Depending on the level of oxidation of tea leaves during processing, the following teas are obtained; White tea, Green tea, Long tea, Black tea, Pu’erh tea and Roobbie tea (red tea). Tea beverage is obtained when any of these teas is added to boiling water.
White tea, as the name suggests is white in color and is the healthiest of all types of teas.
To process white tea, the buds and young tea leaves are picked when they are very undeveloped, shortly before they are fully open. Quick and minimum processing helps the white tea to retain the highest levels of antioxidants and has the lowest level of caffeine than any other tea.
The closest cousin of white tea in powerful health constituents is green tea. Chinese were the first to make green tea. Chinese used to expose the plucked and chopped tea leaves to vapor from hot water shortly after harvesting followed by drying in the sun. It is now known that the process did more than drying; it inactivated an enzyme in tea called poly phenol oxidase. Inactivation of poly phenol oxidase ensured this enzyme did not interfere with the good compounds in the tea leaves. The final color of this type of tea remains green after processing; leading to the name, green tea.
Nowadays, green tea is processed by steaming (scientifically known as blanching) the plucked tea leaves and drying them immediately after cutting and rolling. This inactivates the enzymes leaving all the healthy and medicinal chemicals in green tea unaffected or slightly affected.
Long tea is a partially oxidized tea. Processing of Long tea follows similar steps as green tea, but the cut and rolled tea leaves stand for slightly longer periods (usually less than an hour) before drying. The waiting period prior to drying allows the enzymes to partially breakdown some chemical in tea leaves lowering its healthy qualities. This greenish-black tea falls in-between green tea and the well known black tea.
If the tea leaves are withered, macerated and allowed to stand for longer periods of time usually between 90 and 120 minutes before drying, the enzymes break down the chemicals producing the black tea. Pu’erh is a type of tea which comes from the large leaves of a tea plant. Its processing is similar to that of black tea. Roobbie tea comes from a shrub in South Africa.