It’s fair to say that Taiwan makes some of the best, most aromatic, flavorful, delicious and rare oolong teas in the world. Taiwan has a larger variety of leaf styles and oxidation levels than their Chinese mentors, with a larger range of choices to sample and explore. |
Called “wulong” or “black dragon” in traditional Chinese tea shops, it’s named after the dark, heavily fired leaves of traditional strip-style oolongs. As many of China’s teas are named after myths, mystical animals, or poetic images, so too is oolong tea with its dark, twisted leaf silhouette reminiscent of a noble, and powerful black dragon. Oolong teas are some of the most difficult to pro- |
dized, made in a range of 12 to 80% oxidation which varies by style and tea maker. It can take anywhere from 36-40 hours to process a batch of oolong tea.The reward for the labor intensive and difficult work is a tea like no other. A flavorful complex tea with a range of aromas from light and flowery orchids and gardenias to deep and earthy wood and leath- er, to fresh, ripe melons, apricots, and peaches. There are three wide categories of oolong tea; open-leaf style, Some examples of Taiwan open-leaf style oolongs are BaoZhong (or jasmine and gardenia. The Next, the partially fix- Bai Hao has a similar processing, but receives a medium oxidation to about 35-40%, with the re- Bai Hao is made from leaf plucked in mid to late summer, from July flavor of Bai Hao.Bai Hao is also called Pingfang tea, and has been available in the U.S. for Next are Alishan oolongs that come from their namesake, the famous China cousins they’re called “cloud and mist” teas for the near constant |
Harvesting high mountain oolongs means hand-plucking on steep inclines with large tea baskets, all while enduring blasts of hard rain and hot sun. If the weather allows, the tea leaves are placed on a tarp in the sun where it develops the lovely floral aromas of jasmine, geranium and rose.Ever so often the tarp is folded and unfolded to lightly bruise the leaves and trigger oxidation. After about 30 minutes the leaf is transferred indoors onto large bamboo trays to wither another eight hours. Next comes rolling, where the leaves are shaped into balls, an arduous, lengthy process that takes six to eight hours, but deepens the floral aroma and flavors. Next the tea leaves are placed in a canvas bag, cinched tight and placed in a machine with two The end result are tightly rolled pellets of tea the size of peas, oxidized only 25% and fully dry, Last comes Tung Ting (or Dong Ding), Taiwan’s most beloved oolong. Although it’s not considered |