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Green tea is tea that has been minimally oxidized. After picking, the leaves are quickly heated — either pan-fired or steamed — to stop the enzymes that would otherwise turn them into oolong or black tea. This preserves the leaf's natural green color, vegetal flavor, and a specific set of compounds that other tea types lose during oxidation.
It is the most consumed tea type in East Asia and one of the most researched beverages in the world.
All tea comes from the same plant: Camellia sinensis. What makes green tea different is what happens right after the leaves are picked.
Within hours of harvest, the leaves are heated to deactivate the oxidizing enzymes. In China, this is typically done in a hot wok or drum — a method called pan-firing. In Japan, the leaves are steamed instead. This single difference in processing creates two distinct families of green tea with very different flavor profiles.
After the initial heating, the leaves are rolled to shape them and then dried. The entire process from fresh leaf to finished tea can take less than a day.
Chinese green teas tend to be pan-fired, which gives them a nutty, slightly toasty character. The flavor is often described as chestnut-like, mellow, and smooth.
Longjing (Dragon Well): The most famous Chinese green tea. Flat, sword-shaped leaves with a sweet, chestnut flavor. Grown in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.
Bi Luo Chun: Tiny, tightly rolled leaves from Jiangsu province. Fruity and floral with a light body.
Gunpowder: Leaves rolled into small pellets that unfurl when brewed. Stronger and more astringent than most Chinese greens. Often used in Moroccan mint tea.
Mao Feng: Delicate, slightly furry leaves from Huangshan. Light, sweet, and refreshing.
Japanese green teas are steamed, producing a more vegetal, marine, and umami-rich flavor. The color tends to be a deeper, more vivid green.
Sencha: The everyday green tea of Japan, accounting for about 80% of Japanese tea production. Bright, grassy, and slightly sweet with a clean finish.
Gyokuro: Shade-grown for three weeks before harvest, which boosts amino acids and reduces bitterness. Rich umami flavor, almost broth-like.
Matcha: Shade-grown like gyokuro, but stone-ground into a fine powder. You consume the whole leaf, which intensifies both flavor and nutrient intake.
Hojicha: Roasted Japanese green tea. The roasting transforms the flavor into something warm and caramel-like, with very low bitterness and less caffeine than other greens.
Green tea is the most temperature-sensitive of all tea types. Water that is too hot will extract excessive catechins and turn your cup bitter.
For most Chinese greens, use water at 75-80°C and steep for 2-3 minutes. For Japanese greens like sencha, 70-75°C works better — and gyokuro can go as low as 60°C with a longer steep.
Use 2-3 grams of leaf per 200ml of water. A glass tumbler works well for Chinese greens, letting you watch the leaves settle.
Most green teas handle 2-3 infusions. The second steep often has a sweeter, rounder flavor than the first.
The key difference is oxidation. Green tea is 0-5% oxidized. Oolong ranges from 15-85%. Black tea is fully oxidized at 90-100%. This is not a quality spectrum — each level of oxidation produces a distinct flavor, aroma, and body.
Green tea generally has less caffeine than black tea but more than white tea. A typical cup contains 25-45mg of caffeine, compared to 40-70mg in black tea and 15-30mg in white.
If you are new to green tea, start with a Chinese longjing or a Japanese sencha. They represent the two main traditions well and are forgiving to brew. From there, you can explore shade-grown teas, roasted varieties, or the many regional specialties that our green tea collection covers.
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