Oil Black Oolong Tea

[AllanK]

I came across something that sounds interesting called Oil Black Oolong Tea. Does anyone know just what it is or what it is like.

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product ... 97449.html

[ABx]

It's not a name, but a description. It's high-fire, and almost certainly over-roasted.

[bonescwa]

That reminds me of some nasty stuff I got at a Chinese grocery. I believe the brand was tianfeng. It literally had a layer of oil on the surface of the liquor that refracted light into a rainbow and it tastes the way melting crayons smell. I stuck with it, still have it, even though it was pretty cheap. It's only saving grace is that it has a nice aged taste, probably because it's been on that shelf since the Nixon administration.

[tingjunkie]

Over-roasted? More like burnt to a crisp.

[kyarazen]

Over-roasted? More like burnt to a crisp.

shhh!!!!

that is their trade secret!!

[mcrdotcom]

Over-roasted? More like burnt to a crisp.

Charcoal high fired teas tend to be this way no? Usually they need to be well roasted to taste nice, but who knows

[bonescwa]

Over-roasted? More like burnt to a crisp.

Charcoal high fired teas tend to be this way no? Usually they need to be well roasted to taste nice, but who knows

No

[mcrdotcom]

Over-roasted? More like burnt to a crisp.

Charcoal high fired teas tend to be this way no? Usually they need to be well roasted to taste nice, but who knows

No

Care to elaborate? I have a lot of charcoal high fired teas, one of which is the nicest tea I have ever tasted, and they look fairly similar. I wouldn't mind an explanation as to why the above tea is considered over roasted from the photo! Thanks!

[Evan Draper]

Over-roasted? More like burnt to a crisp.

shhh!!!!

that is their trade secret!!

[tingjunkie]

Over-roasted? More like burnt to a crisp.

Charcoal high fired teas tend to be this way no? Usually they need to be well roasted to taste nice, but who knows

No

Care to elaborate? I have a lot of charcoal high fired teas, one of which is the nicest tea I have ever tasted, and they look fairly similar. I wouldn't mind an explanation as to why the above tea is considered over roasted from the photo! Thanks!

It's the color. There is an upper limit of how high fired a tea can be before it's ruined. The black color of the "oil" oolong shows it's way past the limit. By comparison, check out TIM's version, or one from Red Blossom. In general, if the rolled ball tea leaf doesn't open up much during brewing, and is very brittle, it's over-roasted.

[mcrdotcom]

Over-roasted? More like burnt to a crisp.

Charcoal high fired teas tend to be this way no? Usually they need to be well roasted to taste nice, but who knows

No

Care to elaborate? I have a lot of charcoal high fired teas, one of which is the nicest tea I have ever tasted, and they look fairly similar. I wouldn't mind an explanation as to why the above tea is considered over roasted from the photo! Thanks!

It's the color. There is an upper limit of how high fired a tea can be before it's ruined. The black color of the "oil" oolong shows it's way past the limit. By comparison, check out TIM's version, or one from Red Blossom. In general, if the rolled ball tea leaf doesn't open up much during brewing, and is very brittle, it's over-roasted.

I understand the colour I guess! However, Tony from Origin Tea has supplied me with some superb charcoal roasted teas, and one thing I've always noted is the fact they don't open up much when brewed! Now I see you said "in general"... So I guess it's more a case of this being a very difficult roast level to get deliberately correct, and not all teas like this are bad...

Sorry, it just confused me because I've tasted teas that look very similar to this that have blown my mind, although they came from my favourite tea shop and most trusted vendor

[tingjunkie]

Sometimes if the oolong is aged as well as roasted, this will contribute to not opening up too, but if it's a new tea it should unfurl some. Not as fully as green TGY or gao shan of course, but some. But yes, these are general guidelines, not hard and fast rules. The old Classic Roast from Tea Gallery was an exception. It barely unfurled at all, but the quality of the material and the roast were both fantastic. Looking at the color and texture of the leaves, it's still quite different than that "oil" oolong though. I think the simple fact they called it "Oil Black" oolong (very unappetizing) should be a clue to stay away- to me that says "oops we burnt this batch, let's give it a name that implies we meant to do it this way."

I once had a 25+ year old master roasted dong ding, which was re-roasted every couple years for its life. After brewing, the dark leaves unfurled almost completely, and you could even tug and pull at them without ripping. Still one of the top ten teas I've had to this day, and an extremely rare level of roasting mastery.

[ABx]

If roast is done with skill then they can push it pretty far and still retain a lot of good qualities; these aren't all that common. This kind of stuff, though, is just going to be very one-dimensional.

[entropyembrace]

wow this looks like something Starbucks would make