Compare two teas

Pairs worth starting with

Any two of the 137 teas can be compared. These are the pairs TeaHQ has either written about directly or recorded as commonly confused — which makes them the ones where the comparison answers a question people actually have.

• Longjing vs Sencha

  The largest single split inside green tea, and it is not about country. It is about whether the leaf was fixed with steam or with a hot pan.

• Bai Mudan vs Aged white tea cake

  Two white teas from the same material, one drunk young and one kept for years. The comparison isolates what ageing actually does, because everything else is held constant.

• Keemun vs Earl Grey

  A single-origin tea and a scented blend are bought for different reasons, and judging one by the other’s standards produces bad conclusions in both directions.

• Wuyi rock tea (yancha) vs Shou pu-erh (ripe)

  Two dark, earthy, gongfu-brewed teas that get shelved together and are made by completely different mechanisms — one by fire, the other by microbes.

• Matcha vs Sencha

  Both are Japanese green tea and only one of them is drunk as an infusion. The difference is not grind — it runs back to how the bushes were grown.

• Sencha vs Gyokuro

  Identical processing, opposite cultivation. The whole difference is whether the bushes were covered before picking, and it changes almost everything about how the tea is brewed.

• Hojicha vs Genmaicha

  Two toasty Japanese green teas sold side by side, whose toastiness comes from entirely different places. One is roasted after processing; the other has roasted rice blended into unroasted leaf, and the distinction changes what each is good for.

• CTC black tea vs Orthodox black tea

  Two manufacturing routes for the same leaf, built for different jobs. Reading them as a quality ranking is the most common error in black tea.

• Tie Guan Yin vs Wuyi rock tea (yancha)

  Two Fujian oolongs at opposite ends of the category. Anyone who says they like or dislike oolong has usually met only one of them.

• Bai Hao Yin Zhen (Silver Needle) vs Zhenghe Silver Needle

  The same tea name from two Fujian counties, made from different cultivars with different withering. A clean demonstration that terroir and cultivar change a tea without any processing difference.

• Sheng pu-erh (raw) vs Shou pu-erh (ripe)

  The two halves of pu-erh are made differently, taste almost nothing alike, and are bought for different reasons — but are sold under one name and constantly confused.

• Assam vs Darjeeling second flush

  Both are Indian black teas and the resemblance ends there. They are different plants grown in different climates at different altitudes, and the gap between them is wider than between many teas from different countries.

• Ceylon black tea vs Assam

  The two workhorses of the blending world. Both are strong black teas that take milk, and blenders use them for opposite reasons — one for brightness, the other for weight.

• Matcha vs Gyokuro

  Both are shaded Japanese green teas and both taste savoury rather than grassy. The difference is what happens after shading: one is steeped as leaf, the other de-stemmed, milled and drunk whole.

• Tie Guan Yin vs Da Hong Pao

  The two most famous oolongs in China, from provinces that border each other and traditions that do not. One is rolled, floral and lightly oxidised; the other is strip-rolled, roasted and mineral.

• Earl Grey vs English Breakfast

  The two most recognised names in Western tea, and neither is a place. Both are recipes rather than origins, which is the single most useful thing to know about them.

• Bai Hao Yin Zhen (Silver Needle) vs Bai Mudan

  The top two grades of Chinese white tea, from the same gardens and the same cultivars. The entire difference is what gets picked.

• Longjing vs Anji Bai Cha

  Two flat-leaf Zhejiang green teas that look similar and taste quite different. One difference is shaping; the other is a cultivar mutation that changes the chemistry of the leaf.

• Hojicha vs Bancha

  Hojicha is made from bancha, so they are not alternatives so much as before and after. Roasting is the only step between them and it changes almost everything.

• Qing Xiang Tie Guan Yin vs Chen Xiang Tie Guan Yin

  The same cultivar from the same gardens, made two ways a century apart. They taste so unlike each other that most drinkers would not guess they share a name.

• Phoenix Dan Cong vs Wuyi rock tea (yancha)

  Two strip-rolled, roasted Chinese oolongs from neighbouring provinces. One leads with aroma and the other with minerality, and they demand different things from the brewer.

• GABA oolong vs Jin Xuan

  GABA tea is made by processing leaf in a nitrogen atmosphere instead of air. This compares the processing and the flavour, and makes no claim about the compound the name refers to.

• Sheng maocha vs Sheng dragon ball

  The step that decides whether a pu-erh cake can age at all, and the one a buyer cannot see. It is the most consequential invisible difference in the category.

• Jasmine dragon pearl vs Earl Grey

  Two ways to make tea taste of something else, one of which takes a week and one of which takes a spray nozzle. The difference is visible in the packet if you know what to look for.

• Darjeeling first flush vs Darjeeling second flush

  The same bushes on the same slopes, picked eight weeks apart, producing teas that share little beyond a name and a district.

• Shincha vs Sencha

  Shincha is sencha, picked first and sold immediately. The distinction is calendar rather than category, and it matters more than that sounds.

• Liu Bao vs Shou pu-erh (ripe)

  Two fermented dark teas from different provinces, both smooth and earthy, arrived at by different mechanisms and different storage traditions.

• Bai Mudan vs Shou Mei

  The middle and bottom of the white-tea grade ladder. The counter-intuitive part is that the cheaper grade is generally the better one to age.

• Tencha vs Matcha

  Tencha is matcha before milling. They are the same leaf at two stages, and knowing this explains most of what determines matcha quality.

• Nilgiri vs Ceylon black tea

  Two South Asian high-grown black teas that blenders use interchangeably. They are close enough that the difference is worth stating precisely.

• Tie Guan Yin vs Chen Xiang Tie Guan Yin

  Most oolong is made to be drunk within a year. A minority is made to be kept for decades, and the two are not the same tea at different ages.

• Matcha vs Hojicha

  Two Japanese green teas at opposite ends of everything: one shaded and milled, the other roasted from the coarsest leaf. They are the strongest and gentlest things in the Japanese range.

• Keemun vs Lapsang Souchong

  Two Chinese black teas frequently described as smoky, only one of which is. The confusion has cost a lot of people a cup they did not want.

• Gunpowder green tea vs Sencha

  Two rolled green teas that look superficially similar and are made for opposite purposes — one to survive a sea voyage, one to be drunk within months of picking.

• Bancha vs Sencha

  The same bushes, different harvests. Bancha is what sencha production leaves behind, and it is considerably better than that description implies.

• Phoenix Dan Cong vs Tie Guan Yin

  Two aromatic Chinese oolongs from different provinces, one rolled and forgiving, the other strip-rolled and among the least forgiving teas there is.

• Baozhong vs Sencha

  Baozhong is the lightest oxidised oolong there is, and the question of whether it is really an oolong at all is a reasonable one to ask.

• Jin Jun Mei vs Golden Needle

  Two bud-only Chinese black teas that look nearly identical and differ enormously in price. One is a protected Fujian origin, the other a Yunnan style.

• Hojicha vs Assam

  Hojicha is brown, toasty and low in caffeine, which leads almost everyone who meets it to file it as a black tea. It is a roasted green tea and the distinction matters.

• Wuyi rock tea (yancha) vs Dong Ding

  Two roasted oolongs, one Chinese and one Taiwanese, that occupy similar shelf space and are made from opposite shaping traditions.

• Chai blend base vs Assam

  Chai is a preparation, not a tea. Understanding that resolves most of the confusion about why the leaf sold for it tastes harsh on its own.

• Assam vs Kenyan black tea

  Two assamica blacks that supply most of the world’s teabags, from opposite hemispheres and opposite growing conditions. Between them they account for a large share of what ends up in a teabag.

• Darjeeling second flush vs Nepal black tea

  Neighbouring Himalayan estates growing the same cultivars at the same elevations, separated by a border and a great deal of reputation.

• Longjing vs Bi Luo Chun

  The two most famous Chinese green teas, both from the lower Yangtze, both hand-shaped, and shaped in opposite directions.

• Bulang sheng pu-erh vs Sheng pu-erh (raw)

  The same cake at two points in its life, and the reason people buy tea they do not intend to drink for twenty years. It is also the clearest illustration of why storage provenance matters as much as origin.

• Jasmine green tea vs Earl Grey

  The most popular scented tea and the most popular flavoured tea, and the pair that best illustrates the difference between the two processes.

• Kukicha vs Hojicha

  Two low-caffeine Japanese teas often recommended for the same reasons, made from different parts of the plant by different means.

• Shincha vs Matcha

  Two Japanese teas bought as seasonal indulgences, one defined by its harvest date and one by a process that takes months. Both reward buying in season, and both are more perishable than a buyer usually expects.

• Dian Hong vs Keemun

  The two best-known Chinese black teas, from opposite ends of the country and opposite leaf types. Both are far younger than their reputations suggest, and neither is an ancient tea.

• Tencha vs Gyokuro

  Two shaded Uji teas that diverge at a single step, and the divergence explains why one becomes powder and the other does not.

• Fu Zhuan vs Shou pu-erh (ripe)

  Pu-erh dominates the conversation about Chinese dark tea and is one of several traditions, from different provinces with different mechanisms.

• Bai Hao Yin Zhen (Silver Needle) vs Jasmine Silver Needle

  The same bud-only white tea, one scented and one not, and a case where scenting works against what the grade is bought for.

• Dian Hong vs Wakoucha

  Black tea from the country that invented it and from the country that mostly does not make it, which turns out to be a useful comparison.

• Uji sencha vs Kagoshima sencha

  Japan’s historic benchmark district and its modern high-volume one, and the difference is more about cultivars and terrain than about quality.

• Chen Xiang Tie Guan Yin vs Aged Shou Mei

  Two categories that reward keeping, by different mechanisms and with very different maintenance requirements. One needs periodic attention and the other needs to be left alone, which decides which suits you.

• Li Shan vs Alishan oolong

  Two Taiwanese high-mountain areas whose names are similar enough to confuse and whose elevations are not. The names are similar enough that substitution is routine, and the elevations are not similar at all.

• Gong Mei vs Shou Mei

  The two lowest white-tea grades, and the distinction between them is not what the grade ladder implies. The real difference is the plant rather than the picking, which almost no label explains.

• Sheng pu-erh (raw) vs Sheng maocha

  Compression is a decision about the future rather than about the cup, and it is the main thing separating tea meant to be kept from tea meant to be drunk.

• Rou Gui vs Wuyi Shui Xian

  The two most planted Wuyi cultivars, and the pair that best shows what cultivar contributes once roast is held constant.

• Matcha vs Konacha

  Both are green and both are powder, and only one of them is matcha. The difference is three production decisions that happen before any grinding, and it is visible in the colour.

• Matcha koicha grade vs Matcha usucha grade

  There is no official matcha grading system, and the terms everyone uses were invented by sellers. What actually varies is measurable, and this compares the two ends of it.

• CTC black tea vs Assam orthodox tippy

  The gap is real and it is not where most people think. It is almost entirely about leaf grade and freshness rather than about origin or price alone.

• Sencha vs Assam

  Bitterness and astringency have different causes and different fixes, and most brewing advice runs them together as one problem. This separates them.

• English Breakfast vs Tie Guan Yin

  Weak tea is nearly always an under-leafing problem, and the instinctive fix — steeping longer — makes it worse rather than better.

• Longjing vs Gunpowder green tea

  Two pan-fired Chinese green teas at opposite ends of the market, and a useful demonstration that shaping is a decision about purpose rather than quality.

• Shou pu-erh (ripe) vs Sencha

  A rinse is standard for some categories and pointless for others, and the reasoning is not the one usually given. The explanation usually given for rinsing is not the one that holds up.

• Assam vs English Breakfast

  One is a place and one is a recipe, and the recipe usually contains the place. Knowing which is which explains why they can taste almost identical or entirely different.

• Darjeeling second flush vs Ceylon black tea

  Two names that sound like origins and describe very different degrees of specificity. One is a small protected district; the other is a whole country.

• Sencha vs Genmaicha

  Genmaicha is sencha or bancha with roasted rice added, and the rice does more than add flavour — it changes what the tea is for.

• Jasmine green tea vs Longjing

  Jasmine tea is green tea with an extra process, and the process is more involved than most people assume. Good scenting takes days of layering with fresh blossom, and the flowers are removed afterwards.

• Kukicha vs Sencha

  One is made from what the other discards, and it turns out to be considerably better than that implies. It is among the best-value teas in the Japanese range and one of the hardest to brew badly.

• Bai Mudan vs Aged Shou Mei

  The same leaf a decade apart, and the transformation is more dramatic than in any other category. The transformation is more dramatic here than in any other category, and it favours the cheapest grade.

• Mi Lan Xiang Dan Cong vs Ya Shi Xiang Dan Cong

  Phoenix Mountain classifies its teas by aroma rather than by grade or garden, and the classifications are real cultivar and processing distinctions rather than marketing.

• Qing Xiang Tie Guan Yin vs Nong Xiang Tie Guan Yin (roasted)

  One cultivar, one county, two teas that share nothing in the cup — and the light one is the newer of the two. A shopper asking for Tie Guan Yin will almost always be handed the newer of the two without being told.

• Da Hong Pao vs Tie Luo Han

  Da Hong Pao, Tie Luo Han, Bai Ji Guan and Shui Jin Gui carry the reputation, and only one of them is easy to buy honestly.

• Alishan oolong vs Da Yu Ling

  Three gaoshan areas at increasing elevation, and the differences are real, small, and heavily exploited by substitution.

• Yiwu sheng pu-erh vs Bulang sheng pu-erh

  The two poles of raw pu-erh character, and the pair that defines the axis every other producing area sits on. Between them they define the axis every other raw pu-erh producing area is described against.

• Dian Hong vs Shou pu-erh (ripe)

  Two dark-looking teas produced by entirely different mechanisms, and the naming collision between English and Chinese makes it worse.

• Keemun vs Assam

  The two components most likely to be in a breakfast blend, doing opposite jobs. One supplies aroma and one supplies weight.

• Dian Hong vs Assam

  Two large-leaf black teas from the same botanical variety, on opposite sides of a border and with opposite astringency. The plants are close relatives and the processing is not, which is where the difference comes from.

• Tuocha vs Shou pu-erh (ripe)

  Two pu-erh formats differing in shape and pressing density, and the differences show up in ageing rather than in the cup.

• Bai Hao Yin Zhen (Silver Needle) vs Longjing

  Both are pale and delicate and they are made by opposite philosophies — one adds a decisive step, the other omits every step it can.

• Shou pu-erh (ripe) vs Lao Ban Zhang sheng pu-erh

  Price in pu-erh tracks a small number of specific claims, most of which a buyer cannot verify. Knowing which they are is the only defence.

• Darjeeling first flush vs Baozhong

  Darjeeling first flush is so lightly oxidised that the category boundary is worth questioning, and comparing it with an oolong shows why.

• English Breakfast vs Hojicha

  Four candidates and the case for each, judged on how hard they are to get wrong rather than on how impressive they are. Both cost little and both are near-impossible to ruin, which matters more than either being impressive.

• Anji Bai Cha vs Bai Hao Yin Zhen (Silver Needle)

  The name Anji Bai Cha means 'Anji white tea' and it is a green tea. The 'white' describes the pale leaf on the bush, not the processing.

• Dian Hong vs Sheng pu-erh (raw)

  Both are Yunnan teas from the same large-leaf stock, which leads readers to assume a relationship. One is fully oxidised black tea; the other is dark tea that changes microbially over years.

• Junshan Yinzhen vs Bai Hao Yin Zhen (Silver Needle)

  Both are called Silver Needle and both are bud-only. One is a yellow tea that has been smothered after fixation; the other is a white tea that has been withered and dried and never fixed at all.

• Tie Guan Yin vs Huang Jin Gui

  Huang Jin Gui is the most common substitute sold as Tie Guan Yin. It is lighter, higher-toned and more osmanthus-like; genuine Tie Guan Yin is thicker and more orchid-creamy.

• Tie Guan Yin vs Ben Shan

  Ben Shan is the hardest Anxi substitute to distinguish, being a close relative of the Tie Guan Yin cultivar. It is thinner and shorter in the finish.

• Tie Guan Yin vs Nong Xiang Tie Guan Yin (roasted)

  Two styles under one name. The green modern style and the traditional roasted style share a cultivar and a county and almost nothing else in the cup.

• Lapsang Souchong vs Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong (unsmoked)

  The same name covers a heavily smoked export tea and an unsmoked domestic Chinese one. Buyers regularly receive whichever they were not expecting.

• Qing Zhuan vs Gunpowder green tea

  'Qing Zhuan' translates as green brick and is a dark tea. The name misleads readers into expecting a compressed green tea, which is what gunpowder’s pellets actually are.

• Balhyocha vs Shou pu-erh (ripe)

  Balhyocha translates as 'fermented tea' but describes oxidation, not microbial fermentation. The translation regularly leads readers to expect a dark tea.

• Wai Shan Xiao Zhong vs Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong (unsmoked)

  The whole point of the distinction. Wai shan is made outside the protected Tongmu area and is routinely sold as the tea that is not.

• Ben Shan vs Tie Guan Yin

  Ben Shan accounts for a great deal of what is sold as inexpensive Tie Guan Yin, and processed identically the two are genuinely hard to separate.

• Wu Niu Zao vs Longjing

  Sold as early Longjing every spring because it buds two to three weeks sooner and takes the same flat shape.

• Huang Jin Ya vs Junshan Yinzhen

  A yellow-leaf green tea mistaken for a yellow tea. The colour is a cultivar mutation and has nothing to do with the yellowing step.

• Si Ji Chun vs Alishan oolong

  Si Ji Chun’s strong floral aroma is regularly mistaken for high-mountain character, which is a matter of elevation rather than of cultivar.

• Gong Ting shou pu-erh vs Gong Ting shou pu-erh

  Two romanisations of one grade, frequently listed as separate products.

• Sheng dragon ball vs Tuocha

  Both compressed pu-erh in small formats, and both often assumed to age like a cake. Neither does.

• Goishicha vs Shou pu-erh (ripe)

  Both described as fermented tea and produced by entirely different mechanisms — lactic acid in one case, mixed microbial piling in the other.

• Light-fermented shou pu-erh vs Sheng pu-erh (raw)

  A short pile leaves enough brightness that light-fermented shou is regularly mistaken for young sheng.

• Pressed white tea cake vs Aged white tea cake

  A pressed cake looks aged. Pressing date and age are different things, and colour alone does not separate them.

• Turkish çay vs Samovar blend

  Two concentrate-and-dilute traditions often conflated. The vessels, the ratios and the leaf all differ.

• Mi Xiang oolong vs Oriental Beauty

  Both insect-bitten Taiwanese teas with honey aromas. Oriental Beauty is far more oxidised and the two are separate products.

• Assam first flush vs Assam second flush

  Both sold simply as Assam. The March picking is light and brisk, the May picking is the malty golden-tipped tea the region is famous for, and buying one expecting the other is routine.

• Darjeeling first flush vs Darjeeling autumn flush

  Both light-bodied Darjeelings from the same bushes. The autumn flush is rounder and less floral, and is often sold at first-flush prices to buyers who have only heard of the two famous ones.

• Scottish Breakfast vs Irish Breakfast

  Two blend names for the same idea — a stronger, Assam-heavier breakfast blend. Neither has a formula and the distinction between them is marketing rather than composition.

• Afternoon blend vs Lady Grey

  Both lighter, more delicate blends sold for later in the day. Lady Grey adds citrus peel and cornflower to an Earl Grey base; afternoon blends usually have no flavouring at all.

• Cream Earl Grey vs Lady Grey

  Two Earl Grey derivatives sold side by side. One adds vanilla, the other citrus peel and flowers, and shoppers regularly buy one having wanted the other.

• Russian Caravan vs Smoked Lapsang Souchong

  Both smoky blends, and Russian Caravan usually contains Lapsang. The caravan-campfire story is repeated everywhere and documented nowhere; the smoke now comes from deliberate blending.

• Golden Monkey vs Golden Needle

  Two export names for bud-heavy Chinese black teas, one Fujian and one Yunnan. Neither name corresponds to a single Chinese product and both describe appearance for a Western market.

• Jin Jun Mei vs Tanyang Jin Hao

  Both bud-only Fujian black teas with a honeyed sweet-potato character. Jin Jun Mei carries an enormous premium and a Tongmu protected origin; Tanyang Jin Hao is the same idea from a neighbouring area at a fraction of the price.

• Nuwara Eliya vs Dimbula

  Two Sri Lankan high-grown districts sold interchangeably in blends. Nuwara Eliya is the lighter and more delicate; Dimbula has more body, and the district name is usually the only clue.

• Uva vs Uda Pussellawa tea

  Neighbouring Sri Lankan high-grown districts with overlapping character. Uva’s aromatic edge is the distinguishing feature and it is seasonal, so out of season the two are hard to tell apart.

• Kandy tea vs Sabaragamuwa tea

  Two Sri Lankan districts at opposite ends of the elevation range, both sold simply as Ceylon. One is mid-grown and balanced, the other low-grown and heavy.

• Ruhuna vs Sabaragamuwa tea

  Sri Lanka’s two low-grown districts, producing very similar dark heavy tea for the same export markets. The district is rarely stated and the teas are largely interchangeable in blends.

• Kenyan black tea vs Kenyan orthodox black tea

  Same country, same estates in some cases, entirely different manufacture. CTC gives strength and colour fast; the orthodox version is a speciality product that tastes nothing like it.

• Kenyan purple tea vs Zi Juan black tea

  Two purple-leaf teas from different continents and different breeding programmes. Both are cultivar characteristics rather than a category, and neither carries a claim beyond flavour here.

• Malawi black tea vs Tanzanian black tea

  Two African blending teas that reach the same cup by the same route. Almost all of both disappears into blends, and neither is usually sold under its own name.

• Rwandan black tea vs Rwandan orthodox black

  The same country’s bulk CTC and its speciality orthodox production. The orthodox tea is floral and delicate; buyers who have only met the CTC generalise wrongly from it.

• Sikkim (Temi) vs Darjeeling first flush

  Sikkim borders Darjeeling and grows the same stock. Temi is Sikkim’s only large estate and its tea is regularly presented as Darjeeling to buyers who would not know the difference.

• Kangra tea vs Darjeeling first flush

  Himachal’s small tea industry grows Chinese-derived stock at Darjeeling-like elevations and produces a similar light, floral cup. It is far less known and correspondingly cheaper.

• Munnar tea vs Nilgiri

  Two South Indian high-grown teas sold interchangeably. Both are bright and brisk, and outside India neither is usually distinguished from the other in a blend.

• Anamalai tea vs Wayanad tea

  Two South Indian districts a range apart, both increasingly making orthodox tea. Anamalai is the higher and brisker; Wayanad is fuller and softer.

• Dooars and Terai vs Assam clonal

  Both North Indian plains teas from assamica stock, and Dooars and Terai leaf routinely goes into blends labelled Assam. The distinction is administrative more than botanical.

• Yingde Hong vs Dian Hong

  Both Chinese large-leaf black teas, and Yingde was bred using Yunnan stock specifically to compete with the same markets. The resemblance is by design.

• Jiu Qu Hong Mei vs Keemun

  Two Zhejiang and Anhui black teas with a similar fruity, gently smoky profile. Jiuqu Hongmei is far less known and is sometimes sold as Keemun.

• Chuan Hong Gongfu vs Ning Hong

  Two twentieth-century Chinese black teas created for export, from different provinces and to a similar brief. Both are sweet and dark and neither has a strong regional identity in the market.

• Yi Hong vs Chuan Hong Gongfu

  Two mid-century Chinese export black teas that are difficult to distinguish blind. Both were state-programme products rather than inherited local traditions.

• Yunnan Golden Bud vs Yunnan Bai Hao black

  Two names for bud-heavy Yunnan black tea, used inconsistently by sellers. The difference between them is grade and marketing rather than a defined production distinction.

• Gu Shu black tea vs Ye Sheng black tea

  Both sold as wild or old-tree Yunnan black tea, and the terms are used loosely. Ye sheng refers to a botanically distinct purple-leafed population; gu shu refers to tree age, which is unverifiable.

• Keemun Hao Ya vs Keemun

  A grade of Keemun sold under its own name, which leads buyers to treat it as a separate tea. Hao Ya A and B are the top sorted grades of the same product.

• Bailin Jin Hao vs Bailin Gongfu

  Bud grade and leaf grade of the same Fuding black tea. The bud version is sweeter and softer and several times the price.

• Rose Congou vs Lychee black tea

  Two traditionally scented Chinese black teas often shelved together with modern flavoured teas. Both are made by exposing finished leaf to real flowers or fruit rather than by adding flavouring.

• Java black tea vs Indonesian orthodox black

  Indonesia’s bulk CTC and its small orthodox sector, both from the same highlands. Almost all Java black is the former and reaches drinkers only inside blends.

• Georgian black tea vs Turkish çay

  Two Black Sea tea industries at the northern climatic limit, both producing light citrus-edged tea. Georgian production collapsed and is reviving; Turkey’s grew into the world’s highest per-head consumption.

• Thai black tea vs Myanmar black tea

  Two South-East Asian black teas from highland assamica stock continuous with Yunnan’s. Both taste more Chinese than the borders suggest.

• Wakoucha vs Ruby 18

  Japanese and Taiwanese black tea, both from countries better known for other categories. Ruby 18's menthol note is genetic; wakoucha is usually Yabukita processed as black tea and tastes quite different.

• Assam golden tips vs Assam orthodox tippy

  Two names for the same thing — Assam sorted for a high proportion of golden bud. Grade codes and marketing names are used interchangeably here and mean roughly the same.

• Chai blend base vs CTC black tea

  Both small-particle CTC Assam, and the chai base is simply CTC selected for a specific job. Judging either as a plain cup misreads what it was manufactured for.

• Aracha vs Bancha

  Both are intermediate or lower-grade Japanese green teas rarely exported. Aracha is unfinished tea before sorting; bancha is a later harvest — different stages, not different grades.

• Konacha vs Mecha

  Two by-product grades sorted out of sencha production. Konacha is the dust and fannings, mecha the buds and tips, and both are far better than by-product suggests.

• Fukamushicha vs Asamushi sencha

  Opposite ends of the steaming axis, and the difference in the cup is dramatic. Cloudy dark liquor is not a sign of quality, it is a sign of deep steaming.

• Chumushi sencha vs Fukamushicha

  Two of the three standard steaming depths. Most sencha sold without a descriptor is chumushi, so a first fukamushicha often reads as a fault rather than a style.

• Enshi Yu Lu vs Yu Lu supreme grade

  The standard and top grades of the same tea. Both are steamed Chinese green tea, which is rare enough that the grade distinction is less interesting than the category.

• Enshi Yu Lu vs Sencha

  A Chinese steamed green tea and the Japanese benchmark. Enshi Yu Lu is regularly mistaken for sencha in blind tasting, which is the strongest evidence that steaming rather than country drives the flavour.

• Bi Luo Chun vs Duyun Mao Jian

  Two curled downy Chinese greens that look almost identical dry. Bi Luo Chun is the famous one and Duyun Mao Jian from Guizhou is frequently sold in its place.

• Huangshan Maofeng vs Tian Mu Qing Ding

  Two mountain greens from neighbouring provinces with similar orchid-and-chestnut character. Huangshan has the reputation; the other is rarely named.

• Lu Shan Yun Wu vs Gou Gu Nao

  Two Jiangxi mountain greens grown in near-permanent cloud, both floral and sweet. Only one has a national reputation.

• Meng Ding Gan Lu vs Zhu Ye Qing

  Two Sichuan greens from mountains a short distance apart, both early-harvest and delicate. They are frequently confused by name and by appearance.

• Xinyang Mao Jian vs Jin Shan Cui Ya

  Both needle-shaped Chinese greens from areas outside the famous producing provinces. Neither is well known and both are sometimes sold under better-known names.

• Yu Hua Cha vs Song Yang Yin Hou

  Two twentieth-century Chinese greens created for regional markets, both shaped into fine strands. Both are modern inventions rather than inherited teas.

• Wuyuan Ming Mei vs Liu An Gua Pian

  Two Anhui and Jiangxi greens rarely seen outside China. Liu An Gua Pian’s single-mature-leaf plucking makes it genuinely unusual; the other is a competent regional green.

• Taiping Houkui vs Hou Kui supreme

  Standard and top grades of the same tea. The supreme grade’s leaves are long enough that a normal gaiwan will not hold them properly.

• Anji Bai Cha vs Anji Bai Cha supreme

  Standard and earliest-picking grades of the same albino cultivar. The harvest window for the supreme grade is days, which is what the price reflects.

• Anji Bai Cha vs Bai Mudan

  'Anji Bai Cha' translates as Anji white tea and it is a green tea. Shoppers looking for Chinese white tea buy it by mistake regularly.

• Jasmine green tea vs Jasmine dragon pearl

  Both jasmine-scented green teas, differing in whether the leaf is rolled into pearls before scenting. The pearls unfurl gradually and release the aroma over a longer time.

• Bi Tan Piao Xue vs Jasmine dragon pearl

  Two jasmine teas with opposite conventions on the flowers. Sichuan’s style leaves them in deliberately; Fujian’s screens them out, and visible petals there usually mean weak scenting.

• Gunpowder green tea vs Pinhead gunpowder

  Grades of the same rolled export green tea. Pinhead is the tightest and smallest, and tightness of roll is the main quality signal in the style.

• Kabusecha vs Yame gyokuro

  Both shaded Japanese greens, differing in how long the cover stays on. Kabusecha’s shorter shading is a commercial middle ground, and the names are used loosely by sellers.

• Gyokuro vs Yame gyokuro

  Gyokuro and its most prestigious regional expression. Yame and Uji are the two areas making it at the top grade, and unqualified 'gyokuro' spans a very wide quality range.

• Sayama sencha vs Kagoshima sencha

  Sencha from Japan’s coldest and warmest major districts. Sayama is thicker and toastier from a hard final firing; Kagoshima is rounder and sweeter from its cultivars.

• Karigane vs Kukicha

  Both stem teas, and the distinction is which leaf the stems came from. Karigane’s stems come from shaded gyokuro or high-grade sencha, which makes it markedly sweeter.

• Kuki hojicha vs Hojicha

  Stem and leaf hojicha, sold under the same name. Stem hojicha is the common form in Japan and the sweeter of the two; leaf hojicha is what usually gets exported.

• Genmaicha vs Matcha-iri genmaicha

  Plain genmaicha and the version with matcha blended in, now more common commercially. The added powder supplies colour and body that the base bancha lacks.

• Mizudashi sencha vs Sencha

  The same leaf cold-steeped and hot-steeped, producing genuinely different drinks. Cold water barely extracts catechins, so the sweetness is chemistry rather than a better grade.

• Tamaryokucha vs Guricha

  The rolled and unrolled forms of the same steamed tea. Skipping the shaping roll leaves the leaf curled and the cup noticeably softer.

• Kamairicha vs Tamaryokucha

  Two Kyushu green teas often shelved together, one pan-fired and one steamed. Kamairicha is Japan’s exception to steaming and tastes accordingly nutty rather than marine.

• Korean green tea vs Sejak

  Korean tea is graded by picking date rather than by leaf composition, which is a different system from the Chinese and Japanese conventions buyers usually carry over.

• Sejak vs Jungjak

  Consecutive Korean picking grades. Jungjak is fuller and is what most Koreans drink; the earlier grades are priced as luxuries.

• Ujeon vs Sejak

  The first and second Korean pickings. Ujeon is picked before the spring rains and is the most expensive Korean tea; the gap in the cup is smaller than the gap in price.

• Vietnamese green tea vs Shan Tuyet

  Ordinary Vietnamese plantation green tea and tea from ancient wild highland trees. The second is a genuinely different product and the names are used loosely.

• Yunnan green tea vs Shan Tuyet

  Two large-leaf highland greens from adjacent regions, both bitter up front with a strong returning sweetness. The border is more recent than the trees.

• Lu An Gua Pian (Melon Seed) vs Liu An Gua Pian

  The same tea at two picking times, sold under the Chinese and translated names. Later picking gives a heavier, more roasted cup.

• Huoshan Huang Da Cha vs Lu An Gua Pian (Melon Seed)

  Two Anhui teas from adjacent areas made from mature leaf, one yellow and one green. The yellowing step is the difference and it is often skipped.

• Tie Luo Han vs Shui Jin Gui

  Two of the four famous Wuyi rock varietals, both heavily roasted and mineral. Distinguishing them blind is difficult even for experienced drinkers, and the names carry more weight than the differences.

• Bai Ji Guan vs Que She

  Two lighter, less-roasted Wuyi varietals that look pale and unusual next to the rest of the category. Both are frequently assumed to be mislabelled.

• Ban Tian Yao vs Rou Gui

  Both Wuyi rock teas with a spiced character. Rou Gui’s cinnamon note is the famous one; Ban Tian Yao is softer and much less known.

• Wuyi Shui Xian vs Lao Cong Shui Xian

  Ordinary and old-bush Shui Xian. Bush age produces a real difference in body, and the claim is unverifiable by a buyer at any price.

• Qi Lan vs Wuyi Jin Guan Yin

  Two lesser-known Wuyi cultivars, both floral in a category dominated by roast. Both are frequently better value than the famous four.

• Huang Guan Yin vs Wuyi Jin Guan Yin

  Sibling crosses of Tie Guan Yin and Huang Dan, planted widely in Wuyi. Huang Guan Yin is the more forward and perfumed of the two.

• Wuyi Fo Shou vs Wuyi Mei Zhan

  Two Fujian cultivars processed as rock tea from outside the classic Wuyi varietal set. Both are thick and unusual and neither is widely recognised.

• Da Hong Pao vs Zheng Yan yancha

  Da Hong Pao is usually a blend and zheng yan is a growing-zone designation, so a tea can honestly be both, one, or neither. Both terms are heavily abused.

• Mi Lan Xiang Dan Cong vs Huang Zhi Xiang Dan Cong

  Two Dan Cong aroma types, both honey-and-stone-fruit leaning. The aroma names describe intrinsic character rather than anything added, and sellers apply them inconsistently.

• Ya Shi Xiang Dan Cong vs Ling Tou Dan Cong

  Both come from the widely planted Bai Ye stock, which is why they are the most available Dan Congs. Availability rather than quality is what separates them from the rarer types.

• Zhi Lan Xiang Dan Cong vs You Hua Xiang

  Two floral Dan Cong aroma types named for different flowers. The distinctions between aroma types are real and finer than most sellers' labelling supports.

• Xing Ren Xiang Dan Cong vs Gui Hua Xiang

  Two Dan Cong types named for almond and osmanthus. Both are stone-fruit-leaning and are regularly mislabelled as each other.

• Ba Xian vs Song Zhong Dan Cong

  Two Dan Cong lineages propagated from single celebrated trees. Song Zhong commands the larger premium and both carry unverifiable age claims.

• Li Shan vs Da Yu Ling

  Two of Taiwan’s highest-elevation oolong areas, and Da Yu Ling is scarce enough that Li Shan is routinely sold in its place. The substitution is close enough to work.

• Shan Lin Xi vs Alishan oolong

  Two Nantou and Chiayi high-mountain areas producing similar creamy floral oolong. Elevation and area names are used loosely in the market.

• High mountain oolong vs Si Ji Chun

  Gaoshan is an elevation claim and Si Ji Chun is a cultivar. Si Ji Chun’s strong aroma imitates high-mountain character convincingly on the first sip and not through a session.

• Jin Xuan vs Cui Yu

  Released together by Taiwan’s tea research station as a deliberate pair. Jin Xuan is creamy, Cui Yu sharply floral, and both are sold simply as Taiwanese oolong.

• Hong Shui oolong vs Hong Shui Dong Ding

  Both are higher-oxidation 'red water' Taiwanese oolongs. One names the style, the other names the style plus its most traditional area.

• Dong Ding vs Hong Shui Dong Ding

  The modern light style and the traditional roasted one, under the same name. The market shifted to the light version and the older style now has to be specified.

• Baozhong vs Wenshan Baozhong

  The style and its district expression. Almost all Baozhong is from Wenshan, so the district name adds provenance rather than a different tea.

• Aged Baozhong vs Chen Xiang Tie Guan Yin

  Two aged Taiwanese and Fujian oolongs, both re-roasted periodically. Aged Baozhong keeps more delicacy because it started far less oxidised.

• GABA oolong vs Aged GABA oolong

  Fresh and aged GABA oolong. The stewed, slightly sour character is a consequence of nitrogen-atmosphere processing and ageing rounds it considerably.

• Zhangping Shui Xian vs Wuyi Shui Xian

  The same cultivar in two provinces and two formats. Zhangping presses it into small paper-wrapped squares, which exists nowhere else in oolong.

• Mao Xie vs Mao Xie

  The same Anxi cultivar recorded under two naming conventions, which is exactly the duplication the catalogue tries to avoid — kept as separate records only because sellers use both.

• Huang Jin Gui vs Anxi Huang Jin Gui

  The same tea under a bare and a region-qualified name. Both refer to Huang Dan cultivar oolong from Anxi.

• Dong Pian vs Dong Ding

  Dong Pian is a winter-sprout harvest and Dong Ding is a place; the similar romanisation causes regular confusion despite the two being unrelated.

• Tan Bei oolong vs Nong Xiang Tie Guan Yin (roasted)

  Two heavily charcoal-roasted rolled oolongs from Taiwan and Anxi. Both taste more of roast than of leaf and are frequently mistaken for each other.

• Yiwu sheng pu-erh vs Jingmai sheng pu-erh

  Two of the softer, sweeter sheng-producing areas, frequently substituted for one another. Both are gentler than Bulang material and command different premiums.

• Bulang sheng pu-erh vs Lao Ban Zhang sheng pu-erh

  Lao Ban Zhang is a village on Bulang Mountain, so all Lao Ban Zhang is Bulang tea and almost no Bulang tea is Lao Ban Zhang. The name is the most counterfeited in China.

• Bingdao sheng pu-erh vs Xigui sheng pu-erh

  Two Lincang village teas with opposite profiles, both very expensive and both heavily counterfeited. Bingdao is sweet immediately; Xigui goes through bitterness first.

• Nannuo sheng pu-erh vs Jingmai sheng pu-erh

  Two Menghai-area mountains producing balanced sheng, often sold interchangeably by sellers who blend across gardens.

• Shou pu-erh brick vs Menghai shou pu-erh

  The same ripe pu-erh in brick and cake form. Compression density affects ageing rate, not quality, and bricks are usually pressed harder.

• Lao Cha Tou vs Gong Ting shou pu-erh

  Both premium shou formats — one naturally formed nuggets, one the finest bud grade. They command similar prices for entirely different reasons.

• Fu Zhuan vs Hand-pressed Fu Zhuan

  Machine-pressed and hand-pressed Fu Zhuan. Looser hand pressing lets the golden-flower bloom colonise more evenly, which is the grading criterion.

• Anhua dark tea vs Hei Zhuan

  The general Anhua category and one of its specific compressed formats. Hei Zhuan lacks Fu Zhuan’s golden flower and is correspondingly plainer.

• Qian Liang Cha vs Hua Juan Cha

  The same tea and process at wildly different scale. The thirty-six kilogram log is impractical for households, which is why the smaller format exists.

• Tian Jian vs Anhua dark tea

  Tian Jian is the top loose grade within the Anhua category, sold in baskets rather than compressed. It is the easiest Anhua tea to portion.

• Aged Liu Bao vs Liu Bao

  Aged and young Liu Bao. The betel-nut note that defines the style only develops with years of basket ageing, so young Liu Bao disappoints people expecting it.

• Qing Zhuan aged vs Kang Zhuan

  Two coarse border-trade bricks from Hubei and Sichuan, made for boiling rather than steeping. Both are among the cheapest teas in China by weight.

• Tibetan brick tea vs Kang Zhuan

  Both are Ya’an bricks for the Tibetan market, and the names are used interchangeably. Neither is intended to be steeped and drunk as it is.

• Miang vs Goishicha

  Two fermented tea traditions outside China, one eaten and one drunk. Both are lactic-fermented and neither resembles Chinese dark tea.

• Bai Mudan vs Bai Mudan Wang

  Standard and top grades of White Peony, differing in bud proportion. The King grade sits between Bai Mudan and Silver Needle in composition and price.

• Aged Shou Mei vs Aged Gong Mei

  Two aged lower-grade white teas. The seed-grown stock behind Gong Mei makes it noticeably more variable batch to batch.

• Moonlight White vs Yunnan silver needle

  Two Yunnan white teas from large-leaf stock, and the names are applied inconsistently. Both age toward camphor rather than Fujian’s dried fruit.

• Ceylon silver tips vs Darjeeling white tea

  Two South Asian white teas made on estates better known for black tea. Both are recent diversifications rather than traditions.

• Nepali white tea vs Darjeeling white tea

  Neighbouring estates growing the same cultivars and making the same style. Nepali white tea is usually the cheaper and is sometimes sold as Darjeeling.

• Weishan Mao Jian vs Huoshan Huangya

  Two yellow teas whose production frequently omits the yellowing step entirely, making them green teas under yellow tea names. This is the category’s central problem.

• Meng Ding Huang Ya vs Junshan Yinzhen

  Two famous yellow teas, both bud-only and both scarce. Junshan Yinzhen’s growing area is a few hectares, so almost everything sold under that name is not from the island.

• Beigang Mao Jian vs Weishan Mao Jian

  Two Hunan yellow teas with similar names from different areas. Both are made with shorter yellowing than the famous bud-only teas.

• Yuan An Lu Yuan vs Wenzhou Huang Tang

  Two revived yellow teas from Hubei and Zhejiang. Yuan An Lu Yuan adds a light roast, which makes it the outlier in an already small category.