Although there are hundreds of varieties of Chinese tea, they can be
mainly classified into five categories, that is, green tea, black
tea, brick tea, scented tea, and Oolong tea.
With its natural fragrance, green tea, as the oldest kind of tea, is
widely welcomed by different people. It is baked immediately after
picking. According to the different ways of processing, it can be
divided to many kinds. Among various green tea, Longjing (Dragon
Well) Tea around the West Lake in Hangzhou, HuangshanMaofeng Tea from
Mt. Huangshan, Yinzhen (Silver Needle) Tea from Mt. Junshan and Yunwu
(Cloud and Mist) Tea from Mt. Lushan are most famous.
Black tea is much more favored by foreigners. Different from green
tea, black tea is a kind of fermented tea. After the fermentation,
its color changes from green to black. The most famous black teas in
China are "Qi Hong (originated in Anhui), "Dian Hong"(originated in
Yunnan), and "Ying Hong" (originated in Guangdong).
Oolong tea, with an excellent combination of the freshness of green
tea and the fragrance of black tea, become popular with more and more
people. It has a good function in helping body building and dieting.
Fujian, Guangdong and Taiwan are the major producing areas of this
kind of tea. Oolong tea grows on cliffs, the hard picking process
make it the most precious tea.
Scented tea, which is very popular in Northern China, in fact is a
mixture of green tea with flower petals of rose, jasmine, orchid and
plum through an elaborate process. Among this type, jasmine tea is
common.
Brick tea, usually pressed into brick shape, is mainly produced in
Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, Yunnan and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
Brick tea is made from black tea or green tea and is pressed into
blocks. This kind of tea is popular with minority people in border
regions. The most famous one is "Pu'er Tea" made in Yunnan province.
There are other kinds of tea. Among them white tea is special and is
not very familiar to most people. Just as its name suggests, this
kind of tea is as white as silver. It is mainly produced in Zhenhe
and Fuding in Fujian Province, but popular in Southeast Asia. Famous
varieties include "Silver Needle" and "White Peony".
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