Inexperienced and Black Tea Come From the Identical Plant—So Why Do They Style So Totally different?

For one thing so simple as leaves steeped in sizzling water, tea carries a profound legacy that dates again to the southwestern Chinese language provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan as early as 6,000 years in the past. Tea leaves have been traded throughout empires, impressed revolutions, and warmed billions of arms for hundreds of years.

Tea is a continuing in my routine—a small ritual that anchors my days. I take a bracing mug of robust black tea with milk within the mornings and wind down with a relaxing cup of floral inexperienced tea within the afternoon. My fascination with tea’s many profiles is what drew me into studying extra about tea, together with the variations between inexperienced tea and black tea.

Each kinds of tea share a typical origin: Camellia sinensis, the versatile evergreen shrub behind practically all teas (aside from natural teas, which are not thought of true teas). But inexperienced and black teas could not be extra totally different in taste, coloration, and utilization. How can one plant yield such dramatically distinct brews? 

To study extra concerning the variations between these two beloved tea varieties, I spoke with Virginia Utermohlen Lovelace, MD, tea educator and writer of Tea: a Nerd’s Eye View, Tomoko Honda, Head of International Operations for Ippodo Tea, a family-run tea firm that has been producing and promoting effective Japanese inexperienced tea since 1717, and Jason McDonald, co-owner of The Nice Mississippi Tea Firm. 

It turns on the market’s quite a bit to unpack about tea.

Processing Strategies

“The core distinction between inexperienced and black tea occurs after the leaves are plucked,” says Lovelace. “Processing performs with the leaf’s chemistry to create varied profiles, and you may get a panoply of potentialities relying on what you do.” She explains the primary steps beneath. 

Pluck and Wither

The primary steps in producing any tea are the pluck and wither, the stage when plucked leaves dry out. In response to the trauma, the leaves produce protection chemical substances which have a grassy and vegetal style. This step may be very brief when making inexperienced tea—typically solely so long as it takes to deliver the leaves in from the sphere—about 4 to eight hours, says Lovelace. For black teas, the withering stage sometimes lasts 18 hours.

Oxidation

After the withering stage, black tea leaves are rolled by hand or machine to rupture the cell partitions, releasing enzymes and compounds that produce fruity, floral notes whereas decreasing the grassy flavors developed throughout withering. The rolled leaves are saved in a cool, humid atmosphere to advertise oxidation for one to 4 hours, which darkens the leaves and creates giant polyphenols—compounds that contribute physique, construction, and taste—accountable for black tea’s wealthy golden-red coloration. Inexperienced tea leaves skip oxidation and go straight to the kill inexperienced stage (beneath).

Kill Inexperienced

This heating step is crucial in stopping oxidation by deactivating polyphenol oxidases and peroxidases—two pure enzymes present in tea leaves. In Japan, kill-green is often completed with steam, leading to inexperienced teas with a recent, grassy style. In China, tea leaves are often heated in a wok, which provides the tea a toastier taste. The period of time between plucking and this kill inexperienced step determines what number of dark-colored polyphenols will type, which impacts the tea’s last coloration and taste.

Storage

Inexperienced tea could be loved instantly after the kill inexperienced stage. Because it’s minimally oxidized, inexperienced tea tends to degrade in a matter of months and turn out to be stale and rancid. Relying on storage (the most effective teas come vacuum packed), inexperienced tea could be good for as much as a 12 months, however ought to be consumed inside two to a few months after opening (preserve it away from mild, which hastens staling). To inform in case your inexperienced tea has gone stale, search for pale leaves and a musty or flat scent. Contemporary inexperienced tea ought to have a vibrant inexperienced coloration and vivid, grassy aroma. As soon as rested for just a few weeks, black tea is able to drink or retailer, and sometimes lasts indefinitely if saved dry, which makes it supreme for export.

Taste: Contemporary vs. Daring

Tea’s taste comes from three primary parts: polyphenols, amino acids, and important oils.

• Polyphenols, together with catechins, give tea its physique, construction, and bitterness. Catechins are compounds that defend the plant. The compounds act as a pure sunscreen and bug repellent, and provides inexperienced tea its signature taste. 

  “Inexperienced tea has layers of sweetness, astringency, and bitterness,” says Honda. Japanese inexperienced teas, comparable to sencha and gyokuro, are sometimes steamed to forestall oxidation and protect polyphenols, leading to a vivid, nearly broth-like taste. 

  Oxidation converts catechins into bigger, extra advanced polyphenols, comparable to theaflavins and thearubigins, which contribute to black tea’s deeper taste and its amber to reddish-brown hue. Nevertheless, these bigger polyphenols additionally contribute astringency—that dry, puckery feeling you get after ingesting some teas and pink wine.

• Amino acids, notably L-theanine, add a clean, savory, nearly brothy style—what Honda describes as umami—to tea. This richness helps stability out the bitterness from catechins and provides depth. It is a prized attribute in high-quality inexperienced teas, notably in Japanese varieties comparable to gyokuro or matcha. Shade-growing the tea plant 20 days earlier than harvest (frequent in Japanese teas) will increase the quantity of amino acids within the leaves. That is why shade-grown teas typically style sweeter and richer than sun-grown ones. In black tea, the oxidation course of breaks down amino acids, leading to tea with much less umami and extra sturdy, fruity, or malty flavors.
• Important oils in tea leaves are risky natural compounds which can be accountable for the tea’s aroma, whether or not that is floral, fruity, or grassy. Whereas catechins and amino acids form style and mouthfeel, important oils are what your nostril picks up earlier than you even take a sip. These oils are delicate to warmth and oxidation, so how the tea is processed determines what number of of those compounds stay within the last product. For example, a tea that has a floral high quality might have been withered for an extended time and heated (kill inexperienced) with compelled air moderately than by a sizzling wok to retain important oils.

Environmental circumstances through which a tea is grown additionally play a significant function within the taste of tea.

“Each space that grows tea can have its personal distinctive nuance,” says McDonald. “Some name this terroir, however I feel it has extra to do with stress-related phenotypic expression.” By that, he implies that terroir is the baseline style of a tea or area (formed by elements comparable to altitude, soil, and solar publicity) that’s all the time current within the tea; nonetheless, on a regular basis stressors, comparable to climate and temperature fluctuations, trigger totally different flavors to emerge within the brewed tea. “As we take away tea from native or conventional areas, we’re discovering the huge range of the plant and its potential,” he says.

Caffeine Content material: Which Tea Packs Extra Punch?

Typically, black tea comprises extra caffeine (40 to 70 milligrams per cup) than inexperienced tea (20 to 45 milligrams per cup), however not all the time by a lot. Nevertheless, the precise quantity will depend on the leaf sort (youthful leaves have extra caffeine than mature leaves), brewing time, and the way the tea is processed, says Honda. Matcha, a powdered inexperienced tea created from shade-grown younger leaves, comprises considerably extra caffeine (as much as 70 milligrams per serving) since you’re consuming the entire leaf. (With different teas, you are solely consuming the steeped liquid and discarding the leaves.)

Learn how to Brew Tea

To unfurl and totally launch their flavors, entire tea leaves must steep in sizzling water for simply the correct quantity of time. Nevertheless, oversteeping could make inexperienced tea bitter or black tea too astringent. To get the most effective out of your tea, some precision issues, however do not overthink it.

It is usually good to brew inexperienced tea with steaming sizzling, not boiling, water to keep away from scalding the fragile leaves. When you’ve got an instant-read thermometer useful or an electrical kettle with temperature settings, you may intention for about 170°F (77°C). However in the event you do not personal these instruments, to not fear: Simply search for small bubbles, not a rolling boil. 

“You possibly can simply roughly brew a cup and revel in it,” says Honda. “And relying on how you are feeling, the climate, or time of day, you may mess around with the recipe to your liking.”

And, oops, in the event you go away it steeping longer than the advisable time on the package deal and the tea’s too astringent, Lovelace says including a pinch of salt will make all of it higher. “Tastes compete with one another,” she says. “Salt cuts bitterness by interfering with the bitter message that your tongue sends to your mind.”

You should use a tea infuser, however once more, specialty instruments aren’t essential to take pleasure in tea. Throughout China, for example, some folks put a few pinches of tea leaves in a cup, fill it with sizzling water, then let it steep for a minute earlier than sipping and utilizing their lips to filter out the tea leaves.

Another choice for brewing tea is to make use of a standard Chinese language gaiwan, which consists of a small bowl, saucer, and lid. You pour sizzling water into the empty gaiwan to heat it up, then empty it and add just a few teaspoons of tea leaves. Pour in sizzling water, let it steep, then use the lid as a strainer as you pour the tea right into a cup.

For the Tea Nerds

If you wish to get granular (that is Critical Eats, in spite of everything) with brewing inexperienced tea, ensure that the water you employ is the highest quality accessible to you (in the event you would not drink your faucet water straight, do not use it for tea). Japanese inexperienced teas are sweetest when brewed at 160 to 170°F and gyokuro even decrease at round 140°F (60°C) for 30 seconds to at least one minute, however Chinese language inexperienced teas can tolerate hotter temperatures as a result of they have been intensely heated in a wok, because the dry warmth and gradual publicity make the leaves extra sturdy or immune to temperature fluctuations. As compared, steamed leaves stay extra supple and delicate. Begin with a teaspoon or two of tea per three fluid ounces of water for a wealthy, full-bodied tea, and experiment with totally different ratios to seek out what fits you greatest.

To brew black tea, use water at round 200 to 212°F (93 to 100°C) and steep one teaspoon of leaves per six to eight fluid ounces of water for 3 to 5 minutes. (For those who plan on including milk, go for an extended steep for a stronger infusion.)

Chilly Brew

To make cold-brewed iced tea, use eight to 12 grams (a couple of heaping tablespoon) of tea per quart of water and steep in a lined glass or plastic container in a single day (preserve it refrigerated). Pressure off the leaves the following day.

What Are the Greatest Makes use of for Tea?

Custom

Tea conjures up ceremony and encourages folks everywhere in the world to decelerate and meet up with family members and new acquaintances.

• In China and Japan, tea ceremonies are a celebration of hospitality, mindfulness, and custom. Matcha is whisked in Japanese tea rituals, whereas oolong ({a partially} oxidized fragrant selection), inexperienced, and black teas are sometimes served throughout Chinese language dim sum. 
• Chai, a brew of black tea, milk, spices, and sugar, is central to life in India and Pakistan. It’s warming, invigorating, and social. 
• Thailand’s iconic Thai iced tea is made with black tea, sweetened condensed milk, and spices, leading to a creamy, dessert-like drink. 
• In Myanmar, fermented tea leaf salad, often called lahpet thoke, is a nationwide delicacy. 
• Afternoon tea, with its scones and finger sandwiches, is sort of synonymous with British tradition. Robust black tea blends, comparable to Assam or Ceylon, are the celebrities right here. 
• Malaysians pull tea from cup to cup with milk to create a frothy concoction known as teh tarik.
• Whereas most locations world wide drink their tea sizzling, McDonald says Southern Individuals are likely to drink iced tea and flavored teas.

Tea Pairings

Lovelace says pairing teas with meals follows the identical tasting rules as wines. Teas and wines have comparable polyphenols, flavonols, amino acids, and fragrant volatiles that affect taste, aroma, and mouthfeel. Consider inexperienced teas just like the whites, particularly Riesling and Gewürztraminer, each wines with vivid floral, fruity notes. Oolong is much like Pinot Noir, with its wealthy floral and cherry notes. And black tea, like a malty, tannic Assam tea, could be like cabernet. 

“Pairing tea with fruits, cheeses, and candy treats is a pure inclination,” says McDonald. She explains that black teas work effectively with darkish berries like blackberries, pomegranates, and pink grapes, whereas inexperienced teas pair particularly effectively with mild, crisp fruits, comparable to lemon, apples, or lychee. 

Honda likes ingesting hojicha, a roasted inexperienced tea, when consuming pizza. Its grassy, toasted notes “go effectively with oily meals and type of cleanse your palate.” She additionally recommends having fun with matcha with chocolate, sencha with citrus desserts, comparable to lemon meringue or key lime pie, and gyokuro with sushi.

Baking and Cooking

Cooking with tea provides complexity and nuance to meals. “Every tea has its personal distinctive taste profile so as to add to a dish,” says McDonald.

Black tea can infuse baked items with a deep, malty taste, as seen in Thai tea cake, Earl Gray cookies, and tea-soaked Irish bread. Inexperienced tea’s delicate nuances, alternatively,  (particularly matcha) work fantastically in shortbread, ice cream, and soba noodles. Tea-smoked duck, a traditional from China’s Sichuan province, will get its earthy, woodsy notes from smoked inexperienced tea leaves. (Tea smoke is milder than wooden—barely candy, much less oaky, however nonetheless deeply savory.) The identical technique additionally works with fish and hen wings. 

When cooking or baking with tea, McDonald says it is important to be conscious of its utility. “Since there are totally different compounds within the leaf that infuse and dissolve in another way, varied strategies will lead to distinct tastes,” he says. His guide, The Nice Mississippi Tea Firm Cookbook, offers varied methods of steeping or infusing, with every serving to to deliver out totally different nuances relying on whether or not you are making use of warmth or utilizing fats and what sort.

Tea Cocktails

Tea is actually an herb with nuanced flavors, and is often added to combined drinks. Vegetal gin takes exceptionally effectively to tea, comparable to smoky lapsang souchong in sage and gin punch, or gunpowder tea in gin and celery punch.

The Takeaway

Inexperienced and black tea are merely totally different expressions of the identical plant—Camellia sinensis—however they could not be extra distinct, because of the best way they’re processed after harvest. Inexperienced tea is rapidly heated to protect its grassy, umami-rich character, whereas black tea is totally oxidized for a bolder, extra astringent brew. Components like oxidation, terroir, and even steeping method all affect every cup, from caffeine content material to aroma. Whether or not steeped historically or casually sipped from a mug, tea is each science and ritual—an historic beverage with countless potentialities for exploration.

The most effective tea is the one you take pleasure in—and the one which fits the second. For those who crave a daring, energizing brew with depth, black tea is your pal. For those who’re in search of one thing lighter and refreshing, inexperienced tea is the best way to go.