what is tea?
All tea comes from the dried leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant; the way the leaves are processed (see page 94) determines a tea’s style. During harvesting, the top two leaves and buds of the plant are plucked, then dried (called withering), oxidized (exposed to air), and heated to stop oxidation.
Black, green, and oolong teas make up the majority of all tea consumed in the world. Black tea is oxidized the longest, so it has the strongest flavor. Green tea is much milder because it’s dried for just a few hours and isn’t oxidized or heated. Oolong lies somewhere between black and green tea in terms of oxidation and
