About Oolong Tea
Oolong (wulong) is considered the most complicated tea produced and requires great skill and experience to craft the enormous range of flavors, fragrances and liquor colors. One tea master, Lin Zhi, compared tea to painting saying that oolongs were like oil paintings, while black tea was like water colors, and green tea like Chinese ink paintings. In fact, while oolong is an oxidized tea considered to be between green and black tea, it can range in oxidation from 15%-75%.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty black tea (red) was invented in the Wuyi Mountains and shortly after oolong tea was first produced in the same area at the beginning of the Qing Dynasty. They were called Ming Bei Wulong (oolong). When first mentioned in the Chinese literature it was called Rock Tea (Yan Cha). Oolongs spread to the south, to the Anxi area, and then to Guangdong province to the Chaozhou area (Phoenix Mountain), and then to Taiwan around 1810. Taiwan at the time was still part of Fujian province. These are the four general types of oolong: Wuyi Mountain Rock Oolong, Anxi Oolong, Guangdong Dan Chong and Taiwan Oolong.
The picking and harvest time is focused on bigger leaves that are rich in aromatic oils. The growing conditions favor high mountainous areas with rocky and sandy soil. The goal of production is to bruise the leaves in some way, causing a controlled oxidation process, and the controlled removal of water from the leaves.
The Chinese don't think in terms of drying, they think in terms of removing moisture. That may sound like the same thing, but in Chinese thinking it is very different. The tea is never completely dried, and at different stages of production, when the percentage of moisture is at a certain level, different processes will be used. The level of moisture in the tea is determined by the tea master by look, touch, and especially by smell. The smell of the leaves is critical, and tea masters do everything they can to avoid catching a cold during the tea making season.
There are many variations in the techniques to making oolongs and describing all of them here is beyond the scope, but in terms of general characteristics, the Anxi and Taiwan teas are most closely related, and the Wuyi and Dan Chong oolongs are closer. Anxi and Taiwan teas are rolled into balls and are lightly oxidized and tend to be lighter tasting with an aftertaste that is sometimes stronger then the immediate taste. Dan Chong and Wuyi teas are in general more oxidized, and the leaves are rolled lengthwise. The immediate taste can be quite strong, with a sweeter, lighter after taste. Of course there are many examples of exceptions to these generalities, but it is safe to say that all oolongs are very complicated and sophisticated teas, with a large spectrum of tastes, aftertastes and smells. Different oolongs are prepared to accentuate the natural character of the tea bush. Probably the most complex are the Wuyi Mountain Rock Oolongs. A Da Hong Pao, or a Rou Gui can be produced in different ways, to bring out smell, or taste, or stability over time, and some of these teas are very rare.
Oolongs have become of interest to the West because of the current research being done with obesity, but oolongs have been famous for hundreds of years for aiding digestion, curing headaches, cleansing the system from excessive use of smoke and alcohol. As with all tea, the health benefits for me are the icing on the cake, the experience of drinking these teas are what it's all about.
What is Oolong Tea? History, Processing, Health Benefits, Buying | Seven Cups Fine Chinese Tea
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