{"id":10,"date":"2026-10-03T00:08:01","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T10:52:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/block.ltheme.com\/lt-steepa\/green-black-or-oolong-tea-types-explained\/"},"modified":"2026-10-15T00:08:01","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T00:08:01","slug":"green-black-or-oolong-tea-types-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/block.ltheme.com\/lt-steepa\/green-black-or-oolong-tea-types-explained\/","title":{"rendered":"Green, black or oolong? Tea types explained"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Black, green, white and oolong teas all come from the same plant, <em>Camellia sinensis<\/em>. What makes them taste so different is what happens to the leaves after picking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Oxidation in a sentence<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Once tea leaves are picked and bruised, they start to darken in the air, a little like a cut apple. Tea makers control how far this goes, and that is the main difference between the types.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Green tea<\/strong> is heated soon after picking to stop oxidation, so it stays green and tastes fresh, grassy or toasty.<\/li>\n\n<li><strong>White tea<\/strong> is handled very little: the leaves and buds are mostly just withered and dried, for a light, delicate cup.<\/li>\n\n<li><strong>Oolong<\/strong> is partly oxidised, so it sits between green and black: floral and creamy at one end, roasted and rich at the other.<\/li>\n\n<li><strong>Black tea<\/strong> is fully oxidised, which gives it a deeper colour and a stronger, malty or fruity taste that takes milk well.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What about herbal tea?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Peppermint, chamomile, rooibos and fruit blends are not made from the tea plant, so they are usually called infusions or tisanes. Most are naturally caffeine-free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Where to start<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you like a strong cup with milk, try an Assam or English breakfast. If you prefer something lighter, a jasmine green tea or a milk oolong is a gentle next step. Come and smell a few before you choose: that is what the jars on the counter are for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>They all come from the same plant. Here is what makes them taste so different, and where to start if you are new to loose-leaf tea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":27,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/block.ltheme.com\/lt-steepa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/block.ltheme.com\/lt-steepa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/block.ltheme.com\/lt-steepa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/block.ltheme.com\/lt-steepa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/block.ltheme.com\/lt-steepa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46,"href":"https:\/\/block.ltheme.com\/lt-steepa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10\/revisions\/46"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/block.ltheme.com\/lt-steepa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/block.ltheme.com\/lt-steepa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/block.ltheme.com\/lt-steepa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/block.ltheme.com\/lt-steepa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}