Visit to a tea plantation

We visited a tea plantation while we were in Guilin. It was very interesting. I like drinking tea, so i was surprised to learn that all tea (except herbal "tea" or infusions) is made from the same plant. That is it on the left. The only thing that differentiates the tea is the leaf that is picked and the process that is used after the tea is picked. There are two main kinds of tea, fermented and non fermented. Green tea is an example of non fermented tea: and within green tea there are three of different classes. Silver needle, which is only the spike of the leaf that is just emerging and first class which is the spike plus one leaf right next to the spike on the same tiny branch and then second class which is the same as first but with two leaves. After the leaves are picked, they are wilted in this big pot thing and then if it were green tea it would be done, but other teas might be pressed and let to sit for 40 days or so of fermentation. So the main thing that makes tea different is the additives (flowers or flavors) that are put in afterwards.
Oh yea and only the least desirable tea is put in tea bags according to our guide. No Chinese person would ever drink tea that way. It is true, everywhere we have gone you see people with transparent thermos like things with large tea leaves (first class) in them. These kinds of leaves can be steeped many different times. And according to the tea ceremony that we did after the process you are supposed to wash the tea once before drinking it. Which takes out about 90% of the Caffeine. Whats the point of that??
Evita and August liked the tea ceremony, especially the "Kung Fu" style of tea drinking that we were taught.