The Six Types of Chinese Tea, Explained by Their Making

China's six broad tea categories are green (绿茶), white (白茶), yellow (黄茶), oolong or qing (乌龙茶／青茶), red (红茶), and dark tea (黑茶). The distinctions are grounded in how leaves are processed and oxidised, not in six separate tea plants. Different cultivars and places still matter within each category.

Follow what happens to the leaf

• Green tea: heat treatment slows enzymatic oxidation early in processing.
• White tea: withering and drying are central; the leaves are not rolled in the same way as many other teas.
• Yellow tea: a moist-heat yellowing step, menhuang (闷黄), distinguishes it from green tea.
• Oolong tea: repeated resting and shaking, among other steps, shape partial oxidation and aroma.
• Red tea: oxidation during processing contributes to its characteristic red liquor.
• Dark tea: post-processing transformation, including heaping in some traditions, gives this category a different path.

Jasmine tea is usually a scented, reprocessed tea rather than a seventh basic category. Once you know how a tea was made, you can make a more useful first choice about brewing; the next guide offers starting points, not fixed rules.