Hey everybody.
First off let me say that I am relatively new to tea, and also brand new to this forum. I have purchased most of my tea from Teavana (although I know they are overpriced) and have amassed quite a collection of my favorite teas. This collection includes their TKY Monkey-picked oolong, Tung-ting oolong, Earl Grey (the only black tea I like), Pi Lo Chun (quickly becoming my absolute favorite), genmaicha, some kind of dark TKY (not from Teavana), dao ren green, Honeybee oolong (from thesimpleleaf.com) and silver needle. Oolong is truely my favorite tea and I would like to focus on it for this post (it has a point, suprise!). I understand that oolong is a semi-fermented tea that has many varieties and tastes, and I also know they come from regions in China such as Anxi and from Taiwan. My questions about this tea are conveniently numbered below for easy viewing!
1. Are Oolong teas named for the region they are grown in or for their taste? If both, under what circumstances is each used?
2. What is the difference between dark and green oolong?
3. How do I brew oolong using the method with the small clay teapot? (perhaps a link to instructions (I can't find one))
4. What is a good site to buy good oolong / what are some of the best oolongs to try?
Thanks a lot!
Preheat the vessel, put in leaves, shake, wait a few sec, pour in fish eye water, wait a second, pour out, maybe smell the leaves (optional), pour in first infuion, wait 10 seconds to 1 minute depending on the amount of leaves used, and the type of tea I prefer 20-30 seconds for the begining and gradually increase with 10 seconds or depending on the taste. Be careful ball shaped leaves expand, and black dragon style twisted leaves are hard to measure by eye, the rest is exploration. P.S. try teaspring, and dragon teahouse, avoid teavana, the have low end stuff, spoil yourself if you have the money.
Hello nimpercent!
regarding your second question.. the amout of fermentation differs between diffrent types of oolong teas. the green oolongs are less fermented than black ones so they're closer in taste to green tea than black, for the black ones it's the other way around.
oh, and the brewing in the small clay tea pot is called gong fu cha. if you google that, you get countless sites with instructions.
Wikipedia says this
regarding your second question.. the amout of fermentation differs between diffrent types of oolong teas. the green oolongs are less fermented than black ones so they're closer in taste to green tea than black, for the black ones it's the other way around.
oh, and the brewing in the small clay tea pot is called gong fu cha. if you google that, you get countless sites with instructions.
Wikipedia says this
Formosa just means Taiwan, so it's made in Taiwan
I would not get a yixing that fast. Thing with yixing is a) EXPENSIVE b) you have to have one sort for green oolong, one for dark oolong, one for puerh... and so on. I would suggest a gaiwan, they're also great for gong fu.
Fermentation is not the accurate name when talking about oolong. It's oxidation. This is not really important, but may be good to know as it's a part of the "tea language". Only puerh should be fermented. Another good thing to know is that Tung Ting is the same as Dong Ding, Dung Ding, Dung Ting, Dung Ti.
Oolongs can be named after the mountain where they grow, or after their taste, or their looks. Etc.
Some good oolong to try except the ones you have:
Baozhong (Pao Chung, Pouchong, a very green oolong)
Phonenix Dan Cong (Fenghuang Dancong, there's a lot of different, for example Mi Lan Xiang, Yu Lan Xiang, all these are dark oolong)
Ginseng Oolong (Ren Shen, flavoured)
Oolong scented with osmanthus flowers (Gui Hua)
Oriental Beauty (Bai Hao, Eastern Beauty, Silvertip Oolong, White Tip Oolong, a dark oolong)
Ali Shan
Cui Yu
Some Wuyi Yancha when you get good at brewing. For example Da Hong Pao, Rou Gui, Tie Luohan.
Oh and there's some others you have to try as well! Good luck!
I would not get a yixing that fast. Thing with yixing is a) EXPENSIVE b) you have to have one sort for green oolong, one for dark oolong, one for puerh... and so on. I would suggest a gaiwan, they're also great for gong fu.
Fermentation is not the accurate name when talking about oolong. It's oxidation. This is not really important, but may be good to know as it's a part of the "tea language". Only puerh should be fermented. Another good thing to know is that Tung Ting is the same as Dong Ding, Dung Ding, Dung Ting, Dung Ti.
Oolongs can be named after the mountain where they grow, or after their taste, or their looks. Etc.
Some good oolong to try except the ones you have:
Baozhong (Pao Chung, Pouchong, a very green oolong)
Phonenix Dan Cong (Fenghuang Dancong, there's a lot of different, for example Mi Lan Xiang, Yu Lan Xiang, all these are dark oolong)
Ginseng Oolong (Ren Shen, flavoured)
Oolong scented with osmanthus flowers (Gui Hua)
Oriental Beauty (Bai Hao, Eastern Beauty, Silvertip Oolong, White Tip Oolong, a dark oolong)
Ali Shan
Cui Yu
Some Wuyi Yancha when you get good at brewing. For example Da Hong Pao, Rou Gui, Tie Luohan.
Oh and there's some others you have to try as well! Good luck!
The noise comes from the other side of the mirror
A good list to start from was recently posted in this thread.
There are quite a few places to purchase good Oolong online. Personal favourites of mine are Floating Leaves Tea and Hou De, but you'll find many others if you look through the Oolong threads. Good luck, it's great tea.
There are quite a few places to purchase good Oolong online. Personal favourites of mine are Floating Leaves Tea and Hou De, but you'll find many others if you look through the Oolong threads. Good luck, it's great tea.