The history of Chinese tea (茶, chá) goes back for many centuries, and though there is no specific evidence that proves when tea started to be used as a beverage, it was still originally drunk for its health purposes. There are many different types of Chinese tea, and the more natural or fermented the leaves are, the more expensive the tea tends to be.
Green Tea (绿色 , Lǜchá):
This is the most natural tea class that is dried with no fermentation process. It is believed to have the most medicinal values of tea and one of the lowest levels of caffeine. Green tea carries a lot of antioxidants that strengthen immune systems. An example of this class of tea is 龙井 (Lóngjǐng).
Oolong Tea (乌龙茶, Wūlóngchá):
This is a kind of tea that also belongs in its own class. It is half-fermented which gives it more flavor than natural teas. Oolong is an emulsifier for fat and cholesterol so it is often paired with greasy food. A example of this class of tea is 铁观音 (Tiě guānyīn).
Black Tea (红茶, Hóngchá):
Red tea in Chinese is sometimes translated to “Black Tea” in English depending whether the fermentation has reached a standard level. Red tea is not very popular. Black tea leaves are fully fermented. The tea is very strong and the liquid turns a dark color due to all the years of fermentation. Black tea is good for cleaning the digestive system. An example of this class of tea is 普洱 (Pǔ’ěr).
Scented Tea (花茶, Huāchá)
“Flower tea” is sometimes referred to as scented tea. Petals and bases of flowers are added to a mixture of tea leaves and are brewed together. Different flowers are believed to have different health benefits, but each kind has a floral taste. Examples of this class of tea are Jasmine (茉莉花, Mòlìhuā) and Chrysanthemum (菊花, Júhuā).
Sometimes tea leaves are compressed into bricks (砖茶, zhuānchá). This helps the tea leaves ferment and age like wine.
Unlike the British who add sugar and cream to their tea, the Chinese drink their tea naturally so they can enjoy the earthy flavors of the leaves.
241
![fuckyeshuaxia:
BUBBLE TEA [x]
AKA the best thing you will ever have. EVER. (I hear it’s being replaced with froyo, though, which makes me sad because boba tea makes me happy.)
Coming from Taichung, Taiwan, in the 1980s, bubble tea, aka boba tea, known in Chinese as 珍珠奶茶, has exploded among Asians and occasionally, non-Asians (still don’t know any non-Asians who drink as much bubble tea as my Asian friends and I though).
They come in a variety of different ways — from fruit-based teas to milk-based teas to hybrid fruit-milk-based teas to iced teas to slushie teas to hot as hay-ell teas — but they all contain this beautiful marvelous wonderful thing called tapioca. Well, okay, not really tapioca tapioca, but tapioca balls and they are squishy and chewy and the best things ever unless you leave them in hot tea for too long in which case they become mushy and gross so, uh, don’t do that. (Life lesson: learned.)
My personal favourite flavours are honeydew, red bean, lychee, and taro but drink what you want. It’s a free country! (Unless you’re in the PRC. In which case, can you teach me how to access Tumblr from the mainland?)
Can be called milk tea (奶茶, nǎichá) with pearl, boba milk tea, bubble milk tea, or tapioca milk tea. The tapioca balls are called pearls (珍珠, zhēnzhū) and made from starch.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4i72l03ZC1r8nmcqo1_1280.jpg)
