Oolong tea reminds tea gourmets of gongfu tea, which features a whole set of tea wares from a small oven to a tea pot and tiny tea cups. Gongfu means skill. Tea is poured into tiny teacups one by one. The mellowness of oolong tea as well as that of friendship is strengthened as time passes by. The three major oolong growth areas are Fujian, Guangdong, and Taiwan. Tieguanyin has become the representative of oolong tea although the most precious is Dahongpao (Big red robe), which was once used as a tribute.

Tea compressed into the shape of brick is called brick tea. It is very popular among the Tibetan, Mongolian and Uigur for making yak butter tea or milk tea. For nomads, this kind of tea is easy to transport. There are many places in China producing brick tea, including Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, Yunnan and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Sichuan is the largest producer, while pu erh tea is grown in Yunnan province. Pu erh has come into vogue among white-collar workers in major cities owing to its unique earthy mellowness.

Scented tea is a mixture of flowers with green tea, black tea or oolong tea. The flowers include jasmine, orchid, plum, gardenia, rose, and sweet-scented osmanthus with jasmine being the most popular. There are strict rules about the proportion of flowers to tea. If there are too many flowers, the scent of flowers will dilute that of tea; if too few, the tea is not perfect. Scented tea is sweet, pleasant and delightful to the palate. Fuzhou in Fujian Province and Suzhou in Jiangsu Province have long been famous for jasmine tea.

There is no agreement on the classification of tea. Tea can be classified by procedure, quality, preparation methods, and so on. Here tea is classified by the method of processing.