Chinese Tea Glossary: 70+ Terms Explained Simply

This glossary explains the Chinese tea words you'll meet on labels, in shops and in tasting notes, in plain English, with the Chinese characters. It's grouped by topic: brewing, teaware, processing, tea types, pu-erh, oolong, tasting and harvest. Pinyin is given without tone marks for easy reading.

When I started, every tea shop page felt like a language test. Maocha, sha qing, hui gan, nei fei, yan yun. I kept a page at the back of my tasting log with every new word and what I thought it meant, and more than once I had to cross something out and start again. This glossary is that page, cleaned up. If a word here sends you somewhere, the link goes to the article where I explain it properly.

Brewing#

Gongfu cha (功夫茶)#

Brewing a lot of leaf in a small vessel with many short steeps; literally "tea with skill". See gongfu.

Chaozhou gongfu (潮州工夫茶)#

The traditional Chaozhou style of gongfu, with a small clay pot, lots of leaf and very fast pours.

Steep / infusion (泡)#

One brewing of the leaves; in gongfu, a few seconds each.

Rinse (洗茶)#

A quick first pour that's discarded, used for pu-erh, most oolongs and dark tea.

Western brewing#

Less leaf, a larger pot, and a few minutes per steep.

Grandpa style#

Leaves straight in a glass, topped up with hot water through the day. See grandpa style.

Leaf-to-water ratio#

Grams of tea per millilitre of water; about 1 g per 15 ml is the classic gongfu start for oolong.

Cold brew#

Tea steeped in cold water in the fridge for hours.

Teaware#

Gaiwan (盖碗)#

Lidded bowl with a saucer; the most versatile brewing vessel.

Gong dao bei / cha hai (公道杯 / 茶海)#

"Fairness cup": a pitcher that evens out each steep. See fairness cup.

Pin ming bei (品茗杯)#

Small drinking cup.

Wen xiang bei (闻香杯)#

Tall, narrow aroma cup, smelled rather than drunk from.

Cha pan (茶盘)#

Tea tray with a drain or water tank.

Cha jin (茶巾)#

Tea towel for wiping spills and the base of the vessel.

Zisha (紫砂)#

"Purple sand": the unglazed clay of Yixing teapots.

Zhuni (朱泥)#

Iron-rich red Yixing clay; dense and sensitive to heat shock.

Patina / yang hu (养壶)#

The sheen a clay pot develops with use; "raising the pot".

Kai hu (开壶)#

"Opening the pot": preparing a new clay teapot for first use.

Pu-erh knife / needle (茶针 / 茶刀)#

Tool for separating leaves from a pressed cake.

Tea pet (茶宠)#

Small clay figure on the tea tray, "fed" with leftover tea.

Processing#

Oxidation#

The browning of leaf by its own enzymes; often loosely called "fermentation".

Post-fermentation (后发酵)#

Slow change driven by microbes over time, as in pu-erh and dark tea.

Wei diao (萎凋)#

Withering: letting fresh leaf lose moisture and soften.

Zuo qing (做青)#

Oolong's cycles of shaking and resting that bruise the leaf edges.

Sha qing (殺青)#

"Kill-green": heating the leaf to stop oxidation.

Rou nian (揉捻)#

Rolling: shaping the leaf and releasing its juices.

Hong bei (烘焙)#

Drying and roasting, often over charcoal.

Men huang (闷黄)#

"Sealed yellowing": the leaf is wrapped and kept warm so it slowly yellows; the key stage of yellow tea.

Wo dui (渥堆)#

Wet piling: the accelerated fermentation used for shou pu-erh.

Shai qing (晒青)#

Sun-drying; the correct way to dry maocha for pu-erh.

Maocha (毛茶)#

"Rough tea": unfinished, unsorted base tea.

Flush#

A wave of new growth; a shoot with a bud and leaves.

Tips#

Unopened buds, often covered in fine hair.

The six categories#

Lü cha, green tea (绿茶)#

Not oxidized; fixed right after picking. See types of Chinese tea.

Bai cha, white tea (白茶)#

Only withered and dried.

Huang cha, yellow tea (黄茶)#

Lightly oxidized with a men huang stage.

Qing cha / wulong, oolong (青茶 / 乌龙)#

Partly oxidized; the most varied category.

Hong cha, red tea (红茶)#

Fully oxidized; what the West calls black tea.

Hei cha, dark tea (黑茶)#

Post-fermented dark tea, including Liu Bao, Fu brick and shou pu-erh.

Pu-erh#

Sheng (生)#

"Raw" pu-erh, aged naturally. See sheng vs shou.

Shou / shu (熟)#

"Ripe" pu-erh, made with wet piling.

Bing cha (饼茶)#

Round cake, classically 357 g.

Tong (筒)#

A stack of seven cakes wrapped in bamboo.

Tuo cha (沱茶)#

"Nest" or bowl-shaped pressed tea.

Zhuan cha (砖茶)#

Brick.

Nei fei (内飞)#

Small paper ticket pressed into a cake, naming the maker.

Gu shu (古树)#

Old-tree tea.

Tai di cha (台地茶)#

Terrace or plantation tea.

Lao cha tou (老茶头)#

"Old tea heads": nuggets of shou that clumped during piling.

Dui wei (堆味)#

"Pile taste": the musty note of fresh shou.

Chen yun (陈韵)#

"Rhythm of age": the character of well-aged tea. See aging pu-erh.

Dry / wet storage (干仓 / 湿仓)#

Aging in drier or more humid conditions.

Cha gao (茶膏)#

Tea paste: a concentrated extract, dried.

Oolong#

Yan cha (岩茶)#

"Rock tea": Wuyi mountain oolong. See Wuyi rock tea.

Yan yun (岩韵)#

"Rock rhyme": the mineral finish of Wuyi tea.

Zheng yan / ban yan / wai shan (正岩 / 半岩 / 外山)#

Core cliff, half-cliff and outside-valley Wuyi tea.

Qing xiang / nong xiang (清香 / 浓香)#

Light-roast / heavy-roast style.

Dan cong (单丛)#

"Single bush": Phoenix Mountain oolong. See Dan Cong.

Xiang xing (香型)#

Aroma type, used to classify Dan Cong.

Lao cong (老丛)#

Old bush.

Gao shan cha (高山茶)#

High-mountain tea, especially Taiwanese.

Huo wei (火味)#

"Fire taste" of freshly roasted tea.

Tasting#

Hui gan (回甘)#

Sweetness that returns in the throat after swallowing. See how to taste tea.

Hou yun (喉韵)#

A lingering feeling in the throat after drinking.

Cha qi (茶气)#

The physical sensation some teas give: warmth, alertness or calm.

Tea bottom (叶底)#

The spent leaves, examined after brewing.

Hua (滑)#

Smooth, slippery.

Hou (厚)#

Thick, full.

Chun (醇)#

Clean, mellow.

Se (涩)#

Astringent, drying.

Suo hou (锁喉)#

"Locked throat": a tight, scratchy feeling.

Harvest and seasons#

Ming qian (明前)#

Picked before the Qingming festival, around 4–5 April; prized for green tea.

Yu qian (雨前)#

Picked before the Grain Rain, around 20 April.

Gu hua (谷花)#

The autumn harvest in Yunnan.

Spring / autumn / winter tea (春茶 / 秋茶 / 冬茶)#

Harvest seasons.

Jin (斤)#

Chinese weight unit, 500 g.

Liang (两)#

Chinese weight unit, 50 g.

You don't need to learn all of these. If you remember five, make them gongfu, gaiwan, sheng/shou, sha qing and hui gan. They unlock most tea descriptions you'll read.

Chinese tea words describe very specific things, and once you know the main ones, labels and tasting notes start to make sense. Bookmark this page and come back when a word stops you.