Hubei Karn Tea Co., Ltd.
Fermentation process of other teas
Published Time：
2025-06-19
The world of tea is rich and diverse, with different fermentation processes giving various types of tea their unique flavors and qualities. In addition to black tea, green tea, oolong tea, white tea, and dark tea each have their own fermentation "secrets".
The world of tea is rich and diverse, with different fermentation processes giving various types of tea their unique flavors and qualities. Besides black tea, green tea, oolong tea, white tea, and dark tea each have their own fermentation "code."
Green tea is an unfermented tea. Its core process is "killing the green," which uses high temperatures to quickly deactivate the enzymes in fresh leaves, preventing the oxidation of tea polyphenols and thus preserving the tea's freshness and green color. Common methods for killing the green include pan-firing, steaming, and baking. For example, West Lake Longjing uses pan-firing, using a high-temperature iron pan to quickly evaporate moisture and set the shape of the tea leaves; Japanese matcha, on the other hand, mostly uses steaming, using steam to kill the green, preserving more chlorophyll and amino acids, resulting in a more refreshing tea broth.
Oolong tea is a semi-fermented tea, with a fermentation degree between 10%-70%, and its process is the most complex. Taking Tieguanyin as an example, the freshly picked leaves are first sun-dried, using sunlight to promote water evaporation and activate enzyme activity; then they are shaken, allowing the tea leaves to constantly collide and rub in bamboo sieves, causing damage to the leaf edge cells and promoting the partial oxidation of tea polyphenols, forming the unique characteristic of "green leaves with red edges"; then they undergo killing the green, rolling, and baking. During baking, high temperatures cause Maillard reactions inside the tea leaves, producing unique caramel and floral fruit aromas. Different degrees of shaking and baking temperatures create oolong teas with various aroma types, such as light aroma and strong aroma.
White tea is a slightly fermented tea, with a natural and slow fermentation process. After the fresh leaves are picked, they are directly withered and dried. During withering, the fresh leaves slowly lose moisture under suitable temperature, humidity, and ventilation conditions, and the enzymatic oxidation in the tea leaves proceeds slightly, forming the characteristics of prominent white tea downy aroma and a light sweet taste. During sun-withering, the tea leaves slowly lose water in the sun, absorbing the sun's essence, and the dry tea has a unique "sun-dried aroma"; indoor withering controls the temperature and humidity to make the tea fermentation more even. The drying process mostly uses low-heat slow baking to further fix the quality and enhance the aroma.
Dark tea is a post-fermented tea, and its fermentation takes place after the green tea is made. Taking Pu'er ripe tea as an example, the green tea undergoes pile fermentation, creating a high-temperature and high-humidity environment through watering and piling, using the combined action of microorganisms and the tea's internal oxidases to deeply transform substances such as tea polyphenols. During pile fermentation, the tea color changes from green to dark brown, the taste becomes mellow and smooth, and a unique aged aroma and mushroom aroma are formed. The post-fermentation process of dark tea is long, and during storage, the tea will continue to undergo slow transformation, and the quality will continuously improve over time.
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