Foundation guide
Chinese Tea Basics: Where Chinese Tea Begins ↗
Start with the tea plant, the boundary between history and legend, and a practical five-step method for learning Chinese tea.
Learn / Foundations
Knowledge for your next cup.
Start with the leaves, work through a measured brew, and learn what your observations can tell you.
Foundation guide
The Six Major Types of Chinese Tea ↗
Learn how processing creates the six major Chinese tea families and what their leaves, aromas and flavors tend to reveal.
Foundation guide
Tea Leaf Size: Small, Medium and Large Leaf Tea ↗
Understand small-, medium- and large-leaf tea plants, how leaf size is measured, and why it cannot determine tea type or quality alone.
Foundation guide
Tea Tree Types: Tree, Semi-Tree and Shrub Plants ↗
Learn why tea plants can look like trees or bushes, how pruning changes their shape, and why growth form is not a quality grade.
Foundation guide
High-Mountain Tea: How Altitude Changes Tea ↗
Explore how elevation, temperature, light and mist can influence tea without turning altitude into an automatic quality claim.
Foundation guide
Tea Harvest Seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter ↗
Learn how harvest season can influence Chinese tea and why season names describe tendencies rather than guarantee quality.
Foundation guide
Organic Tea vs Ecological Tea ↗
Understand certified organic tea, loose ecological marketing language and the details worth checking on a Chinese tea label.
Foundation guide
Chinese Green Tea: Types, Processing, Taste and Brewing ↗
Explore Chinese green tea processing styles, common shapes and flavors, brewing choices and the clues that distinguish major examples.
Foundation guide
Chinese vs Japanese Green Tea ↗
Compare Chinese and Japanese green tea through heat, steaming, shaping, flavor and brewing without reducing either tradition to one style.
Foundation guide
White Tea Guide: Types, Taste, and How to Brew It ↗
Understand what Chinese white tea actually is, how Silver Needle, Bai Mudan, Gongmei and Shoumei differ, and what standards do (and don't) say about aging.
Foundation guide
Chinese Oolong Tea: Styles, Oxidation, Roasting and Brewing ↗
Oolong as a spectrum, not a midpoint: the zuoqing process, why oxidation percentages are mostly marketing, and how Anxi, Wuyi and Guangdong styles differ.
Foundation guide
Chinese Black Tea Guide: Types, Taste and Brewing ↗
Understand Chinese black tea (hongcha): why it's called "red tea" in Chinese, how Keemun, Dianhong and Lapsang Souchong differ, and how to brew it well.
Foundation guide
Dark Tea (Hei Cha) Explained: A Beginner's Guide ↗
Learn what Chinese dark tea (hei cha) actually is, why it is not "black tea," how pile-fermentation works, and what standards do and don't say about aging.
Foundation guide
How to Brew Chinese Tea: A Complete Beginner's Guide ↗
Learn the four variables that control every cup of Chinese tea, see starting ranges by tea type, and fix the most common beginner brewing mistakes.
Foundation guide
Glass vs Gaiwan vs Teapot: Which Vessel to Use ↗
Compare glass, gaiwan and teapot brewing for Chinese tea — what each vessel actually changes, which teas suit which vessel, and how to pick your first one.
Foundation guide
Water Temperature Guide for Chinese Tea ↗
Understand why water temperature changes a cup so much, see specific ranges by tea type, and learn practical ways to hit a target without a thermometer.
Foundation guide
How Many Times Can You Steep Chinese Tea? ↗
Learn why some Chinese teas give you 2 good infusions and others give you 10 or more, and how to judge when a tea is actually finished.
Foundation guide
Gongfu Tea Explained: A Beginner's Guide ↗
See what actually happens in a gongfu tea session — the equipment, the sequence, and how it's genuinely different from just steeping a mug of tea.
Foundation guide
Yellow Tea Guide: Types, Taste, and Why It's Rare ↗
The men huang "sealed yellowing" step that makes yellow tea its own category, how Junshan Yinzhen and Mengding Huangya taste, and why it stays rare.
Foundation guide
Scented Tea Guide: How Jasmine and Osmanthus Tea Are Made ↗
How jasmine tea is actually made, why it's real tea and not a flavoring trick, and why chrysanthemum and honeysuckle "tea" are a different category.
Foundation guide
Pu'er Tea Basics: Sheng vs Shou, Cakes, Storage and Brewing ↗
What Chinese standards say about raw and ripe pu'er, why aging raw pu'er doesn't make it ripe, and how cakes, storage and brewing work.
Foundation guide
Yixing Teapot Guide: Zisha Clay, Buying and Care ↗
Understand what makes a Yixing teapot actually work for tea, the different Zisha clay types, what to check before buying one, and how to season and care for it.
Foundation guide
Essential Chinese Tea Tools Guide ↗
A practical guide to the gaiwan, fairness pitcher, tea tray and small tools — what each one does, and how many you really need to get started.
Foundation guide
Which Teaware for Which Tea: A Selection Guide ↗
A practical table matching Chinese tea types to the vessels that actually suit them, and why — plus where the rules loosen up.
Foundation guide
How to Taste Chinese Tea: A 7-Step Method ↗
A practical, step-by-step way to taste Chinese tea properly — from dry leaf to infused leaf — and what to actually pay attention to at each stage.
Foundation guide
How to Store Chinese Tea by Type ↗
Five storage principles that apply to every tea, what changes by tea type, and why pu'er is the one tea you don't seal airtight.
Foundation guide
Chinese Tea Etiquette: The Gestures and Why They Exist ↗
What the finger-tap "thank you," the three-pour motion and other tea-table customs mean — and which are documented practice versus unverified legend.
Foundation guide
Tea Art vs. Tea Ceremony vs. Tea Dao ↗
Why "Chinese Tea Ceremony" is a misleading translation, what Chayi and Chadao actually mean, and why there's no single fixed ritual behind Chinese tea.
Foundation guide
Chinese Tea Customs Across the Country ↗
From Cantonese morning tea to Tibetan butter tea, a respectful look at how differently tea is actually prepared and drunk across China.
Foundation guide
Chinese Tea Culture vs. Japan, Korea and the World ↗
How Chinese tea practice actually differs from Japanese Chado, Korean Darye, and tea traditions from Britain to Morocco — not one global "tea ceremony."
Foundation guide
A Short History of Chinese Tea: Boiled, Whisked, Steeped ↗
How Chinese tea changed across dynasties — from boiled medicine to whisked powder to today's steeped leaf — and why the year 1391 matters.
Foundation guide
Jian Zhan and Chinese Tea Kilns: A Short History ↗
Why Song-dynasty tea drinkers used black bowls, what the Song Five Famous Kilns were, and how Jian Zhan glaze patterns like hare's fur and yohen work.
Foundation guide
How to Read a Chinese Tea Label: SC Codes, Standards, Dates ↗
Decode a Chinese tea label field by field: the SC license number, the 执行标准 standard code, dates, grades, and GI and organic marks — and what no label can prove.
Foundation guide
Received Chinese Tea as a Gift? What to Do Next ↗
Got a tin of Chinese tea with a Chinese-only label? Work out what it is, check it's still good, brew a first cup and store the rest — step by step.
Guides appear here as each article completes editorial review.