Two types of oolong tea?

[Panda]

I've tried various oolong teas from various places, and nearly all of them seem to fall into two very different categories:

- Ones that are fairly light in color when brewed. The leaves look like this:




- Ones that quickly get really dark in color when brewed, and have a much stronger taste, more like black tea. The leaves look like this:


I'm just wondering if there are names for these two different kinds? Is one kind roasted or something? Is one of them jade oolong or pouchong or something? I like the first kind a lot more, and whenever I order/buy oolong tea, I want to be able to ask which kind it is.

[Victoria]

The greener ones are simply called green oolongs. The second are yes, more roasted. The all can have many names but to simplify; yes, Green or Darker Roasted.

You just simply ask for greener oolongs or even high mountain oolongs which are typically greener.

[Panda]

Thanks for the help!

I'm trying to determine which of adagio's oolong teas ( https://www.adagio.com/oolong/index.htm ... 6187e3655c ) would be "green" oolongs. Based on the looks of the leaves, I'm thinking ali shan, oolong #18, ti kuan yin, and pouchong would be? And would any jasmine oolong be a green oolong?

[debunix]

would any jasmine oolong be a green oolong?

You can't trust the name to tell you what is a green vs a roasted oolong. I've had delicious traditional dark roasted, highly oxidized Ti K/Guan Yins, and astonishingly floral and delicate lightly or unroasted, lightly oxidized versions. And the same for Pouchongs--one of them was the first lightly oxidized 'green' oolongs I'd seen, and then the 2nd one I bought from a different source was a classic dark roast.

The only way to be sure is to see a picture or read a description. Fortunately, most online sites will give you a picture of the leaves.

[Tead Off]

I've tried various oolong teas from various places, and nearly all of them seem to fall into two very different categories:

- Ones that are fairly light in color when brewed. The leaves look like this:




- Ones that quickly get really dark in color when brewed, and have a much stronger taste, more like black tea. The leaves look like this:


I'm just wondering if there are names for these two different kinds? Is one kind roasted or something? Is one of them jade oolong or pouchong or something? I like the first kind a lot more, and whenever I order/buy oolong tea, I want to be able to ask which kind it is.

To simply the answer to your question about the 2 types of Chinese oolong: There are rolled oolongs which tend to be greener like Tie Guan Yin and Taiwan high mountain (gao shan) rolled oolongs, and, there are the longer, twisted leaf teas such as the Wu Yi group of teas of which Da Hong Pao, Shui Xian, etc., are part of. These teas are always roasted to one degree or another and have a very different flavor profile from the greener rolled oolongs. The one caveat with rolled oolongs is that they can also be roasted, usually not to the degree that Wuyi teas are, but, you have to distinguish what you are ordering from a vendor. Simply ask if it is green or roasted. TGY comes in both varieties. Dong Ding from Taiwan also comes in both. Hope this helps.

[wyardley]

there are the longer, twisted leaf teas such as the Wu Yi group of teas of which Da Hong Pao, Shui Xian, etc., are part of. These teas are always roasted to one degree or another and have a very different flavor profile from the greener rolled oolongs.

Aren't some greener baozhongs unroasted? I would be very hesitant to say "always" about just about anything involving tea. I have also have some very low-fire, and not-very-roasted Wuyi yancha, though I think they do usually have some degree of roasting. The general trend since the 90s or so seems to be for greener (lower roasting, lower oxidation) oolongs.

There are plenty of rolled style oolongs which are high-fire too. So I think the best bet is to taste the tea and at the very least, have a look at the wet tea leaves and the brewed tea.

To the OP: the level of oxidation also greatly affects the taste and look of the tea leaves and brewed tea. Since oolong tea has a pretty broad range of oxidation levels, and a broad range of ways the tea can be roasted, there are a ton of different possible combinations. To answer your original question a little more, there are a lot of possible descriptors that might give you some hints, but different people often use the same words to mean different things, so there really is no substitute for trying the tea, or at least looking at pictures of the brewed tea, wet leaves, etc.

[debunix]

Both the darker/roasted and lighter/greener pouchong I have are long, twisted, but not rolled leaves.

[entropyembrace]

I think the best way to think of it is that there is a spectrum of oolongs...

there´s basically two things you have to keep in mind...there is the level of roasting and the level of oxidation. Roasting is just what it sounds like...they heat the tea, quite often over a charcoal fire...the more roasted the tea is the darker it will appear and the smokey and sweet cooked flavours there will be in the tea. The other thing is oxidation which is what is mainly used to differenciate between green, oolong and black tea. Green teas are not oxidized at all, oolongs are partially oxidized and black teas are completely oxidized. How oxidized an oolong tea is determines if it tastes more like a green tea, or more like a black tea.

So what you should be asking a vendor is how roasted is this oolong? and how oxidized is this oolong? btw you might enjoy moderately roasted, lightly oxidized oolongs...they can still look really green and tend to have fruity, sweet flavours and a bit more body than lightly oxidized, lightly roasted oolong which is generally more floral.

[Tead Off]

there are the longer, twisted leaf teas such as the Wu Yi group of teas of which Da Hong Pao, Shui Xian, etc., are part of. These teas are always roasted to one degree or another and have a very different flavor profile from the greener rolled oolongs.

Aren't some greener baozhongs unroasted? I would be very hesitant to say "always" about just about anything involving tea. I have also have some very low-fire, and not-very-roasted Wuyi yancha, though I think they do usually have some degree of roasting. The general trend since the 90s or so seems to be for greener (lower roasting, lower oxidation) oolongs.

This was just a simple reply that covers a lot of the bases. I realize there are exceptions but you have to start somewhere and the vast amount of wuyi teas are indeed roasted, a lot. Dancong, too.

Yes, bao zhong are both green and roasted.

OP needs somewhere to begin. Now he must walk on his own.

[Panda]

Thanks for the replies, all! They were very helpful