Tea or Camellia Sinensis
Camellia sinensis is the scientific classification for the tea plant.
One of the most interesting and surprising facts about tea for newcomers
is that all types of tea, white, green, oolong, red and black, come
from the same plant, the Camellia sinensis. What determines a type of
tea's "color" is the processing the newly picked leaves will undergo
before they reach your tea pot.
Camellia is native to most of Southeast Asia, but is cultivated throughout
the world in other countries such as Japan and India.
The Four Main Types
White tea is the most delicate and probably the most powerful
of all the types of tea.
It brews a very airy aroma and somewhat fruity taste that any hot beverage
drinker can enjoy. This tea also offers more powerful antioxidant properties
than its older brothers. I say "older" because this tea is in fact young,
that is, the leaves are picked before they fully open and are covered
with tiny fuzzy whitish hairs which earns it its name "white tea".
Green tea is another well-known type and also offers great health
benefits too. Grown and highly consumed in both China and Japan, this
tea branches off into literally hundreds of varieties.
Oolong tea which is also called wu long tea, is one of those
types of tea that is in between green and black. A sweet, floral, woody
brew that consists of larger leaves. This tea has also proven in studies
that it can help folks shed pounds, and even decrease the progress of
wrinkles and aging of the skin.
Black tea which is the most commonly consumed tea in the world
is the most processed of the four types. Tea overall is the second most
consumed beverage in the world, with water as the first. Most black
varieties of tea come from India! Most people may think China since
that country is the birth place of tea, but India's hot climate and
high mountains produce some of the worlds finest black teas..