Understandably, many tea drinkers are concerned with the amount of caffeine in their cup. While some of us rely on a dose of caffeine to get moving in the morning, others need to limit their intake for a good night’s rest. Either way, estimates of caffeine level based on broad tea categories may seem both logical and convenient. As with flavor, we are psychologically predisposed to associate caffeine levels with a visual cue like color.

Unfortunately, the basis for these estimates is flawed. Despite the wide range of colors, aromas, and flavors, all tea leaves have their origins in the same species, and caffeine content remains relatively stable throughout the crafting process. Therefore, black tea does not have the most caffeine, nor does white tea have the least. 

It’s been proven many times that color can dramatically influence our perceptions of flavor. For example, adding dye to a white wine causes tasters to describe the flavors of red wine. This psychological quirk makes sense in the context of ripening fruit or vegetables, but doesn’t apply equally to all foods and beverages in our modern world.

In the context of tea, the association between color and flavor seems logical enough at first. You may know, for instance, that steeping tea leaves in hotter water, or leaving them to brew for a longer amount of time, will generally increase the intensity of both color and flavor in the cup. But this logic breaks down as soon as we start to consider a broader selection of teas. While the varying levels of oxidation between tea categories does produce a wide range of flavors, the differences between them can hardly be compared on a linear scale, much less one based on color.

In fact, despite the fact that some of the finest green and white teas barely have any color to the liquor at all, the impact of flavor is undeniable on the tongue. For these teas, the lack of color in the brew is actually a sign of high quality flavor.

In today’s fast paced world, it can seem like there are never enough hours in the day. There is no shortage of tips and tricks designed to increase productivity, and make the best use of each available moment.

Tea is a commonly lauded productivity tool, drawing attention mostly as an alternative to coffee. But the reasons behind these recommendations are often poorly explained. Given the proliferation of dubious claims regarding medicinal uses for tea, it is reasonable to be skeptical.

Fortunately, this particular claim is perfectly valid. A daily brew is likely to decrease fatigue, while improving focus. Here are a few ways that tea can help you be more productive throughout the day.

The crafting of tea is an exacting process, developed over hundreds of years through trial and error. Today, scientific research has helped us define the chemical processes that occur during the various steps of crafting, but the long history and guarded crafting traditions have led to some common misconceptions and confusing terminology. In particular, “fermentation” is often used to describe the darkening of tea leaves during the crafting process, though very few teas undergo microbial activity during processing. Instead, most teas undergo what is more accurately called “oxidation”.

The confluence of these two words is compounded by confusing translations of the names of tea categories. For instance, the Chinese word hēichá translates directly to “black tea”, but this category is commonly translated to “dark tea” in order to avoid confusion with the black teas known in the west. Rather, an English black tea would be called hóngchá, or literally, “red tea”, in Chinese.

To clarify, understanding the distinction between oxidation and fermentation is essential. So what is the difference between the two, and how can we define them in the context of tea processing?

Over the past few millennia, tea crafters have developed myriad ways of drying and preserving the leaves to increase the shelf life of the finished tea. First, leaves were steamed and compressed, then dried and powdered, and today they are withered and fired, with each step removing more moisture. But any tea requires proper storage for the best flavor, no matter how well they’re preserved in crafting. Green teas are especially prone to losing flavor, since they don’t go through additional withering during the oxidation process.

So what is the best way to store tea leaves, in order to keep them as fresh as possible? In the simplest terms, tea leaves are best kept away from light, air, and moisture.

Most of the aroma and flavor we perceive from a tea comes from a huge variety of ‘volatile compounds’ that vary from leaf to leaf. It’s practically impossible to trace any particular flavor to a specific compound. But the natural sweetness of tea comes from the very building blocks of the plant itself: carbohydrates.