Henrietta Lovell sources teas from small mountain tea gardens, mainly in the famous tea region of Fujian, China. For those interested in finding aficionado teas in London, she provides some basic background.
Tea may come from the same regions and have the same name but not all tea is equal. It’s rather like fine wine or champagne: in a terroir there may be many producers growing many grapes but they don’t, of course, all produce the same wine. Beyond the dedication of the grower and the soil in which it is grown, teas differ by the way they are processed.
White tea is just dried and reveals the most delicate flavours with a heady aroma of freshly mown grass. Green tea is lightly fired or steamed to develop the softer, greener flavours. Black tea goes through fermentation (oxidization) which brings out the richest tannic flavours (the bitter taste that can make the mouth feel dry) ; and it’s not just the flavour that changes with the different methods of processing.
White tea, as the least processed of all teas, retains the highest concentrates of antioxidants, making it more effective at preventing and fighting various diseases. Green tea is steamed or fired to prevent oxidization and still maintains more antioxidants than black. The oxidization of black tea, however, results in some of the beneficial nutrients being converted into other compounds.
