been enjoying the green oolongs (nugget-style) for a while most have a certain flowery-ness to them i think its pretty much the same flavor of flower ive encountered so far
can someone relate this flowery flavor to a specific flower/plant?
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Just a few of the flowery volatiles found in oolong tea include Geraniol (rose petal), Linalool (light floral, lily of the valley), Terpineol (lilac), Nerolidol (rose), Phenylethanol (light floral), Methoxybenzaldehyde (vanilla), Z-jasmone & Jasmine lactone (jasmine), B-ionone (violets), Hexanoic(s) (geranium/flowery/fruity), Oolongs have fewer of the flowery volatile compounds compared with black teas
- but they tend to be the heavier aroma compounds and at higher concentrations (blacks have wider spread of compounds but less (proportionally) of the heavy ones - thus Gardenias are sometime used to spike poor oolongs but this would not work with poor blacks - blacks can be spiked with lemon zest and wintergreen but this would not work with oolongs. Variations in tea volatile aroma (place to place, season, variety) tend to be due changes in concentration ratios of the aromas - 300 plus identified in black teas - rather than absence or presence. Also remember that too much of any one of the
300 gives a poor tea just as too little will do the same - it's all about balance.Nigel at Teacraft
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:) Thank you very much, i always enjoy your Tea science answers
i went ahead and googled based on your words "volatiles found in tea" and got some material to read :) do you think this page contains good info:
I'm guessing this is why I have never enjoyed flowery teas/oolongs. I'm fairly allergic to many flowers/pollen. I always thought that it was some mental block I had just to the thought but it may have some reasonable foundation after all.
- Dominic
Yes, the Chinese company FML has a good site with good basic tea chemistry data thoughtfully culled from the literature, and allowing for translation into English, having far less than the average mistakes and misconceptions. FML are an interesting and innovative tea company too. They have imported Japanese green tea equipment and make both by the traditional Chinese methods and by the computer controlled Japanese methods. FML have pioneered "Fujian new craft white tea" which is a way of increasing the capacity for production of "white tea" that does not require such tender tips - they now produce
400 tonnes a year (you wondered where all that white tea came from that goes into teabags and RTDs?). FML work with their customers too to develop unique own label tea products. Interesting that forward thinking tea makers outside China have also latched on to this semi industrial way of producing artisanal "white teas" and dare I predict, a renaissance in specialty tea production that will spawn a whole new tranch of products that cannot exactly be placed into the old tea nomenclature - see the new teas of Tea'n'Tea's BouTEAque range and Nothing But Tea's wild crafted teas from Georgia and internode tea Antlers d'Amour from Malawi - we are struggling to know exactly how to classify these.Nigel at Teacraft
Nigel
Great post. Thanks for the wonderful reply.
It looks like FML has taken a fresh tea leaf from a Chinese green tea plant, looking at the low polyphenol content (25% to 30%).
They have done a good job presenting it, although some explanation of the uncertainty around this estimates will be useful.
Julian
Dominic, I guess one mans distaste can be my cravings... I love those flowery oolongs, even tho I do not like jasmines or the other teas that have flowers in them. Nigel, How often do you find oolongs spiked with real flowers and not natural of the tea process? Are Taiwanese oolongs spiked? As usual your knowledge is very informative and useful for me.. Thanks Jenn
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