Steamed or pan-fired?

One bag of green tea says steamed, the next says pan-fired, and neither label says what that changes. Is it a detail for people who care about factories, or will you taste it?

Short answer

You will taste it, immediately. Both words name the same operation, the kill-green, which is the heat that halts oxidation and keeps a green tea green. Steam is the Japanese default, a pan or a wok the Chinese one. What each does to the flavour is on the kill-green page. What matters at a shelf is that this is a fork rather than a spec detail: two green teas differing only in that word are not near neighbours. In practice it is telling you where the tea comes from as much as what was done to it, though there are steamed Chinese greens to keep that from being a rule.

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