Green tea
21 teas in this category
Green tea is the category that punishes laziness. The leaf is unoxidized, the chemistry is delicate, and 90°C water is too hot — anything above 80°C and a good Long Jing turns bitter and stays there. The reward for getting it right is a clarity you don't get anywhere else: toasted chestnut, sweet grass, a vegetal sweetness that rises across two or three steeps and then politely disappears. Chinese greens are pan-fired (pressed flat for Long Jing, curled tight for Bi Luo Chun) rather than steamed like Japanese sencha, which makes them rounder and less marine. Spring harvest is what you pay for; later harvests are what you drink for practice. No rinse — the first steep carries most of the aroma compounds, and pouring it off is throwing money away. A tall glass works almost as well as a gaiwan for greens, and there's a small pleasure in watching the leaves sink that belongs to this category alone. The teas below cover the canonical Zhejiang and Anhui famous greens plus a handful of regional curiosities worth meeting once.
Teas in this category
- Anji Bai ChaAnji County, Zhejiang, China
Despite its name, this is a green tea processed from a rare albino cultivar whose leaves turn pale in cool spring weather.
- Bai Mao HouTaimu Mountains, Fujian, China
A distinctive Fujian green tea made from a cultivar normally reserved for white teas, giving it a unique bridge character.
- Bi Luo ChunDongting Mountains, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China
One of China's most famous green teas, prized for its tiny spiral-rolled leaves covered in white down.
- Da FangShe County, Huangshan, Anhui, China
Considered the ancestor of all flat-pressed Chinese green teas, predating Long Jing by centuries.
- Du Yun Mao JianDuyun, Guizhou, China
A fine-boned green tea with a clean, sweet opening and a lingering chestnut-like finish.
- En Shi Yu LuEnshi, Hubei, China
China's most famous steamed green tea and one of very few surviving examples of the Tang-dynasty steaming method.
- Gu Zhang Mao JianGuzhang County, Xiangxi, Hunan, China
One of Hunan's most delicate greens with thin, downy leaves that infuse quickly.
- Huangshan Mao FengHuangshan (Yellow Mountain), Anhui, China
One of China's most celebrated green teas.
- Laoshan GreenLaoshan, Shandong, China
One of China's northernmost green teas, grown where harsh winters and mineral-rich spring water produce a uniquely thick, sweet cup.
- Long JingHangzhou, Zhejiang, China
China's most famous green tea and a benchmark for the flat-pressed style.
- Lu'An Gua PianLu'an, Anhui, China
The only famous Chinese green tea made exclusively from single leaves with no buds — the unique plucking standard removes both the stem and the bud, leaving just the leaf.
- Mao FengAnhui, China (generic style also produced in Yunnan, Sichuan, Zhejiang)
Mao Feng is a broad style of Chinese green tea characterized by one bud and one or two leaves with silvery fuzz ('fur') and a peak-like shape.
- Mao JianHenan, China (generic style produced across multiple provinces)
Mao Jian is a broad category of Chinese green teas characterized by small, tightly rolled leaves covered in fine downy hairs.
- Mengding GanluMengding Mountain, Ya'an, Sichuan, China
One of Sichuan's most treasured green teas, named 'Sweet Dew' for the honeyed sweetness that suffuses every infusion.
- Mengding ShihuaMengding Mountain, Ya'an, Sichuan, China
A flat-pressed Sichuan green tea from the same mountain as Ganlu but processed differently — the leaves are pressed against the wok, rubbing away the downy hairs and creating a flatter, more compact shape.
- Tai Ping Hou KuiTaiping (now Huangshan City), Anhui, China
One of China's most visually dramatic teas — the leaves are enormous flat blades, often 10-15cm long, with a distinctive cross-hatch pattern from pressing.
- Xin Yang Mao JianXinyang, Henan, China
One of China's top ten famous teas with over 2300 years of history.
- Yun WuVarious high-altitude regions, China (most famous: Lushan, Jiangxi; also Zhejiang, Sichuan, others)
A common name across China for locally produced green teas grown in misty, high-altitude conditions.
- Zhen MeiTaishun County, Zhejiang, China (originally Jiangxi)
A widely produced Chinese green tea named for its thin, curved leaves that resemble eyebrows.
- Zhu Ye QingEmei Mountain, Sichuan, China
A visually striking Sichuan green tea made entirely from single buds that stand upright in the glass — some floating at the surface, others sinking — creating an elegant 'bamboo forest' effect.
- Zi SunChangxing (Gu Zhu Mountain), Zhejiang, China
One of China's oldest named teas — Lu Yu declared it the finest in China in his 8th-century Classic of Tea, and it became the first imperial tribute tea of the Tang dynasty.