Five Common Shapes of Black Tea

Among the six major types of tea, black tea is the most consumed one in the world, but the shapes of its leaves are quite diverse. Today, let’s take a look at the five common shapes of black tea.

The first one is strip shaped, it’s pretty common among all kinds of black tea such as Dianhong Gongfu, Minhong Gongfu, etc. Though they share the same shape, after brewing it, the color and luster are very different. If the tea is made of only leaves as material, the color of liquor appears dark brown. If the tea is made of one bud and one leaf or one bud and two leaves, usually its liquor is black and yellow.

The second one is needle shaped. The difference between needle and strip is that needle leaves have sharp edge such as Dianhong Golden Tip and Golden Needle of Keemun Black Tea.

The third one is curly-shaped, curly-shaped black teas are thin and tight, naturally curly, and this tea looks delicate, like the Keemun black tea, Lapsang Souchong, and Jiuqu Hongmei. They are all curly-shaped black teas.

The fourth one is spiral, like Qi Hong Xiang Luo, but this type is not common in the market. The last one is the granular shape. This kind of tea can be easily flavored, so it is often used in teabags.

Well, which shape of black tea do you drink the most?