Chronicles of the Tea Family: Appearance Time of the Six Major Tea Categories

As we stroll through the dazzling world of tea, the six major tea categories - green, white, yellow, oolong, black, and dark - are like a colorful and vast family. But have you ever wondered if this family didn't come into being overnight, but rather emerged one by one in the long river of history, due to countless beautiful "accidents" and intelligent breakthroughs? Today, let's travel through time and space to sort out this "family chronicle" of tea, and see under what circumstances each "member" unveiled the curtain of history.

Act I: Green Tea's "Dominance of the World" (no later than the Sui and Tang Dynasties, around the 8th century AD)

- Anecdotes about the Birth : The birth of green tea originated from a "beautiful mistake". Legend has it that in ancient times, Shennong, the Divine Farmer, was poisoned while tasting various herbs and was accidentally cured by tea leaves. The true shaping of green tea processing technology is attributed to the invention of the "fixation" technique. Green tea first originated in Ba (present-day northern Sichuan and southern Shaanxi). According to 《Huayang Guozhi - Ba Zhi 》, when King Wu of Zhou launched a campaign against King Zhou of Shang, the Ba people "presented tea" to reward King Wu's army. Huayang Guozhi is a reliable historical record, and it can be determined that no later than the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Ba people in northern Sichuan (Qifo Tribute Tea) had already begun to cultivate tea plants in gardens. During the Tang Dynasty, Lu Yu, the Sage of Tea, systematically summarized the "steamed green" process in 《 The Classic of Tea》 , where fresh leaves were picked and then fixed with steam to make compressed tea. This completely reversed the previous extensive method of "boiling and cooking" tea as a vegetable or medicinal herb, marking China's true entry into the era of "tea". Green tea, as the "eldest son" of the tea family, initiated the first year of tea processing technology.

Act II: The "Unintentional Creation" of White Tea (Tang and Song Dynasties, around the 10th - 12th century AD)

- Anecdote of Origin : The name "white tea" was first mentioned in the Tang Dynasty Lu Yu 《The Classic of Tea》 in the record of "There is a white tea mountain three hundred li east of Yongjia". However, the academic community generally believes that "white tea" here refers to albino mutant tea tree varieties or specific production areas, rather than the tea types made by the processing techniques referred to in later generations.
The Song Dynasty was an important stage in the development of white tea. Emperor Huizong of Song clearly listed "white tea" (a type of albino green tea) as a separate category in 《Da Guan Cha Lun》 , describing its unique characteristics of "thin and shiny leaves, occasionally produced", indicating that the rare variety characteristics of white tea trees were already recognized at that time, but the systematic modern white tea production techniques had not yet been formed.
The exact birth period of modern white tea was in the Qing Dynasty (specifically the Jiaqing period, about 1796 ), marked by the creation of "Bai Hao Yin Zhen" by Fu Ding in Fujian. This period formed a white tea process system with "withering-drying" as the core, and through the selection of excellent tree species such as Da Bai tea, white tea has typical quality characteristics of "dense white hair and silver-white color", and finally officially circulated as an independent tea category in the world.

Act III: The "Unexpected Surprise" of Yellow Tea (around the Tang and Song Dynasties)

- Interesting Anecdotes of Birth: Regarding the origin of yellow tea, according to historical records, it is speculated that it was already being produced as early as the 7th century AD. However, yellow tea at that time was different from the yellow tea we refer to today; it was made from the buds and leaves of a naturally yellowing yellow bud tea tree variety. In the Tang Dynasty, the well-known Shouzhou Yellow Tea from Anhui and the Sichuan Mengding Yellow Buds, which served as tribute tea, both derived their names from the natural yellowing of their buds and leaves. During the Song Dynasty, Su Zhe (around 1094) wrote in 《On the Five Harms of Sichuan Tea》 that "tea gardeners customarily harvest late tea, which is called 'autumn old yellow tea.' " This is the first historical record of the term "yellow tea." However, the old and yellow tea at that time was not the same as the yellow tea of today.
The birth of yellow tea is a typical "processing accident". Legend has it that during the production of pan-fried green tea, due to failure to dry the tea leaves in a timely manner after fixation or rolling, the tea leaves were steamed yellow. Reluctant to discard them, the tea farmers dried the leaves and found that the tea soup was yellow and bright, with a mellow taste, completely free of the bitterness of green tea, and had formed a unique "cooked aroma" and "steamed yellow" flavor. This "beautiful mistake" gave rise to the unique "steaming yellow" process, making yellow tea an independent tea category.

Act IV: The "Art of Swaying" of QingTea (Oolong Tea) (Northern Song Dynasty, circa 11th century)

- An Anecdote of Its Origin: Oolong tea originated in the Northern Song Dynasty, possibly originating from Phoenix Mountain in Jian'ou, Fujian Province, and became popular across the country during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song.
Regarding the origin of oolong tea, the legend is the most romantic. One version holds that a tea farmer named Su Long (nicknamed "Wu Long") from Anxi, Fujian, forgot his tea basket while chasing a mountain deer during a tea-picking trip. The next day, he found that the edges of the tea leaves had turned red due to jostling and emitted a strange aroma. Based on this discovery, he explored and invented the "shaking green" process. The core of this legend lies in "making green" - through the collision and friction between the leaves, it promotes partial fermentation of the leaf edges while keeping the center of the leaf veins green, forming the unique appearance of "green leaves with red edges".

Act V: The "Global Journey" of Black Tea (Late Yuan to Early Ming Dynasty, around the 15th - 16th centuries)

- Interesting Anecdotes about the Origin: The earliest literature similar to "black tea" was recorded in the Three Kingdoms period, the earliest written record of the term "black tea" appeared in the late Yuan Dynasty, during the mid-Ming Dynasty Portuguese people had already tasted black tea in China. According to records, in 1560 Father Gaspar da Cruz of Portugal wrote in his book when returning from China: "All upper-class families serve tea to guests. This thing tastes slightly bitter, is red in color, can cure diseases, and is a juice brewed from a medicinal herb." Black tea was first known as Wuyi tea in the West.
The birth of black tea is also related to "accident". It is said that during the Ming Dynasty, a military troop passed by Tongmu Village in Fujian and spent the night in a tea factory, pressing the fresh green tea leaves waiting to be processed under their bodies. After the troop left, the tea farmers found that the tea leaves had turned red. In a hurry, they used the locally abundant pinewood to speed up the drying process in an attempt to salvage the loss. Unexpectedly, the finished tea leaves were black and shiny, the tea soup was bright red, and it had a unique pine-smoke aroma and longan flavor - this is "Lapsang Souchong", the originator of world black tea. Later, this technique was introduced to Europe and evolved into Gongfu black tea according to the needs of non-China markets, eventually becoming popular worldwide.

Act VI: The "Ancient Road's Vicissitudes" of Dark Tea (Ming Dynasty, circa 15th century)

- Interesting Anecdote of Birth: During the Tang and Song Dynasties, tea, as a strategic material, was transported to the border regions in exchange for warhorses. During the long transportation, especially in the hot and humid environment, the compressed green tea or coarse and old tea leaves underwent intense "post-fermentation" under the action of microorganisms, turning black in color and becoming more mellow and smooth in taste. Tea merchants and the government initially regarded it as a loss, but unexpectedly found that the border herdsmen preferred this transformed taste, which also helped with the digestion of beef and mutton. So, during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, Anhua in Hunan adopted the method of piling and fermenting green tea wet blanks and drying them with open pine wood fire, which made the tea turn black and brown in color, hence the name "dark tea". People began to consciously simulate the environment of long-distance transportation through the "piling fermentation" process to accelerate its aging, and dark tea thus officially became an independent tea category.