Wu long (乌龙) vs. qing (青)

[Evan Draper]

Been reading this thread,
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... ha#p176228
and wondering what defines the Chinese concept of wulong (乌龙茶).
Qing cha (青茶) is partially oxidized tea, of which wulong is a subset. Qing maps on to the western concept of oolong, but 乌龙茶 is apparently much more specific..

[wyardley]

My understanding of it is that wulong refers to teas following a fairly specific process (withering, bruising, drying, shaping, etc.). Historically, they've mainly been produced in certain areas too.

These days, you see "oolong" used to market teas from various different areas (India, New Zealand, Thailand) which historically haven't produced them; I assume that some are hewing much more closely to the normal production methods than others. I have seen some tea sellers (a couple from Canada come to mind) which use the term "semi-fermented" (read oxidized) instead of "oolong", but I think for the most part, we will continue to see "oolong" to describe most things in the qing cha category.

[gingkoseto]

I think, qing (青) = Wu in "Wu Long" = black
Oolong = black dragon, with black referring to the color and dragon referring to the shape (if you picture a typical Wuyi).

[IPT]

The word 青 means "green" in English. It was what was used as the variety of tea that the word “乌龙” now covers. The older and more knowledgeable people in China still call them 青茶 here. It is not as known and usually if a person uses the term, it is a good guess they are tea knowledgeable.

[Evan Draper]

So is IPT correct in saying 乌龙茶 and 青茶 are identical concepts, and the latter is just a more old-fashioned way of saying it?

[IPT]

I just wanted to make it clear, that as a category of teas, including Tie Guanyin, Gaoshan, Da Hong Pao, etc, the terms 青茶 and 乌龙茶 are interchangeable. As a variety of tea, it is not.