Oolong Enlightenment

Here is a post I presented to private groups of tea friends, I will post it here as well in case any of you have suggestions. Most of you know my tastes were always in the realm of puerh, since my little life detour brought me back to tea again I have discovered a craving for oolongs like never before. Hence the following:

I am cruising down the oolong highway at breakneck speed. I have learned one thing, I was using far too little leaf. While I very much doubted this when you knowledgeable folks first told me, I tried it anyway. I am now finding that a ratio of between .8g to 1g per 10ml of water is working well for me, ie 8-10g in a 100ml gaiwan. It seemed awful heavy when my friend first suggested it, especially when one looks at the cost of the better teas, but my results have been very positive.

I would like to find a vendor who could supply an assortment of teas that show oxidation and roasting levels. Preferably on the same tea, or at least same genre of teas. In other words a selection of mid grade oolongs of the same genre but at a variety of oxidation levels, and another set of a given oxidation but at a variety of roasting levels so that I can zero in on preference within those variables. IE, should I be looking for a lightly roasted 20% oxidation (aka fermentation) versus a heavily roasted 40% oxidation? Seems like this might be a marketable idea, take the exact same raw tea and process it at a variety of oxidation/roast levels to allow a consumer to discover his palette.

Or am I barking up the wrong tea tree?

Mike

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Reply to
Mike Petro
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Darjeeling is sold in various oxidation levels, light and medium. TGY is sold as light,medium,heavy. Taiwan High Mountain oolongs vary in oxidation in the light to medium category. I dont thnk you are going to find one particular tea in various oxidation levels just the class. I did buy a Yunnan shu,green,red from a vendor who claimed it was from the same crop.

Jim

Reply to
netstuff

Aha! I think the oolong bug strikes everyone eventually. I just had never realized I was trying the wrong oolongs. I hope I can shed a little light on some of your points because they were ones I had too. To start with I say to split them into two categories: green/floral and dark/chocolate/raisin/tobacco (this is not all-inclusive just a rough split between the types). My guess would be you'd fall into the latter category from your tastes, I do too.

TGY is generally very berry/floral in flavor which I don't like so I have tried green, medium roasted, and heavily roasted TGY's thinking it would make a difference... it only does for the first and second, maybe third, brewing but then the green and floral notes pop right back in sometimes even more pronounced. Those first brewings are deceptive in that you are purely tasting the processing/roasting and they can seem like a darker oolong but it will fall away.

Shui Xian was a nice bridge for me at first. It is dark, roasted, not floral at all and can exhibit a number of characteristics from the chocolate/raisin/tobacco/charcoal realm. I then explored the variations in roasting within just that tea. The variation is amazingly complex. I then had some double roasted Shui Xian which was almost to the point of charcoal and didn't even begin to unfurl after

10+ steeps but was so ethereal and excellent I didn't realize just how good it was until the last cups and then there was no more.

I've wandered through a bunch of different regions' oolongs now and many end up falling short but one type that has recently caught me is Dan Cong (chong). Again tons of variation within the classification and some are dark but present green/floral flavors like orchid which threw me for a loop at first.

Teaspring has some decent mid-range oolongs to try with a couple sometimes being extra special. HouDe has been out of their heavy roasted stock but many of their options are excellent. There are other vendors that occasionally have a gem or two and a couple on eBay that tuned out better than I had expected. It is a big world to explore and I've approached it like a side hobby to my normal teas because it can be overwhelming. Best of luck.

- Dominic

Reply to
Dominic T.

These posts are making me want to dip back into oolongs again. Two notes: (1) the other day I, too, put a lot more oolong into my pot than normal and the results were great. In fact, at the end of the day (I brew at work), the tea didn't seem done so I put cold water in the pot and let it sit overnight. Then, the next day the tea that awaited me tasted so good that I did several more long brews that were all great--the greater amount of leaf seemed to let me try more things with one particular brewing session, and none were disappointing. I can see how brewing with more leaf might reignite interest in oolong; (2) the breakdown of tea into two broad categories (green/floral v. chocolate/raisin/tobacco) was very interesting. I've had TGY very heavy roasted and it just didn't grab me the way some dancongs have. I think I had found dark teas I liked and assumed it was because of heavy roasting, but maybe that wasn't it at all. Maybe it was the combination of heavy oxidation with a particular type of tea (e.g., the chocolate/raisin/tobacco type). It is very complex to track all of these variables, but at the same time very enjoyable.

Thanks for the posts!

c
Reply to
cha bing

I was doing the opposite making some green teas too strong based on oolong usage. I decided to keep using the same approximate amount for every tea. I got use to the occasional astringent grotty green taste which I sometimes encounter making a heavy black. My Yellows and DCs could probably use more. Ill give up the notion of a perfect cup of tea just for putting some tea in a glass, adding boiling water and drinking. If nothing else I dont give up aroma and recently LiuAn Gua Pian caused intoxication.

Jim

Reply to
netstuff

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