Tea: Varieties and Grades of Green Tea

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Article Title:

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Tea: Varieties and Grades of Green Tea

Article Description:

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If you've ever shopped for green tea, no doubt you're aware

that there are a vast number of choices. There are green teas

from many regions of the world, and many varieties, grades and

flavors from each region.

Additional Article Information:

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917 Words; formatted to 65 Characters per Line

Distribution Date and Time: 2007-06-05 10:24:00

Written By: Marcus Stout

Copyright: 2007

Contact Email: mailto:Marcus.Stout@...

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Tea: Varieties and Grades of Green Tea

Copyright © 2007 Marcus Stout

Golden Moon Tea

http://www.GoldenMoonTea.com

If you've ever shopped for green tea, no doubt you're aware

that there are a vast number of choices. There are green teas

from many regions of the world, and many varieties, grades and

flavors from each region.

Green tea was likely the first kind of tea. About 3000 years ago

in China, people plucked fresh tea leaves and let them dry in the

sun before storing them. In the 8th century, tea processors began

using the evaporation process, and by the 12th century, they

began sautéing the leaves. Basically, green tea came about before

tea processors learned the methods associated with processing

black tea.

Even today, green tea is one of the teas left in its most natural

state. Unlike black tea, green tea is unfermented. This lack of

fermentation leaves the chlorophyll in the leaves, so that they

retain their green color. Green tea also retains more of its

natural anti-oxidants as a result of being unfermented. This

makes green tea a far healthier choice than black tea.

The natural anti-oxidants in green tea hold a great deal of power

for protecting our health and preventing disease. Anti-oxidants

are important to our health because they neutralize free

radicals. Free radicals are created in our bodies as a by product

of digestion. These oxygen containing molecules damage our cells

and DNA if left unchecked.

A diet rich in foods such as fruits, vegetables and other plant

products like tea, helps rid our bodies of free radicals before

they can damage our bodies.

In recent years, there has been an abundance of research showing

that long term drinking of green tea can protect our bodies from

many forms of disease, including cancer, heart disease and high

cholesterol. Green tea has also been shown to be an effective

weight loss supplement as well as a natural way to help regulate

insulin levels. More research is needed, but it's very likely

that as time goes on we'll find more and more health reasons for

making green tea part of our everyday lives.

Classifying Green Tea

The many different varieties of green tea are classified, in

part, by the method in which they are dried. The five methods of

drying green tea include:

* Stir Frying - Fresh tea leaves are sauteed in a pan. This

process is mainly used for export teas. Stir frying gives green a

strong fragrance and taste. Some common varieties of green tea

that are stir fried include gunpowder teas and Dragonwell teas.

* Roasting – Tea leaves are dried in a roast basket or roast

chest. In most cases roasted teas are used as the basis for

flower scented teas. Roasting keeps the leaves intact and makes

them appear as though covered in a white fluff. Monkey king teas

are roasted.

* Semi-roast and semi fry – Sometimes the stir frying and

roasting methods are combined. This method is used in order to

retain the beautiful look of a roasted leaf combined with the

strong fragrance and taste of stir fried tea.

* Solar drying – This is the age old method, whereby leaves are

dried in the sun. Today these leaves are typically used as the

basis for compressed teas. These are the " green tea cakes " you

sometimes see.

* Steaming – The leaves are steamed at a very high temperature

to dry them. The most famous steamed green tea is Sencha.

Within each of these varieties of green tea, there are also

quality grades. It can be very difficult to determine, however,

the quality of tea you're buying, because each country has

different grading methods. China, which produces more green tea

than any other country in the world, grades their green tea

something like this.

First, teas for export are graded according to the age of the

leaf and the finished shape of the leaf. These categories include

gunpowder, imperial, young hyson, hyson, twankay, hyson skin, and

dust. Within each of these categories there are several quality

grades; sometimes as many as nine grades within one leaf shape.

With all the complicated categories of green tea, it can be

difficult to know which ones to dry. Understanding the different

drying methods and how they affect the flavor of the tea will

give you a good start, as you can select varieties dried in the

method that produces the taste you prefer. However, when it comes

to selecting the best quality of this variety, you have little to

go on. There are a couple of ways to spot good quality tea:

* Form - Loose tea is higher quality than bagged tea. Whether

it's black tea, green tea or white tea, you can bet that the

lowest quality leaves are the ones used in tea bags. For good

tea, always buy loose tea.

* Price – If loose green tea is really inexpensive, it's

probably not very good quality. Shop around to get a good idea of

a fair price for good loose green tea so that you can accurately

judge prices.

* Reputation of Tea Company – One of the best ways to ensure

that you get good tea is to buy from a tea company with a

reputation for selling only the highest quality teas. This is

particularly important when shopping online.

It's true that there are many varieties of green tea. But,

that's what makes trying green tea so much fun! There's almost

no end to the many flavors and nuances you can find in the

different varieties of green tea. You're sure to want to try

them all!

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Marcus Stout is President of the Golden Moon

Tea Company. For more information about tea,

(http://www.goldenmoontea.com/greentea)

green tea (http://www.goldenmoontea.com/blacktea)

and black tea go to http://www.goldenmoontea.com