The picture shows how five different kinds of tea are made from tea leaves. It can take up to nine steps from growing the tea to drying it in an oven.
All five types of tea start with the same three steps. First, the tea grows. Then, workers pick the leaves. The third step is wilting. After these first steps, how the tea is made changes for each type.
For white tea, the soft leaves are just dried in an oven. This is the easiest way to make tea. Green tea, though, has more steps after wilting: the leaves are steamed, then rolled, and finally dried in an oven. Oolong tea is different because it’s not steamed. After wilting, it’s rolled and then left to ferment a little bit before being dried . This small fermentation gives it a special taste.
Black teas, both large and small leaf, have more steps. After wilting, large leaf black tea is rolled and then fully fermented. Small leaf black tea is similar, but instead of being rolled, it’s crushed before it’s fully fermented. Both kinds of black tea finish by being dried, which stops the fermentation and takes out the rest of the water.