LEARNING ABOUT THE WORLD AROUND US IS A CONSTANT AND NEVERENDING QUEST. HERE WE EMBARK INTO TEA + its culture.

FOR SIMPLICITY, MANY CONSIDER ANY TYPE OF BOTANICAL, FLORAL, OR HERBAL STEEPING A TEA. WE DON’T NECESSARILY DISAGREE WITH THIS SENTIMENT, BUT WE BELIEVE IT’S IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND THE INTRICACIES OF THE TEA WORLD and its offerings. OBJECTIVELY SPEAKING, TEA IS ONLY PRODUCED FROM A SINGULAR PLANT GENUS - CAMELLIA. THE LEAVES AND BUDS OF THIS SMALL TREE ARE PLUCKED AND PROCESSED TO CREATE DIFFERENT FORMS OF TEA. WHILE THERE EXISTS MULTIPLE VARIETALS OF cAMELLIA, ALL TEA FROM WHITE TO BLACK TO OOLONG START AS A LEAF FROM THE SAME PLANT. IT ALL COMES DOWN TO HOW THE LEAVES ARE PROCESSED AFTER THEY’VE BEEN PLUCKED.

THIS IS WHERE TEA CLASSIFICATION COMES INTO PLAY. AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL, TEA IS CLASSIFIED BY ITS OXIDATION LEVEL. pretty much all orthodox tea falls into a classification of white, green, oolong, black/red, dark/fermented, and yellow. From here, these teas can be further categorized by the processes the leaves undergo before they become a finished product. referring to the accompanying chart, these actions help to further identify a given tea variety. This opens the door to hundreds of different possibilities with each oxidation class being vastly different from any given counterpart.

White TEAS ARE THE LEAST PROCESSED CLASS OF TEA WITH MOST VARIETIES ONLY UNDERGOING A FEW SMALL actions before completion. THIS MEANS THAT SOME WHITE TEAS ARE NEVER "FIXED" AT A specific OXIDATION LEVEL LEADING TO THE POSSIBILITY OF AGED WHITE TEAS.

OOLONGS OR WULONGS ARE ON THE OPPOSITE END OF THE SPECTRUM HAVING THE MOST IN-DEPTH PATH OF CREATION. AN OOLONG CAN AND will often GO THROUGH nearly ALL OF THE LISTED PROCESSES IN SOME WAY SHAPE OR FORM LEADING TO INTENSELY UNIQUE AND FASCINATING TEAS.

THIS IS NOT TO SAY ONE OOLONG OR WHITE TEA HAS TO BE PROCESSED THE SAME WAY AS THE PREVIOUS. IT SIMPLY MEANS THAT SIMILARLY CLASSIFIED TEAS ARE FIXED AT RELATIVELY SIMILAR oxidation levels. with so much complexity in processing, one can find that there are dozens, if not hundreds, of varieties of each tea class.

black or red teas are not as heavily processed as oolongs, but they require their own set of actions to be classified in the black tea family. black teas are typically considered "fully oxidized" meaning that the leaves are allowed to completely brown. The outcome leads to the darker colors and deeper flavors most often associated with the black and red tea family.

BEYOND OXIDATION

TEA CLASSIFICATION COMES AS crucial information to those involved in the tea supply chain from start to finish, but it isn’t the only way we differentiate one tea from another. geographical origin has historically played a larger role in tea identification, but as tea producers grew into factory farms, it made it impossible to ensure a tea’s quality based on growing location. This has led specialty tea purveyors to look for more specific information than just where a tea is grown. Instead, we look for methods of production and transparency of growing information. It is our goal to source from producers that treat tea like a craft and specifically set out to grow truly great tea. it’s nEVER our intent to buy tea from A FARM just because IT happenS to be located in a generally desirable region. THERE ARE, HOWEVER, METHODS OF TEA PRODUCTION THAT ARE SYNONYMOUS WITH SPECIFIC CULTURES, AND WHEN SOMEONE ELSE IMMITATES THE STYLE, IT ISN’T TYPICALLY WELL RECEIVED.

Tea can pretty much be grown anywhere, but AS MENTIONED PREVIOUSLY, THERE are certainly some places where a specific tea has cemented itself into the culture. For instance, smoke-fixated lapsang souchong IS A STAPLE OF THE CHINESE WUYI MOUNTAIN RANGE AND ITS PEOPLE. For CENTURIES, LAPSANG SOUCHONG has been grown and smoked with naturally occuring pine wood. THE PROCESS, WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY BORN OUT OF NECESSITY, HAS SINCE BECOME A PILLAR OF FUJIAN TEA PRODUCTION. UNFORTUNATELY, With factorization, lapsang souchong production has skyrocketed and is now often smoked after its fixation, pushing the original production method to the side. luckily, there still exists SMALLER producers that utilize the centuries old pine-smoke fixation method. without them, a piece of historical tea culture is lost. THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF EXAMPLES OF FACTORY FARM PRODUCERS EMBELLISHING THEIR TEAS TO SIMULATE THE REAL DEAL. We like to honor true practices that still exist in tea production, and even though we add some flair to the game, our goal is to always respect and value truly great tea.