Although there are hundreds of varieties of Chinese tea, they can be mainly classified into five categories, that is, green tea, black tea, brick tea, scented tea, and Oolong tea.

        With its natural fragrance, green tea, as the oldest kind of tea, is widely welcomed by different people. It is baked immediately after picking. According to the different ways of processing, it can be divided to many kinds. Among various green tea, Longjing (Dragon Well) Tea around the West Lake in Hangzhou, HuangshanMaofeng Tea from Mt. Huangshan, Yinzhen (Silver Needle) Tea from Mt. Junshan and Yunwu (Cloud and Mist) Tea from Mt. Lushan are most famous.

        Black tea is much more favored by foreigners. Different from green tea, black tea is a kind of fermented tea. After the fermentation, its color changes from green to black. The most famous black teas in China are " Qi Hong (originated in Anhui), "Dian Hong"(originated in Yunnan), and "Ying Hong" (originated in Guangdong).

        Oolong tea, with an excellent combination of the freshness of green tea and the fragrance of black tea, become popular with more and more people. It has a good function in helping body building and dieting. Fujian, Guangdong and Taiwan are the major producing areas of this kind of tea. Oolong tea grows on cliffs, the hard picking process make it the most precious tea.

        Scented tea, which is very popular in Northern China, in fact is a mixture of green tea with flower petals of rose, jasmine, orchid and plum through an elaborate process. Among this type, jasmine tea is common.

        Brick tea, usually pressed into brick shape, is mainly produced in Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, Yunnan and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.. Brick tea is made from black tea or green tea and is pressed into blocks. This kind of tea is popular with ethnic group people in border regions. The most famous one is "Pu'er Tea" made in Yunnan province.

        There are other kinds of tea. Among them white tea is special and is not very familiar to most people. Just as its name suggests, this kind of tea is as white as silver. It is mainly produced in Zhenhe and Fuding in Fujian Province, but popular in Southeast Asia. Famous varieties include "Silver Needle" and "White Peony".

        Appendix: Best Ten Chinese teas

        Longjing (Dragon Well): Produced at Longjing village near the West Lake, Hangzhou, Zhejiang.
        Biluochun: Produced at Wu County, Jiangsu.
        Huangshanmaofeng: Produced at Mt. Huangshan in Anhui.
        Junshan Silver Needle: Produced at Qingluo Island on Dongting Lake.
        Qimen Black Tea: Produced at Qimen County in Anhui.
        Liuan Guapian: Produced at Liuan County in Henan.
        Xinyang Maojian: Produced at Xinyang, Henan.
        Duyun Maojian: Produced at Duyun Mountain, Guizhou.
        Wuyi Rock Tea: Produced at Wuyi Mountain, Fujian.
        Tieguanyin: Produced at Anxi County, Fujian.