6 Unique Traditional Teas
Since tea cultivation is a centuries-old practice spanning many regions of the globe, it’s no surprise that there is so much variety among all the teas available for consumption today. While flavored teas certainly contribute to that variety, traditional teas also have a lot to offer in terms of unique and exciting flavors.
The wide range of flavors among traditional teas is really incredible when you consider that all traditional teas are made from the same plant: Camellia sinensis. Through unique variations in the cultivation and production processes, tea makers across the globe have been able to produce diverse and surprising flavors, all from the familiar Camellia sinensis plant.
During my time working in a tea shop, I’ve had the pleasure of being able to try tons of unique traditional teas. When I was doing a tea tasting session for customers, I’d sometimes get asked to bring out the “weirdest” or “most interesting” teas we had in stock. This list comes from those recommendations, as well as some personal favorites. Some of the teas made the cut for their particularly bold or unconventional flavors, and others are the result of unique steps in the production process. While this list is certainly non-exhaustive, my hope is that it can convey the diverse range of flavors that are available in traditional teas.
Green Assam
Starting off the list is Green Assam, a particularly unique green tea due to its region of origin. Assam teas, made with the Assamica cultivar of the Camellia sinensis plant, are almost always processed into black teas. This is because Camellia sinensis var. assamica tends to be more astringent and robust than the cultivar used for Chinese and Japanese green teas. As a green tea, Assamica leaves produce an interesting cup, transplanting the characteristic astringency and smoky quality of Assam black teas into a delicate floral green.
Lu An Gua Pian
Lu An Gua Pian is a well-known and well-loved Chinese green tea. Part of our Masters collection, this tea is coveted for its spectacularly mellow, delicate flavor. Lu An Gua Pian makes this list because of how closely this tea resembles the exact taste and aroma of roasted pumpkin or melon seeds. To me, it truly tastes like drinking the distilled, liquid essence of a pumpkin seed. As a unique and delicate sensory experience, this tea certainly does not disappoint!
Formosa Bai Hao
This wonderful Taiwanese oolong makes the list because of a particularly unique step in the production process. During the summer season, the leaves of tea plants growing at low altitudes in Taiwan are often bitten by Jacobiasca formosana, a tiny insect. After being bitten, the tea plant releases a defensive hormone into the leaves. During oxidation, that natural defensive hormone becomes aromatic, which results in wonderfully rich notes of honey, orchid, and muscat when the tea leaves are finally steeped. Don’t worry, there are no bugs to be found in the final product, just a unique flavor profile that makes Formosa Bai Hao one of my personal favorites.
Lapsang Souchong
If you’re looking for a tea so flavorful it’ll knock your socks off, lapsang souchong might be for you. The unique flavor of this tea comes from being dried over a fire of smoking pine wood. The result is an intense, smoky cup that’s reminiscent of a warm campfire. While this particular tea might be a little intense for some, it’s absolutely worth a try for its uniqueness. If you sit with this tea for a while, you’ll be able to discover the crisp, sweet, and smooth black tea notes that blend together underneath the dominant smoky flavor.
Hunan Gold
Although the flavors of Hunan Gold might not necessarily be out of the box, it definitely stands in a category of its own. Hunan gold is actually a yellow tea—a kind of tea that is “smothered” with cloth or paper right after drying the leaves, allowing the leaves to oxidize just the slightest amount and producing the namesake color. Taste-wise, yellow tea can be described as a sort of bridge between green and oolong teas—wonderfully mellow with a hint of that complexity from the oxidation process. Often compared to a darjeeling, hunan gold features crisp notes of melon and apple, with a slight floral finish. I find that steeping the leaves twice or three times really brings out the mellow sweetness and apple notes.