Types of Oolongs

[Ironica]

I apoligize if this is covered somewhere already. I looked for a sticky in this Oolong section but didn't see one.

I've got a brewing guide that shows me the different temps. and times for different Oolongs and I'm wondering what differentiates these types from each other.

The guide I have lists these types:

Anxi/formosa

Wuyi

Phoenix

What is the difference?

Also, I've bought tea from a different vendor and I don't see those same categories on his teas.

[brian]

There's a good intro to oolong on seven cups web site:
http://www.sevencups.com/about-tea/oolong-tea/

Note that Formosa is a synonym for Taiwan, and Phoenix (Mountain) is in Guangdong province, home of Dan Cong oolong.

- Brian (beginning oolong student)

[Ironica]

Thanks Brian!

~The-novice-tealing

[teop]

I'll put up my impressions on these classes of teas. Note that these are wonderfully biased opinions that don't always hold, but you may find them helpful at making a first cut estimate of what a tea will be like.

These teas are characterized by the two axis of oxidization and roasting. Oxidization describes where it is on the scale between green (no oxidization) and black (full oxidization). Roasting describes, well, how roasted it is.

Anxi (China) / Formosa (Taiwan)

As brian states, Formosa is really stating that the tea came from Taiwan. Anxi are often low on oxidization and low on roasting. The end result is a very light tea (often bordering on green) that emphasizes fragrance. Note that you'll also find Taiwanese versions of traditional mainland teas. I've been enjoying a number of Taiwanese grown "WuYi" teas. Go figure.

Wuyi

Nice area to get lost in for a while. I've been working through a lot of WuYi over the past few months. These are characterized moderate oxidization and higher roast. The roasting brings out some sweet fruit flavors that oxidization alone doesn't seem to capture. Note that freshly roasted teas often like to sit for half a year or a year to let the flavor settle down, or so I hear.

Phoenix (Dan Cong)

Home of Dan Cong. Nectar of the gods. I love this stuff, although it can be rather finicky to brew. This occupies the higher oxidization and lower roast sector of the scale. I find that these teas can be very flavorful, sweet, and complex. But not in your face fruity.

Hope this helps. And do comment if I've got some of these broad classes wrong!

[A thanks to iannon and entropyembrace who noted my incorrect union of Anxi and Taiwanese tea. I revised my post above based on their comments.]

[iannon]

I believe the Anxi,though, is from fujian province China. Like Ben Shans, TKY's and osmanthus

I have really been enjoying some of the Formosa/Taiwan Oolongs recently from "Tea from Taiwan" some of their li-Shan's are superb

[entropyembrace]

btw Anxi is an area in mainland China but I suppose it´s getting lumped in with the Formosa (Taiwan) oolong because they´re both best known for fairly green ball shaped oolongs.

[brian]

Ah, right. Ironica's brewing guide probably lumped Anxi and Taiwan together as they are similar in style, and general guideline is to brew them the same way.

[cindyt]

There are many different types of Taiwanese oolong and different types of Wuyi. Also different "styles" within the same type. Oolong Wikipedia has some nice info (although still incomplete IMO) on this.

[wyardley]

I would classify these 4 areas as Oolong producing regions, not "types" of tea. Many varietals of C. Sinensis are grown in more than one of these regions, and each region produces multiple "types" of oolong (in terms of varietal, processing style, etc.).

They're all in a fairly compact area; Anxi and Wuyishan are both areas in Fujian province; the areas around Fenghuangshan (Phoenix Mountain) in Guangdong province are in the parts of Guangdong (Canton) that border on Fujian, and Taiwan is just across the strait. Within Taiwan, you could break it down further into different tea-producing areas, but generally, people seem to lump Taiwanese teas in a category of their own.

Taiwan and Fujian share some language and culture - many of the ethnic Chinese in Taiwan came over from Fujian, some 2-300 years ago, and others more recently, and Taiwanese / Hokkien is essentially one of the Min dialects that's spoken in the southern parts of Fujian. If memory serves, there may have traditionally been some tea cultivation by aboriginals in Taiwan as well (I'll have to doublecheck in the Mair book), but most of the current tea is produced from varietals originally from either the north or south areas of Fujian (roughly corresponding to the north and south areas of Taiwan).

Of course, as demand for some of these teas grows, I think some of the farming has expanded to outside the technical borders of the traditional areas.