Vietnam has been producing and making tea for hundreds of years. Throughout many years of change and adaptation, Vietnamese people have grown and developed some original kinds into various ones such as black Green Tea, OTD Black Tea, Oolong Tea.
Green Tea – The most popular type in Vietnam
Green tea is among the most popular kind in Vietnam with the highest amount of consumption. Every year, thousands of green teacups have been enjoyed by Vietnamese people throughout the country. In order to have a perfect cup of green tea, you would only need to infuse dried green tea leaves in water for around 5-10 minutes. The color of the water will then turn into green or light brown. And its flavor profile can range from grass-like and toasted to sweet or seaweed-like.
In terms of processing, green tea goes through the least steps before being packaged and labeled. You could easily pick up the tea leaves or tea buds and then directly brew it for some minutes. In larger-scale manufacturing companies, green tea leaves will be processed through some more complicated steps such as being dried naturally under the sun heat or on a pan. Therefore, during the processing, tea leaves do not experience oxidization, which then makes green tea more grassy in taste and green-like in color.
To get and experience a perfect cup of green tea, please click here to explore: Green Tea
Black tea – The most oxidized type
The interesting fact is that black tea comes from the same tree as green tea. The thing that makes black tea different from green tea is the oxidization step. If, as mentioned earlier, tea leaves for green tea do not experience oxidization, black tea is otherwise obtained by oxidizing leaves to make it less grassy in flavor and darker in color. This oxidization step would take place right before it is dried by heating.
The tea leaves will be placed on a flat pan to leave it to wilt into the shape of a curl. When you brew a cup of black tea, in the very first sip, you will feel the taste of astringency and bitterness.
To get the idea of how a cup of black tea is like, click here to get it: Black Tea
Oolong Tea – Common Type in Asia
Oolong tea also comes from the same plant as black tea, and green tea, but with different processing techniques. In order to have the finest oolong tea, all tea leaves need to go through five main steps, including withering, cooling, oxidizing, roasting, and drying.
Each step will be an important factor affecting the quality of Oolong tea variously. For example, the oxidization step, one of the most influencing factors to Oolong tea, will determine the flavor of the tea. It ranges from light to full-bodied, floral to grassy and sweet to toasty depending on the level of oxidization. Therefore, Oolong tea has various kinds which are created by changing some factors of processing.