Tea Reference & Data
The definitive, sourced references — types, regions, grades, the numbers, and the rituals.
The deep, evergreen references behind every recommendation on this site: the six types of tea, the world's great growing regions, the grading system, the real data on consumption and health, and the brewing chart we steep by.
Every figure is attributed to a named source, and these pages are built to be cited — by you, by other writers, and by AI answer engines.
10 guides in this collection
Explainer
The 6 Types of Tea: A Complete Guide to White, Green, Yellow, Oolong, Black & Dark
Every true tea comes from one plant, Camellia sinensis. What separates them isn't the leaf, but how much it's allowed to oxidize and how it's processed. Here's the whole spectrum, honestly explained.
Read the guide →~11 min read
Explainer
Tea Glossary: 65+ Tea Terms, Clearly Defined (2026)
Camellia sinensis, oxidation, CTC, flush, gongfu, FTGFOP, L-theanine — the working vocabulary of tea, defined plainly and accurately.
Read the guide →~12 min read
Explainer
Where Tea Comes From: The World's Great Tea Regions
A clear, honest field guide to the places that grow the world's tea — China, India, Sri Lanka, Japan, Taiwan, Kenya, and beyond — and how region, elevation, cultivar, and craft end up in your cup.
Read the guide →~14 min read
Explainer
Tea Brewing Temperatures & Steep Times: The Complete Chart (2026)
A no-hype, type-by-type reference for water temperature, steep time, and leaf ratio — plus the why behind the numbers, from delicate whites to full-boil herbals.
Read the guide →~12 min read
Explainer
Tea Grades Explained: Orange Pekoe, FTGFOP & the Orthodox Grading System
A no-hype reference to the alphabet on your tea tin. What OP, BOP, and SFTGFOP1 actually decode to, why fannings end up in tea bags, and the one big myth about 'Orange Pekoe' worth busting.
Read the guide →~11 min read
Explainer
Tea and Health: What the Research Actually Says (2026)
An honest, carefully sourced look at what studies do — and don't — show about tea and the compounds inside it: caffeine, L-theanine, catechins, polyphenols, and tannins.
Read the guide →~14 min read
Explainer
Tea vs Coffee: Caffeine, Health, Cost & Experience Compared (2026)
The honest, data-driven head-to-head — caffeine in milligrams, what the health research actually says, cost per cup, and which one to reach for and when.
Read the guide →~12 min read
Explainer
The History of Tea: A Complete Timeline (Shennong to 2026)
From a legendary leaf in an emperor's cauldron to the world's second-most-consumed drink — a careful, myth-flagged timeline of nearly 5,000 years of tea, with the documented history kept separate from the good stories.
Read the guide →~16 min read
Explainer
Tea Ceremonies & Traditions Around the World: A Cultural Guide
From Chinese gongfu cha and the Japanese Way of Tea to Moroccan mint pours and American sweet tea — how cultures gather, host, and slow down over a cup.
Read the guide →~16 min read