fire. i still enjoy it on occasion but have other preferences now…i’ve found pu erh, rather than being smoky, to generally be ‘funkier’ than a standard black, oolong, or green tea. pu erh is fermented beyond the original enzymatic oxidation process that makes black tea.

my favorites these days (if it’s not homegrown) are the fuzzier tippy chinese black teas, like zhen qu or jin jun mei (anything with ‘golden buds’ in its name is a good start), and also the unroasted taiwanese oolongs (not technically chinese tea) like li shan, bao zhong, san lin xi, etc.

i’m kind of just starting to get deeper into the world of tea processing…it’s kinda magic. the tea leaves themselves drive all kinds of different enzymatic processes that affect flavor in response to various stimuli…that people have figured out all the different ways to manipulate the processes for different flavor/mouthfeel/etc is fascinating to me.

greg mosser wrote:I’m a tea fan (and a grower/producer).
.......

i’m kind of just starting to get deeper into the world of tea processing…it’s kinda magic. the tea leaves themselves drive all kinds of different enzymatic processes that affect flavor in response to various stimuli…that people have figured out all the different ways to manipulate the processes for different flavor/mouthfeel/etc is fascinating to me.

I've always wanted to grow my own tea, but my final destination is on the border of Zones 5 & 6. I've read that some varieties of the tea plant can live in Zone 6, so I wonder if they're somehow wrapped or covered for winter, do you think they could they live in my area?

(Rural NY, 1800 ft elevation, Zone 5/6)

I'm not a big tea drinker, so only experience is green tea, or jasmine tea, any of the "black" teas have to be extremely weak and all of them are taken without milk. Not being a purist, I'm more than happy to share a teabag (I can see people being horrified.) I've noticed that a lot of teas do not have an origin specified, so no idea of their source.

Jill Dyer wrote:I'm not a big tea drinker, so only experience is green tea, or jasmine tea, any of the "black" teas have to be extremely weak and all of them are taken without milk. Not being a purist, I'm more than happy to share a teabag (I can see people being horrified.) I've noticed that a lot of teas do not have an origin specified, so no idea of their source.

For black tea I get Newman's Own, Organic. And sharing a tea bag isn't weird. My grandmother would use a teabag, put it on a little dish, and use it the next day! She grew up frugal, but maybe she liked it weak like you! I've tried saving the tea bag, then when I have two, they can make a 3rd cup, but they look kinda unappetizing after sitting there for 2 days, so I decided that even though I'm broke and want to save the world, I will spring for a new bag for each cup (I like it very strong, with 2tsp unbleached sugar and soy creamer).

I love all tea, all kinds. Used to be positively obsessed with Earl Grey but seem to have gotten that out of my system by moving to a place where a tin costs more than a kg of steaks.

I learned to do tea old style: keep refilling the same pot til the end of the day. Big rush in the morning, by the end of the day you have the ghost of a taste of your tea. Some tea will last longer. I was gifted a box of really good green chinese Kuan Yin tea by a friend that will keep giving off flavor even the next day!

I used to be a big fan of teabags but lately with the research about microplastics starting to pile up I've decided to stop buying them. Using up my significant stash, I have easy access to all kind of good bulk loose leaf tea.

(currently drinking a decent Japanese green leaf tea grown in the next state up from us, first infusion...)