There are so many different types of tea that it may come as a surprise to learn they are all made from pretty much the same plant. Of course, some are flavored with essential oils (Earl Grey, for example, has oil of bergamot, which is made from a type of bitter orange) or fragrant herbal additives (like the jasmine flowers added to jasmine tea), but the basic ingredient, the tea leaf itself, comes from the Camellia sinensis plant. It should perhaps be clarified at this point that we are talking about caffeinated teas, not "herbal" ones. Herbal teas have only come to be called teas because they are steeped the way the real thing is. Officially, an herbal tea -- that is, one made completely from dried mint leaves or chamomile blossoms or rose hips or any combination of herbs and spices that does not include the leaves of the tea plant -- is actually an infusion or a tisane.

The tea plant is an evergreen shrub. As the name Camellia sinensis suggests, it is related to the same camellias that are popular with American gardeners because they produce showy, fragrant white or pink flowers during the winter, when most other plants are dormant. In fact, wherever you can grow garden-variety camellias (basically, in parts of the country where winters are mild), you can probably have a tea bush. And although it won't produce a quality or quantity of leaves that would justify going to the trouble to pluck, prepare, steep, and sip them, you can still enjoy the yellow-centered white flowers and congratulate yourself on possessing such a versatile and historically important plant.

All tea begins with the harvesting of the newest foliage from the bush. Only the unopened leaf bud and the top three or four tenderest leaves on a branch are ever used. Next, the freshly plucked leaves go through a process called "withering." They are put in a warm dry place for most of a day and allowed to wilt until they contain only about 40% of their original moisture. Then the leaves are "rolled" or "curled." This step used to be done by hand, with the workers grabbing bunches of wilted leaves and rolling them between the palms of their hands, pressing to crush the leaf cells.

What happens next, however, makes all the difference in the world, as a look at the meanings of just a few tea terms will show. Keep in mind that this is just the very basics of tea terminology. This beverage inspires reverence and connoisseurship, and those who are interested will find that there are plenty of tea-related phrases to learn and subtleties to discern.

All teas are either black, green, or oolong:

 

Black Tea
 

Black teas are by far the most popular teas in the West. They are the teas of fancy tea parties, of the Boston Tea Party, of the British concept of "tea and sympathy." They are sweetened and served over ice in the American South. The crucial step in making black tea is to allow the juices in the rolled fresh leaves to darken from contact with the air. Tea makers call this process "fermentation," although, technically, it is "oxidation." A similar process occurs when the flesh of a cut apple turns brown. The dark substances that form while the tea leaves are exposed to the air are produced by the chemical reactions of the tannins in the tea. They give the tea astringency, robust flavor and aroma, and they leach into hot water to produce the characteristic reddish-amber color (the Chinese, preferring to designate the tea by its color after brewing as opposed to before, call black teas "red teas"). The oxidizing stage of tea processing does not take long, no more than four hours. When the leaves have transformed sufficiently, then they are "fired," dried over heat to stop the oxidation process.

 

Green Tea
 

Green teas, on the other hand, are very popular in Asia and are only just beginning to catch on here. Green tea is made by preventing the tea leaves from ever oxidizing at all. Instead, the leaves are steamed right after the withering stage, which destroys the enzymes that would otherwise cause the darkening. The steamed leaves are rolled and immediately fired. Thus, the dried tea leaves remain green, and the brewed tea, a pale green liquid, has a subtle, slightly bitter flavor, with grassy hints of the flavor of the fresh plant. Because the tannins do not go through the oxidizing process, which has a mellowing effect, green tea can be bitterer, more astringent than black, especially if it is steeped for a long time.

 

Oolong and Pouchong Teas

 

Oolongs and pouchongs are "semi-fermented" teas. That is, they are processed the same way that black teas are, but they aren't allowed to oxidize fully. For pouchong tea, the oxidizing step is reduced to about one-quarter of the full length. Oolongs (which are more popular), ferment longer, about half as long as a black tea. Predictably, the flavor of a semi-fermented tea is somewhere in between black tea and green tea. Particularly good oolongs are supposed to have a peachy flavor and aroma. One of the best of these, Formosa Oolong, is produced on the island of Taiwan. The word Formosa comes from the name given to Taiwan by 16th-century Portuguese explorers. Ilha Formosa, they called it "Beautiful Island."

 

The basics mastered, there are still many variables to consider. Take just a few:

Pekoe teas
 

The word "pekoe," which is used in grading black teas, is a corruption of the Chinese word meaning "silver-haired." This refers to the silvery down found on especially young tea leaves. "Orange Pekoe" is a type familiar to most tea drinkers, and those who have tasted it are aware that it is neither flavored with oranges nor especially orange-colored. In this case, "Orange" probably comes from the Dutch royal family, the House of Orange. (The Dutch played a major role in bringing tea to the West, and the Dutch East India Company was the first large tea trading company in Europe.) So Orange Pekoe tea is a fancy grade of black tea, as indicated by the reference to Dutch nobility and the fact that it contains particularly young tea leaves. There are numerous grades of and variations on pekoe tea. In brief, the fancier it is, the younger the leaves used to make it -- and the less likely they are to have broken during processing. Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe, for example, is made with the very tips of the branches, the leaf buds, which turn golden during fermenting. Broken Pekoe is made with fewer leaf tips, more stems, and the leaves are no longer whole. Pekoe Fannings and the smaller Pekoe Dust are tea leaves that have been crushed even more during processing. Fannings and dust are often used in tea bags because they release color and flavor into hot water more rapidly than larger or more tightly rolled pieces.

 

Gunpowder, Imperial, and Hyson teas
 

Among Chinese green teas, Gunpowder, Hyson, and Imperial are popular. Gunpowder is made with high-grade, young leaves that have been rolled into small, tight balls. The loose tea looks a little like small lead shot. Hyson (the word means "young spring") teas are also made with young leaves, but they are not rolled so tightly. The Imperial designation indicates that a tea has been made with slightly older leaves.

 

Darjeeling and Assam teas
 

The climate and terrain in the area where tea shrubs are grown have a considerable effect on the flavor of the harvest, so regions of origin are often a part of a tea's name. Assam and Darjeeling teas, two favorites from India, are examples of this. In the early 19th century, the British, eager to gain control of a tea-producing area, were thrilled to discover tea plants (now known as Camellia sinensis, var. assamica) growing wild in Assam, the very northeastern region of India. Soon, they had their colonists producing great quantities of Assam tea to supply the Empire. At Darjeeling, less than 200 miles from where those first wild tea plants were found, the tea estates have been built at famously high altitudes. The town is in the Himalyas, and, in fact, has a view of Mount Everest when the weather permits. The altitude is credited with giving the tea plants the benefit of a long, slow growing season. Tea made from leaves picked in May and early June is light and flowery; the best, most complex, and most expensive teas are made from leaves harvested in June and July. By August, the approaching monsoon has diminished the quality of the harvest, and from January to April the plants do not produce usable growth.

 

Matcha
 

The greenest of the green teas, matcha, is made from very high-quality tea leaves ground into a fine powder. It is associated especially with the ritual Japanese ceremony, the Chado, or the "Way of Tea." The powder, which is stored in a container called a natsume, is bright spring-leaf green. It is prepared by using a special bamboo whisk to mix the powder and hot water. The final product is a cloudy emerald liquid topped with a layer of brilliant green foam. It is traditionally sipped out of a small bowl. Because the actual tea particles are held in suspension in the water, rather than being steeped and strained out in the usual way, matcha is very strong and bitter. Most westerners take some time to become accustomed to its flavor.

The Brew

Few indulgences are simpler to prepare than a nice cup of tea. Really, no more than boiling and steeping is involved. But still, connoisseurs insist that there is a Right way to do it. And while this is nothing so complex as a Japanese tea ceremony, the process by which a mug of steaming, fragrant, perfectly-steeped tea is produced is a small ritual in itself.

First, measure out the tea leaves and set them aside. The rule of thumb is to add one teaspoon (or teabag) per cup and "one for the pot." If you are using loose tea leaves, you can put them into a tea ball, a perforated container that allows the leaves to steep but keeps them from floating freely in the water. Many people just add the loose leaves to the pot without worrying about the tea ball, though. Generally, they'll sink in the water as they steep, so they don't clog the spout of the pot, and you don't end up with a cup full of soggy leaves. Pouring the tea through a strainer helps to catch floating leaves before they make it into the cup.

The ideal cup of tea is made with fresh, cool water. It's not worth it to trim down the boiling time by using hot water from the tap. Or to save yourself exertion by turning up the flame under a kettle half-filled with water left over from yesterday. Water for tea should have a high oxygen content, which makes its flavor lively rather than flat. Both hot tap water and preboiled water have already been partially deoxygenated.

As soon as the water reaches a "rolling boil" -- but not before -- remove it from the heat. Letting it boil for too long allows oxygen to escape. Not letting it reach the boiling point at all means your tea water isn't as hot as it can be. And the hotter it is, the more effectively it dissolves the flavors, colors, and caffeine out of the leaves. Before combining tea leaves and water, drizzle a bit of boiling water into the pot, swish it around, and pour it out. Then drop the tea leaves in. The purpose of this preheating step is twofold: the steamy air softens the tea leaves so they release their flavors more readily once they are in the water, and the warm pot helps the tea stay hot a little longer. Finally, fill the pot with water.

In 3 to 5 minutes, depending on your taste, the tea is ready to be served. Some tea lovers prefer to remove the tea leaves at this point, because longer steeping makes a bitterer brew. If you are making green tea, 3 minutes should be sufficient to reach the optimum flavor -- a longer brewing time can make the tea too astringent.

How Much of a Buzz?

Just how much of a boost can a drowsy person expect to get from a fragrant cup of tea? It depends on several factors. A 6-ounce cup of black tea can (if brewed long enough) provide over 100 mg of caffeine, about as much as an average cup of coffee. There is a catch, though. The longer the tea sits in the water, the more the tannins leach out with the caffeine. This can make the tea unnecessarily bitter and upset some sensitive stomachs. One thing you can do, if you're determined to drink your tea coffee-strength, is add milk. It will bind to the tannins and neutralize them, without affecting the caffeine. If you're one of those people who prefers to dangle a tea bag in hot water just until the liquid turns a pretty color, you won't get much caffeine at all. The tea leaves release the color first -- caffeine takes a bit longer to start to dissolve. So, at the low end of the stimulant-spectrum, a cup of tea provides about 20 mg of caffeine. As a general rule, you can expect a cup of black tea to have about 50 mg.

As for oolong and green teas, they both have less caffeine than black. It appears that the early fermentation (oxidization) process makes the caffeine more easily soluble in hot water. So, the shorter the oxidation stage, the less caffeine the brewed tea provides. Semi-fermented oolong teas have between 10 and 55 mg of caffeine per 6-ounce cup. Green teas, which are never allowed to oxidize at all, have between 8 and 15 mg.

Herbal Teas

Simply add two teaspoons of flowers to your diffuser and poor in the hot water.  Cover and let steep for 3-4 minutes before enjoying a very relaxing evening treat.  I highly recommend buying whole. organic German flowers.  The taste and scent are remarkable and the potency is amazing.