Oolongs - oxidation vs. firing/roasting
Hi,
Two terms/characteristics often used in describing and/or distinguishing various types of oolong are the amount of oxidation and the amount of firing. I've often been left confused, or wanting more information, as it seems to me that many tea dealers often use one or the other of these to stand in for both, as if they were more or less the same thing, or at least went hand-in-hand.
This seems to be unsatisfying. On the one hand, these are clearly completely different characteristics that are created during different stages of the oolong production process. On the other hand, it does seem that the amount of oxidation usually seems to match the amount of firing - higher oxidized oolongs seem generally to be more fired, lightly oxidized oolongs seem to be lightly fired.
But this doesn't seem to be necessarily always the case. For instance, baihao is usually described as being highly *oxidized*, but to me it (at least higher quality versions) doesn't taste like it's been highly *fired*, though I've actually never heard how fired it usually is.
Can anyone explain the different contributions to the taste, drinking experience, etc. of oxidation and firing? Are there oolongs (baihao?) where they don't "match" - high oxidation / low firing, low oxidation / high firing, etc.?
Also, I sometimes see the term "firing", sometimes "roasting". Is this just an artifact of English - do these mean the same thing, or are they different in some way? How do the Chinese think of it? Etc.
Thanks.
Doug