Tea processing is the method in which the leaves from the tea plant, Camellia sinensis are transformed into the dried leaves for brewing tea. The different categories or types of tea are the result of different ways of processing the leaf once it is plucked. Teas can generally be divided into three categories based on how they are processed. These are:
(i) Black Tea or Fermented Tea,
(ii) Green Tea or non-fermented Tea and
(iii) Oolong Tea or Semi-fermented Tea
The other types of tea which you may come across are White tea, Yellow tea, Pu’erh tea etc. However, these are either fermented or non-fermented tea.
You will be introduced to these teas also later in under this topic.