Oolong roasting

Owes its flavors to oxidation levels between green & black tea.


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Jan 23rd, '16, 16:44
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Oolong roasting

by blairswhitaker » Jan 23rd, '16, 16:44

Any one have any experience with roasting oolong's? I've been playing with a small home roaster recently. so far Iv'e roasted about 300g of si ji chuan and about 150g of shan lin xi.

both of these teas are spring 2015 harvests and had a light oxidization and light roast to start with.

anyway I would love to hear about other peoples experiences tips and/or info anyone might have.

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Jan 23rd, '16, 23:29
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Re: Oolong roasting

by Tead Off » Jan 23rd, '16, 23:29

Slowly is the key word, I think. You have to find the temp that allows you the time to control the roast. You also need to keep shifting the tea so the roast is kept even.

The aroma of the tea will give you the signs as to how the roast is progressing along with the visuals. Remove the tea quickly when you think you have achieved the desired roast. Let it cool in a bowl or plate and then put it into a container/caddy and let it rest. It takes time for the tea to adapt to its new 'personality'. At some point, you want to try some, and then you can make adjustments to your roasting effort based on what you observe about the current tea. I think it takes a long time to understand this process and many, many, roasts before you can really be sure about what you are doing. :D It's fun to do this with balled oolongs.

I would think that heavier oxidized teas would do better after roasting, but I'm really guessing at this.

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Jan 24th, '16, 04:15
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Re: Oolong roasting

by William » Jan 24th, '16, 04:15

Tead Off wrote:Slowly is the key word, I think. You have to find the temp that allows you the time to control the roast. You also need to keep shifting the tea so the roast is kept even.

The aroma of the tea will give you the signs as to how the roast is progressing along with the visuals. Remove the tea quickly when you think you have achieved the desired roast. Let it cool in a bowl or plate and then put it into a container/caddy and let it rest. It takes time for the tea to adapt to its new 'personality'. At some point, you want to try some, and then you can make adjustments to your roasting effort based on what you observe about the current tea. I think it takes a long time to understand this process and many, many, roasts before you can really be sure about what you are doing. :D It's fun to do this with balled oolongs.

I would think that heavier oxidized teas would do better after roasting, but I'm really guessing at this.
Essentially in this post are shared all the most important informations (that I discovered by myself after many many roasts)! :lol:

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