We investigate f(T) cosmology in both the background, as well as in the perturbation level, and we present the general formalism for reconstructing the equivalent one-parameter family of f(T) models for any given dynamical dark energy scenario. Despite the completely indistinguishable background behavior, the perturbations break this degeneracy and the growth histories of all these models differ from one another. As an application we reconstruct the f(T) equivalent for quintessence, and we show that the deviation of the matter overdensity evolution is strong for small scales and weak for large scales, while it is negligible for large redshifts.