Tea brands and flavours

[hook]

Yup, the difference in (white), green, red (oolong) and black is in the time/amount the leaves are left to ferment ...the darker the \"colour\" the more fermented they are.

Red a.k.a. oolong is more fermented then green and less then black. But you are correct - it is closer to stronger green teas then to black ones.

Roibos or Redbush tea is a plant of itself and has nothing to do with the teaplant itself, and even less so with Oolong.
Technically Roibos/Redbush is a herbal tea (in some places named \"infusion\") and that plant just happens to have similar attributes as (real) tea.

[eggplantboy]

Hello,

Cool. Thanks for the info. I was told something different about white tea, though. One of the guys at that shop said that white tea was made from mutated leaves from tea plants. According to him, white leaves occur occasionally on tea plants, and that the higher price for white tea is due to pickers having to search for (or sort out) the few white leaves on the plantation. Was he pulling my leg, making an excuse for the high price of white tea?

EDIT: I haven\'t been to Vital Tealeaf yet, but I\'ve tried to find Tarry Souchong on the internet (and Vital Tealeaf doesn\'t have a website yet). You\'re right, it\'s hard to find! So far the only company I\'ve found that carries it is a French one:

http://www.admirable-tea-boutique.com/acatalog/the_taiwan_the_fume_the_formose.html

[hook]

That\'s a first to me

...White tea is just made from the top two leaves and buds and is treated more carefully then green tea. It has nothing to do with any mutations at all

You can check it on Wikipedia, if you don\'t believe me

White tea is quite expensive, because of two factors:
- they have to be handpicked, since no machine can pick only the two topmost leaves and buds
- the taste and whole production is more delicate (especially if they\'re then handrolled into ornamental shapes)

The most expensive tea is an white tea which was used to be drunk only by the Chinese emperor. Only virgins using golden gloves were alowed to pick the buds and the top two leaves on the special plantage and only at a certain time of year, if the conditions were right. ...and, no, I\'m not pulling your leg! I don\'t remember if it\'s already on the market, or is the only way to get it still as a gift from the emperor.

Thanks for the link