Chinese tea culture is vast and profound. Without years of dedicated study, it's difficult to become an expert. Even friends who have been in the tea circle for many years often make common sense mistakes. Today, we've compiled some of the most easily confused tea knowledge to share with you. See if you've been mistaken about these for several years?

1. Dahongpao is not black tea, and Tieguanyin is not green tea. They both belong to oolong tea, also known as "oolong tea".

Oolong tea, also known as blue tea, is a semi-fermented tea with many varieties. It is a tea category with distinct Han Chinese characteristics among China's major tea classes. Oolong tea is made through processes such as picking, withering, shaking, fixing, rolling, and baking. Famous Dahongpao and Tieguanyin actually belong to oolong tea.

2. Ripe Pu'er tea is dark tea.

Pu'er tea is made from sun-dried Yunnan large-leaf tea leaves from specific areas of Yunnan Province, processed by Han tea farmers using specific techniques and post-fermentation. The most important criterion for dark tea is the post-fermentation process. "Post-fermentation" involves piling the already made sun-dried tea in hygienic warehouses, sprinkling water, and fermenting it under certain temperature conditions to accelerate the tea's aging.

The processing steps of ripe Pu'er are closer to the classification of dark tea types. Therefore, ripe Pu'er is generally categorized as dark tea among the six major tea classes.

3. Anji white tea is not white tea, but green tea.

Anji white tea is a famous Han Chinese tea produced in Xilong Township, Anji County, Zhejiang Province, an area known for its beautiful mountains and flowing green waters, famously called the Land of Bamboo. Anji white tea is processed using green tea techniques, belonging to the green tea category. Its white color comes from processing raw materials picked from a tea plant with entirely white young leaves. The biggest difference between Anji white tea and Fuding white tea is: Anji white tea has green dry leaves and white brewed leaves; whereas genuine Fuding white tea (e.g., Baihao Yinzhen) has white dry leaves and green brewed leaves.

4. Junshan Yinzhen is not green tea, but yellow tea.

We all know that Baihao Yinzhen is white tea, so it's easy to assume that Junshan Yinzhen is also white tea. But in fact, Junshan Yinzhen is yellow tea. Junshan Yinzhen is produced on Junshan Island in Dongting Lake, Yueyang, Hunan. It is thin like a needle, hence the name Junshan Yinzhen. The finished tea buds are sturdy, uniform in length and size, with golden yellow insides and complete outer white pekoe, wrapped firmly. The tea bud shape resembles silver needles, elegantly called "gold inlaid with jade".

Yellow tea is a lightly fermented tea category. Its processing technique is similar to green tea, except an additional "yellowing" process is added before or after the drying stage, promoting partial oxidation of polyphenols and chlorophyll. Yellow leaves and yellow soup are its main characteristics.

5. The origin of Dongting Biluochun is not Dongting Lake in Hunan, but Dongting Mountain in Jiangsu.

Biluochun is a traditional Han Chinese famous tea, one of China's top ten teas, belonging to the green tea category, with a history of over 1000 years. Biluochun is produced in the East Dongting Mountain and West Dongting Mountain area of Taihu Lake, Wu County, Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province (now Wuzhong District, Suzhou), hence also called "Dongting Biluochun". It was listed as a tribute tea in the Tang Dynasty. The ancients also called Biluochun "kung fu tea", "new blood tea".

6. Matcha is not ground green tea, but a specially processed tea powder.

Matcha was invented by the Han people. It is covered, steamed green tea ground into ultra-fine powder using a natural stone mill. Green tea is shaded for 10-30 days before picking. Matcha's processing method is grinding. Matcha is more used in processing industries.

7. Black tea is not dark tea, it is red tea.

Why is red tea called black tea? One theory is that during the processing of red tea, the tea leaves become darker and darker, gradually turning black, hence the name Black tea. Another theory is that in the 17th century when Britain imported tea from Fujian, the Wuyi red tea purchased in Xiamen had a dark, deep color, so it was called Black tea. Another theory is that Westerners focus more on the color of the tea leaves, thus calling it "Black", while Chinese focus more on the color of the tea soup, thus calling it "Red".

8. Flower tea is not better with more flowers; after all, it's tea, not flowers.

High-quality jasmine tea generally contains very few flowers, where you can smell the fragrance but see no flower buds. Osmanthus tea is scented without removing the flowers; the flowers and tea leaves are mixed together. Some flower teas contain many flowers, mostly being blended flower tea. Sometimes, flowers are blended in according to consumer needs during sales.

The final step in scenting flower tea is sorting. Nowadays, machine winnowing is mostly used to remove petals. If there are many petals, it indicates incomplete sorting.

Reminder from Guoyidao Tea Xiaoer: Flower tea is not better with more petals. When brewing flower tea, please pick out the petals to avoid affecting the taste of the tea soup. Moreover, these petals have no nutritional value after the scenting process.

9. The tea soup of black tea is not better the redder it is; top-grade black tea like Jin Junmei is golden yellow.

Judging the quality of black tea isn't about the redness of the color. Assessing the quality of black tea depends on its appearance, color, and aroma.

Wuyishan Tongmu Guan is the birthplace of Lapsang Souchong, the originator of black tea. Authentic black tea from here does not have a deep red soup color, but a golden yellow one. Lapsang Souchong's color is slightly darker, while its top-grade product, Jin Junmei, has a pure golden yellow color. Many imitation Jin Junmei teas from outside mountains on the market are red.

10. Drinking tea immediately after a meal does not aid digestion; on the contrary, it affects digestion.

Tea contains a large amount of tannic acid. Drinking tea immediately after a meal causes the protein in the stomach that hasn't been digested yet to combine with tannic acid, forming an indigestible solid substance that affects the digestion and absorption of protein. More importantly, tea hinders the body's absorption of iron, reducing iron absorption from food by 50%. Over time, this affects digestive function and can even cause iron-deficiency anemia.

Furthermore, the large amount of tannins in tea combines with protein to form tannin protein, which has an astringent effect, weakening intestinal peristalsis, thereby prolonging the retention time of food residue in the intestines, leading to constipation.

11. Are all teas better the fresher they are?

Even for green tea, it's best not to drink it immediately after production. New tea can irritate the gastric mucosa significantly. Additionally, green tea has some cold properties; it's better to wait until its coldness subsides a bit before drinking. If you want to drink fresh green tea, it's best to drink it about half a month after production.

For other tea types besides green tea, the best drinking period is almost always the second year. This is because these teas undergo frying or baking during processing. You need to wait for the fire energy to recede before the taste becomes better. Some teas, like dark tea, become more fragrant with age. Old dark tea from years past can help improve gastrointestinal diseases and gout.

Alright! There's far more tea knowledge than this. Limited by space, we'll stop here today. If you want to become an expert, everyone still needs to learn and experience more in daily tea tasting life.