Chinese Market

China happens to be the birthplace of the world’s largest consumed beverage i.e. tea. Tea plants have come from China and initially were used for therapeutic reasons. It is said that tea plants would exist in China around 6,000 years ago. Some 2,000 years back, tea had been developed in the form of a drink. There after Chinese people had learnt to plant tea and make use of the tea leaves for different kinds of tea, which we consume nowadays. There are 5 categories of Chinese tealeaves – oolong, black, green, compressed and scented tea.

Green tea is in all probability the most popular amongst the other types of tea. Green tea is actually unfermented tea. Since this tea isn’t fermented, hence the leaves of the tea maintain the natural and original color.

Unlike the name ‘black tea’, this tea is reality is red in color. The Chinese pronunciation is ‘hong cha’, which accurately stands for red tea. This tea is unfermented.

The oolong tea is half fermented. The leaves of oolong tea are thick and loose and have golden yellow shades. Bohea tea is a flavored variety of oolong tea and it is produced near the Wuyi Mountains of Fuji Province.

Next is the scented variety of tea that is only found in China. Smoking leaves of the tea plant along with scented flowers make this variety of tea. Scented flowers of magnolia and jasmine plants are used for this purpose. Jasmine tea is the most well liked tea of the scented kind. Foreigners and people from northern regions of Chinese prefer having Jasmine tea.

As the name suggests, compressed tea is hardened and compressed into a particular shape. This type of tea is appropriate for transportation and storage. Therefore it is shipped mainly to the border areas of China for the minority groups of people. Compressed tea can further be segregated into brick tea and tuo tea. Brick tea is of the shape of a brick. Tibetans and Mongolians favor this tea. Tuo tea is compressed tea that is shaped in the form of a bowl. This tea is produced in Sichuan and Yunnan.

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