Need help identifying oolong

[Oolonga]

My friend recently went to China and brought me some teas. She packed them in ziplock bags, most of them have names written by her on bags but the only oolong she bought just says - Oolong I tried asking her about the real name but she says that it was written in Chinese and she couldn't translate it.

I am not very familiar with dark oolongs so I'm at loss here.
The tea has pretty intense roasted scent but when brewed it tastes rather mellow. I am able to get 2 quality infusions out of it, the third doesn't have any roasted taste at all, so I stopped there. I brew it at 210F for 3 minutes in a gaiwan.

Dry leaf:


Brew


Can anyone please help me to identify this tea and say if I'm brewing it correctly?

[tenuki]

Yes, that is certainly Oolong. ;P

[gingkoseto]

Only 2 infusions?

The dry tea leaves don't look very healthy. But do you think you can get a whole leaf among the wet spent leaves and take a photo? If not, are there tiny hairs on the main vein stem of the leaves?

Where exactly did she get it?

[Oolonga]

Yes, that is certainly Oolong. ;P

Only 2 infusions?

The dry tea leaves don't look very healthy. But do you think you can get a whole leaf among the wet spent leaves and take a photo? If not, are there tiny hairs on the main vein stem of the leaves?

Where exactly did she get it?

Unfortunately only 2 infusions... maybe it's a very cheap oolong, I don't know... I am not exactly in the position to ask her about the price, it was a gift.
I can take a picture of wet leaves and post it here later.
I'll find out where she bought it and let you know.

[tenuki]

Only 2 infusions?

His infusions are 3 minutes long, so that isn't surprising. gong fu adds up to about 6 minutes usually for a good tea.

[Oolonga]

Here is the photo of wet leaves after 2 infusions, I don't see any hairs:

[gingkoseto]

Here is the photo of wet leaves after 2 infusions, I don't see any hairs:

From the teeth of the leaf on the left, and the shape of the leaf on the right, I am guessing it's Da Ye (big-leaf) oolong. But it's just a guess.

I've never had Da Ye oolong before. Since in recent years in Chinese market, there are all kinds of fake Tie Guan Yin, I paid some attention to photos of different leaf varieties.

I am a little surprised you got this dark oolong. Currently most oolongs from Fujian are greener oolong, and most dark oolongs are limited to Tie Guan Yin and a few varieties to satisfy lovers of dark oolong, who still seem fewer than lovers of greener oolong.

[tenuki]

Here is the photo of wet leaves after 2 infusions, I don't see any hairs:

From the teeth of the leaf on the left, and the shape of the leaf on the right, I am guessing it's Da Ye (big-leaf) oolong. But it's just a guess.

I think the photo should have some scale reference. from the original photo I would rule out Da Ye based on the scale of the plate and cup. I think what you are picking up on is that the leaves are rounder than usual, not bigger but it's hard to tell from the photo. Throw in a quarter or something next time. Oolonga.

My guess is machine picked restaurant tea, in which case the generic 'Ooolong tea' designation is appropriate. Doesn't mean it's bad, just perhaps generic. Sound nice, have you tried gong fuing it?

[gingkoseto]

Here is the photo of wet leaves after 2 infusions, I don't see any hairs:

From the teeth of the leaf on the left, and the shape of the leaf on the right, I am guessing it's Da Ye (big-leaf) oolong. But it's just a guess.

I think the photo should have some scale reference. from the original photo I would rule out Da Ye based on the scale of the plate and cup. I think what you are picking up on is that the leaves are rounder than usual, not bigger but it's hard to tell from the photo. Throw in a quarter or something next time. Oolonga.

My guess is machine picked restaurant tea, in which case the generic 'Ooolong tea' designation is appropriate. Doesn't mean it's bad, just perhaps generic. Sound nice, have you tried gong fuing it?

Da Ye (big leaf) oolong has younger, smaller leaves too The generic oolong is mostly made from Hairy Crab (Mao Xie). This tea is not likely Hairy Crab.

But from photos, we can only take a guess, and the guess is based on the assumption that the tea is a Fujian tea among the commonly know varieties.

Even though it's just guessing, this kind of guessing name by photo is kind of interesting

[lydia]

I guess it is se zhong, a kind of oolong from Fujian.

[lydia]

I am a little surprised you got this dark oolong. Currently most oolongs from Fujian are greener oolong, and most dark oolongs are limited to Tie Guan Yin and a few varieties to satisfy lovers of dark oolong, who still seem fewer than lovers of greener oolong.

If it is se zhong, normally it is dark roasted oolong.

[Oolonga]

I think the photo should have some scale reference. from the original photo I would rule out Da Ye based on the scale of the plate and cup. I think what you are picking up on is that the leaves are rounder than usual, not bigger but it's hard to tell from the photo. Throw in a quarter or something next time. Oolonga.

My guess is machine picked restaurant tea, in which case the generic 'Ooolong tea' designation is appropriate. Doesn't mean it's bad, just perhaps generic. Sound nice, have you tried gong fuing it?

I'll post another picture later, can't drink any more tea right now
I haven't tried gong fuing it but I'm going to.
By the way, my friend bought this tea in Shanghai.

[teaguy]

Interesting question you've posed. It's Tie Kuan Yin, but not an especially good quality one. I happened to be checking the photos with my tea master looking over my shoulder, and he ID'd it before I had a chance to guess myself.

You should be able to get 4-6 infusions from it. Try giving it a quick rinse, then very short brews (start at about 30 seconds) and see if that doesn't help it along some. If you want to compare it with some Taiwan TKYs, which are much fruitier and smoother, let me know.

[Salsero]

Every time I come back to this thread I am thrilled anew by this photo. You took it hand held, no tripod?

Those leaves seem awfully dark ... is this due to the level of roast? I thought the roast color largely washed off. If it were due to the oxidation level, I would expect to see quite a bit of green, with red just along the veins and edges. Oxidation that turns the whole leaf this dark would qualify as black tea or at least a very oxidized oolong, like a bai hao. Anyone can explain this?

Teaguy, I never heard of Taiwan TGY. Is much produced? Is it generally sold under the varietal name? Is it grown in the higher areas or lower?

[gingkoseto]

The leaves in oolonga's photo don't have typical TGY shape though.

Here is a Fujian TGY leaf photo I took. I didn't do it well, but the top leaf and the leaf on the right somewhat shows TGY feature. The tip of the leaf is slightly tilted, and the teeth are not deep or as many as leaves of some other varieties.



I couldn't get a whole leaf to take photo from my Muzha TGY, probably because the leaves are high-fired and therefore hard to maintain the shape. Still I saw the teeth on the Muzha TGY leaves generally smaller than the leaf teeth in oolonga's photo. And TGY leaves are generally narrower than oolonga's leaf on the right.

But surely there are variations between leaves of the same tea and leaf shape of the processed tea is not the best basis to judge variety.

Shanghai doesn't produce tea but it is the trade center (for basically everything ) of China. Since the tea is bought from Shanhai, it could be produced anywhere