What Is Tea?

Tea begins with a plant.

Camellia sinensis is the species from which the principal traditions and categories of tea are produced.

Green tea, white tea, yellow tea, oolong, black tea and dark tea may appear markedly different from one another, yet they originate from the same species. Their distinction is created through cultivar, place, harvest and, critically, the way the leaf is handled after it is picked.

This is the first principle of tea:

The category is not determined by a different plant.

It is determined by what is done to the leaf.

The Tea Plant

Camellia sinensis is an evergreen plant cultivated across many regions of Asia and, increasingly, elsewhere in the world.

Within the species are numerous cultivated varieties and individual cultivars, each selected for particular qualities: aroma, leaf structure, growth habit, climate tolerance or suitability for specific styles of manufacture.

The plant is therefore only the beginning.

A finished tea is the result of an encounter between plant material, geography and human technique.

Leaf and Bud

Tea is commonly produced from the young shoots of the plant.

Depending on the tea and the desired style, a harvest may include a bud alone, a bud with one leaf, or a bud with several leaves.

The age, tenderness and position of the picked material influence how it behaves during production and what it may ultimately express in the cup.

Harvest is not simply collection.

It is selection.

One Plant, Many Teas

The range of teas produced from Camellia sinensis is made possible through processing.

After plucking, leaves may be withered, heated, rolled, bruised, oxidised, dried, roasted, aged or fermented according to the method being used.

Not every tea undergoes every process.

The sequence, intensity and timing of these interventions shape the finished tea.

A green tea may be heated relatively early in production to limit enzymatic oxidation.

An oolong may be repeatedly handled to encourage controlled oxidation before being fixed and dried.

A black tea is generally allowed to oxidise to a much greater degree.

Some dark teas undergo microbial transformation during or after manufacture.

These categories are not flavours applied to tea.

They are the consequence of production.

Tea and Infusion

The word tea is often used broadly.

Chamomile, peppermint, rooibos and other botanicals may be infused in hot water and commonly described as tea. More precisely, they are herbal infusions or tisanes.

They do not come from Camellia sinensis.

The distinction is not one of hierarchy.

It is one of definition.

Within The School, the word tea refers principally to preparations derived from Camellia sinensis.