The diagram illustrates the way which is used to manufacture five different kinds of tea.
Overall, it is immediately apparent that although all the teas are produced from the same leaf, the differences in the manufacturing process result in different types of tea.
The first all three stages are the same for all of the five teas. The leaves are grown, then they are plucked to go through the wilting process. The final stage. is also the same, which sees all the leaves dried in an oven. However, depending on the different methods before the final process, various tea types are maintained.
To begin, white tea is unique as it involves no other processing. In contrast, green, oolong and large leaf black tea are all rolled as part of the process. However, while green tea is steamed before being rolled but is not fermented, after the rolling stage, the other two teas are fermented, oolong only slightly but large leaf black completely. Finally, small leaf black tea is neither steamed nor rolled, but is crushed before being fully fermented.