How to Process Green Tea

Contrary to popular belief, green tea leaves come from the same plant as black and oolong tea leaves. This plant is Camellia sinensis; and the difference between the three types of teas does not lie in what they're made of, but in how they're processed.

There are four steps to processing tea: withering, rolling, oxidation and drying. Green tea processing differs from the other teas in the oxidation stage. This is because green tea leaves have to preserve their color: to do this, the leaves cannot oxidize.

While the aim of other teas is to enhance oxidation by breaking the leaves' membranes, green tea skips this, making it a simpler and shorter process.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Microwave
• Wok
• Large, ceramic or glass, microwave-safe bowl and lid
• 2 pieces of cheesecloth or muslin
• 1 lb fresh tea shoots
• Airtight container

1. Green tea shoots. Image courtesy of Amazing Green Tea.

   Pull about one pound of tea shoots out of the ground when they have two seedling leaves (known as dicotyledons), and one mature, spiky leaf in the center. Rinse any dirt off of them, and put them in the microwave-safe bowl. Do not put anything else in the bowl other than the leaves.

2. Heat the shoots on a medium microwave setting for two minutes, until it looks cooked. Take the shoots out of the microwave and spread them out on the cheesecloth or muslin. Leave the tea shoots to cool until you can handle them easily.

3. When the leaves have cooled somewhat, gather them into a ball at the center of the cloth. Surround the ball with the cloth and roll, gently, for a couple of minutes, drawing out the liquid from the leaves. Unwrap the cloth and spread out the leaves again, allowing some more moisture to evaporate.

4. Next, set out the wok, and heat it on a low setting. Do not add anything to the wok. Add the leaves, and pan fry the leaves, tossing regularly for a couple of minutes. Squeeze the liquid out of the cloth, and return the leaves to the cloth, spreading them out so they can evaporate liquid.

5. Wrap the leaves in the cloth again and roll gently until more liquid exudes. Open up the cloth, let the leaves breathe, and return it to the wok on a low heat setting. This time, pan fry the leaves for longer, about five minutes, tossing regularly. Repeat this step two more times.

6. For the final frying, turn the heat down to the lowest setting, and fry until the leaves appear completely dry. Set them on a clean piece of cloth to cool, then transfer to an airtight container.

Tips & Warnings

• Do not add anything to the microwave-safe bowl or the wok other than the leaves themselves.

Resources

• About Green Tea Processing, from O-Cha
• About Tea Processing, from EnjoyingTea
• Video on Growing and Processing Green Tea
• PDF on Processing Camellia Sinensis at Home -- Department of Life and Environmental Science, Kagoshima Prefectural College, Kagoshima, Japan