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What kind of tea is black tea? Does black tea taste the same as black tea? what's the difference in taste characteristics?

Published: 2026-04-03 Author: World Gafei

Last Updated: 2026/04/03, The production of tea is a strict process, which has been developed after hundreds of years of trial and error. Today, scientific research helps us define the chemical processes that take place in all steps of a process, but a long history and conservative process traditions have led to some common misunderstandings and confusing terms. In particular, fermentation is often used to describe the blackening process of tea during processing.

The production of tea is a strict process, which has been developed after hundreds of years of trial and error. Today, scientific research helps us define the chemical processes that take place in all steps of a process, but a long history and conservative process traditions have led to some common misunderstandings and confusing terms. In particular, "fermentation" is often used to describe the process of blackening tea leaves during processing, although very few tea leaves have microbial activity during processing. On the contrary, most teas go through a process more accurately called "oxidation".

The confusing translation of tea names makes the confluence of the two words more complicated. For example, black tea in Chinese is BLACK TEA in English. Black tea in Chinese is DARK TEA in English.

In order to distinguish the difference between black tea and black tea, it is necessary to understand the oxidation and fermentation of black tea and black tea. So what's the difference between the two? In the context of tea processing, how should we define them?

What is oxidation?

Oxidation is an enzyme reaction that causes the tea to turn brown after harvest. Specifically, this reaction occurs when the cell wall breaks and polyphenoloxidase is exposed to oxygen in the air. This chemical reaction is the same as the process by which an apple or avocado turns brown after being cut. To stop the oxidation process, heat the leaves, which will "cook" or denature related enzymes and prevent browning. Using the same apple analogy, it's like baking an apple into a pie.

Oxidation is the process of producing the color classification as we know it in the West. Simply put, green tea is baked quickly to prevent oxidation, while black tea is allowed to oxidize fully and turn brown before baking. The oxidation level of oolong tea is between these two extremes, between 5% and 75%. During the oxidation process, the leaves are carefully monitored so that the reaction can be stopped at the desired level.

Most of the oxidized leaves on the bamboo plate are still green.

It is important to note that this process is entirely a chemical reaction. It is caused by the reaction of proteins in leaves with oxygen in the air. If left unchecked, oxidation will cause the tea to rot completely, just as an apple will rot when it is bruised. Therefore, the developed technology of inducing and controlling oxidation has always been an indispensable part of tea art production in history.

What is fermentation?

The word "fermentation" is often used to describe oxidation, but it is actually a completely different process. Part of the problem is that the word has many meanings, each with its own context. However, most definitions have one thing in common, that is, fermentation requires microbial activity. In tea, this is usually considered to refer to any microbial activity, regardless of the presence of oxygen.

Raw Pu'er cake is traditionally wrapped in bamboo and fermented over time.

Although oxidation occurs naturally in any picked tea, only a few types of tea are truly fermented and are therefore classified as hobsich á. The most famous and widely distributed is Pu'er tea, which is produced in Yunnan in southern China. In Pu'er process, there are two kinds of changes in the fermentation process, and the main difference is the speed of fermentation. Raw Pu'er, or "raw" Pu'er, ferments slowly with the passage of time, and this process is almost certainly discovered by accident. After heating to prevent oxidation, raw Pu'er leaves are autoclaved into cakes for easy storage and trading. With the passage of time, in the humid environment of southern China, the naturally occurring microorganisms on the tea decomposed some components of the tea and produced new substances, changing the chemical composition and taste of the tea.

Recently, a process to accelerate this fermentation has been developed to meet the growing demand for these unique teas. The resulting Pu'er tea is called "boiled Pu'er tea". After starting heating to stop oxidation, the unfinished leaves are directly piled up in a large pile. Frankly, the process looks a lot like composting. A large number of leaves generate heat, kill unwanted microbes and promote the activity of other organisms. In this process, the leaves rotate regularly to introduce oxygen and prevent overheating. The microorganisms in this process may still exist naturally in the tea or the environment, but some tea makers use the starter from the previous batch of tea, or deliberately introduce microorganisms to make the fermentation process more consistent during the harvest process.

Mao tea, or unfinished leaves, is piled up to speed up fermentation

Common misuse and confusion

Considering the advantages of micro-knowledge, the two processes seem to be unique and completely different from each other. But it is also important to remember that Chinese tea artists had been using these two processes for hundreds of years before they were discovered. Since both turn the tea dark, the merger may be understandable. Today, this confusion still exists because the oxidation process is called "fermented" in Chinese, which literally means "fermentation". In order to distinguish the microbial processes used in Pu'er tea, the Chinese use the word hemeru favoxi à o, which literally means "post-fermentation". Both translations are misleading, but they are still commonly used in English tea texts.

The difference between oxidized tea and fermented tea may seem subtle, but the resulting flavor is very unique. Although fully oxidized black tea usually tastes of chestnut, malt or citrus, fermented Pu'er tea has more nuances of soil, peat or camphor. Understanding the use and misuse of these terms will certainly make the vast tea world less confusing.

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