Kill-green: the step that makes it green tea
Green tea is defined by what is stopped rather than what is done. The leaf is heated within hours of picking — pan-fired in a wok or steamed, a step called shā qīng (杀青, "kill-green") — which shuts down the enzymes that would otherwise oxidise it. Nothing else is allowed to happen to it afterwards. That is why a green tea tastes closer to the living leaf than any other category: grassy, sweet, sometimes nutty, without the malt of a black tea or the earth of a dark one.
It also means green tea has nowhere to hide. There is no roast or fermentation to cover a coarse leaf or a careless pick, which is why the same variety can taste clean and sweet in one lot and harsh in the next.
On why the list is short: we stock green tea for the current season and turn it over, and we pass on famous names when we cannot buy them well. A green tea that has sat for a year is not a bargain — the sweetness goes first. If a tea disappears from this page, it is usually because that harvest is finished rather than because we dropped it.
Harvest timing matters more than the name on the bag
Two Chinese festivals divide the spring, and where a leaf falls between them tells you more about the cup than almost anything else. Earlier picks carry more L-theanine — the amino acid behind sweetness and that savoury, brothy depth — and fewer catechins, the compounds behind astringency. As the season advances, that ratio reverses.
Where to start
| Tea | Where and when | Character |
|---|---|---|
| Huangshan Maofeng 黄山毛峰 | Huangshan, Anhui · special grade, pre-Qingming | Orchid aroma, sweet chestnut, clean finish. The most delicate of the range. |
| Lu An Gua Pian 六安瓜片 | Lu'an, Anhui · second grade, spring harvest | Made from leaf alone — no bud, no stem — and fire-roasted. Deeper and toastier than most greens. |
| Taiping Houkui 太平猴魁 | Taiping, Huangshan · pre-Guyu, in two grades | Large flat leaves, orchid aroma, long finish. The most striking leaf here. |
| Ziyang Selenium-Enriched 紫阳富硒 | Ziyang, Shaanxi · pre-Qingming | Off the Qinling range, in naturally selenium-rich soil. Clean and mineral rather than floral. |
Huangshan Maofeng Green Tea — Special Grade
From the high-mountain cloud belt of Huangshan, picked before Qingming at the year's most tender point. Orchid aroma with a sweet chestnut finish and a clean, lasting aftertaste. The most delicate tea here, and the one that most rewards water on the cooler side.
View this teaLu An Gua Pian Green Tea (Melon Seed)
The one Chinese green tea made from leaf alone — no bud, no stem — and finished with a fire-roasting step unusual for the category. That gives it more body and a toastier edge than its grade suggests. The most robust tea here, and the most forgiving of hot water.
View this teaTaiping Houkui Green Tea — Special & First Grade
Grown in the core Taiping area of Huangshan, picked before the Grain Rain and offered in two grades. The leaves are long, flat and strikingly large — worth brewing in glass for the sight of them alone. Orchid aroma, clean and long on the finish.
View this teaZiyang Selenium-Enriched Green Tea
From the slopes of the Qinling range in Shaanxi, where the soil is naturally high in selenium. Currently the pre-Qingming pick. Clean and mineral where the Anhui teas are floral and sweet — the outlier here, and the one to try if the others taste too soft to you.
View this teaChoosing by what you already like
Go deeper on one tea
Some of the teas above have their own collection, with more grades and more of the background.
Huangshan Maofeng
黄山毛峰 · Fur Peak
The full Maofeng range, from the cloud-belt gardens of Huangshan.
Browse MaofengLu'an Guapian
六安瓜片 · Melon Seed
China's leaf-only green tea, and the one with a fire-roasting step.
Browse GuapianTaiping Houkui
太平猴魁 · Monkey King
The long flat leaf from Taiping, across grades and harvests.
Browse HoukuiWhere to go next
Green tea is the un-oxidised end of the scale; these sit nearest to it in the cup.
Yellow tea
Green tea with one more step
Every yellow tea starts as a green tea. An extra wrapped resting stage strips out the bitterness, leaving a rounder and sweeter cup.
Browse yellow teaWhite tea
Withered, not fired
The gentlest processing of all. Where green tea is grassy and sweet, white tea is hay, honey and melon, with almost no astringency.
Browse white teaOolong tea
Partly oxidised
The middle ground — from green and floral through to dark and roasted. The next step outward if green tea tastes too narrow.
Browse oolong teaMore on green tea
What Makes Good Green Tea?
How to judge a green tea by leaf, aroma, liquor and aftertaste — before you buy it.
OriginAnhui Green Tea and Its Global Legacy
The province behind most of the teas here, and the famous varieties it produces.
FlavourWhat Does Green Tea Really Taste Like?
From grassy and umami to nutty and floral, and why bitterness is usually a brewing error.
BrewingThree Ways to Brew Green Tea
Top, middle and bottom infusion — which method suits which leaf, and the temperatures that avoid bitterness.
These teasHuangshan Maofeng · Lu'an Gua Pian · Taiping Houkui · Ziyang Selenium-Enriched Tea
RegionsChina's Four Great Tea Regions · Qinling Green Tea · Early Spring Green Tea from the Qinling Mountains
ComparingGreen vs White Tea · Green vs Oolong · Green vs Black Tea
Brewing & keepingCold Brew Green Tea · Chinese Tea Brewing Temperatures · How to Store Chinese Tea · Chinese Tea Grading System
Green tea does not keep
Green tea has the shortest shelf life of any tea here, and it does not improve with age. Air, light, moisture and strong smells are what finish it — keep it sealed, opaque and cool, away from the spice cupboard. If a green tea tastes flat rather than sweet, the leaf is more likely to be tired than the brewing to be wrong. For more detail on this, see our guide to storing Chinese tea.