You are currently browsing the category archive for the 'oolong' category.
Posted by Thomas.
When I moved from Germany to London about 8 months ago I would have never guessed that I would be visiting China this year. At the end of April I had the chance to accompany Edward on his spring tea buying trip documenting the journey with my camera. During the course of one week we filmed about 7 hours of video footage which you will see on the website after editing during the next weeks.
As it was my first time in Asia there were so many new impressions and things to see and explore. I was hugely impressed by the gorgeous scenery of the Wuyi Mountains in Fujian where some of our fantastic Oolong teas are produced. We spent two whole days in a tea factory to produce our own very special Tie Guan Yin. We were involved in every step of the production process, from the picking through different steps of withering, firing and baking. Finally we had the chance to taste the tea we made. As we worked directly with the farmers it was stunning to listen to their experiences and feel their years of knowledge while producing the tea.
Wuyi Mountains
There was also a very warm connection with the farmers as we spent a lot of time together experiencing the chinese culture and hospitality. I really appreciated the chinese food. During this week I had some of the most delicious food I have ever tried. I was delighted by the homemade dishes and enjoyed having lunch and dinner with a whole group of people. For the Chinese people it was very important to sit down in company, enjoying food and chatting about tea and life in general.
Chinese homemade dishes
Though the farmers in the countryside live a quite simple life they seem very happy and satisfied. We received a warm welcome and a smile everywhere we went. I’ll definitely go back to China to explore more parts of the country and the people with the liveliest culture I have ever seen. Until then I’ll hang onto my memories of this fantastic experience and have a cup of Wuyi Oolong tea.
Posted by: Ed
A few weeks ago, while I was in the famous oolong tea producing area of Wuyi in China, I dropped into the Buddhist temple near the shrine to the 400 year old big red robe (da hong pao) tea trees. I was lucky enough to have tea with the Abbot of the monastery and to drink some of the delicious Big Red Robe tea made by the monks.
Da Hong Pao temple
I asked the Abbot of the monastery about what, for him, is the relationship between Buddhism and tea.
Chatting to the Abbot of the monastery
He said that firstly, preparing and drinking tea is a way to help make the mind quiet and focused. Tea is good for health and makes you feel calm and relaxed. In today’s busy world of constant distractions, taking time to sit down and enjoy tea is a good way to make a space for calmness and relaxation.
Secondly, he said that tea is a product of man and nature. The tea trees and their growth, picking, and processing depend on both man and nature. The knowledge and methods behind the way the tea is made has been developed over centuries and represent local history and culture. The environment expresses itself in the tea leaves. Through drinking the tea, you are actually in touch with nature, history, culture, past, present and future (as the effects of changes in the environment and culture will show in the leaves). The form and taste of tea tea that you drink communicates all this information, especially if you are aware of it.
Gong fu tea at the Da Hong Pao temple
As we drove down the hill and back to a near by-tea garden, we were all silent as we though about what he had said. Tea represents so many things. Depending on what you want and what your attitude is, it can be just a way to take a few moments to relax, it can be a connoisseur experience, or it is a mirror reflecting the past, present and future. It also made me think how much we owe the people who have perfected tea making methods (and continue to do so) over the centuries and how much we need to care for the environment and ourselves.
View as we drove down the hill from the temple
Having drunk tea in such a beautiful place, I thought again of how the atmosphere created by the care you take when making tea, the tea wares used and the overall environment, makes so much difference. It doesn’t have to be for spiritual benefit. Simply taking the trouble to create a simple and beautiful space certainly helps you appreciate the tea fully!
Creating an atmosphere of appreciation
Posted by: David.
One of our favourites in the office at the moment is Li Shan oolong tea. It’s a lightly oxidised and fired Taiwanese oolong. Not only does it taste fantastic (extremely floral and creamy) but it does something rather special when you infuse it that not even a great tea like an Ali Shan oolong does. Only seeing this for yourself does it justice but I’ve taken some photos to try to show you what happens.
Li Shan Oolong Before
Just before boiling point water added, the leaves begin to unfurl
Li Shan During Infusion
The leaves have fully unfurled and have filled the teapot!
Li Shan after full infusion
The resulting cup is delicious and looks like this
Li Shan Cup
If you pluck a leaf out of the teapot it will look something like this, some of the largest leaves we’ve seen. A characterisitc of this tea is that the leaves are still attached to the stalks so they can look like mini branches.
Lishan Leaf
All in all it’s a great sight and a great taste at the end of it. Our Li Shan has been reviewed by a couple of tea blogs and thankfully, they seem to feel the same way about Li Shan as us. You can find these reviews at Tea Escapade and the Walker Tea Review.
Posted by Edward
Traditionally made Iron Buddha (Tieguanyin) Oolong tea has been one of the banes and loves of my life. When it’s made right, its perfect. I think about it most days, especially when I don’t have any.
tieguanyin oolong tea
Tieguanyin is a type (cultivar) of tea tree grown mainly in Anxi in China’s Fujian province. After picking it’s almost always made into oolong tea.
When I say ‘Traditional Iron Buddha’, I mean a tieguanyin oolong tea which is oxidised approximately 30% and medium fired. This is what I like. It’s got complexity, smoothness and a peachy quality complemented by notes of sweet roasted hazelnut dusted with chocolate. It sounds great, and it is. In Hong Kong you commonly find very heavily fired tieguanyin which is sweet and toasty. But my kind of Tieguanyin is a balance of fresh flavours and darker notes.
But it’s not that simple. These days, nearly all the Tieguanyin oolong tea made in China is very green, hardly oxidised and very lightly fired to make the tea as floral and light as possible. It can be great, but for me lacks the complexity and warmth that makes me want to drink it all day, everyday. I have to really work with producers to break with the current fasion and make this tea tea the way I want it. We go through so many samples where they may either over-fire, under-fire, fire too fast or over too high a heat or most commonly of all, under-oxidise.
Our current stock of this tea is good. It’s smooth, soft, complex and satisfying. If you get some, try smelling the dry leaves – breath on them to warm them up and bring out the aroma. For me personally, the current stock’s infusion is a little too green because its not oxidised enough. (I’m still drinking it most days though!).
I’m off to China for the whole of April. Tieguanyin will start to be produced from around the 15th of the month and hopefully with some good weather and expertise from the production masters, and some input from me, it’ll be just how I (and hopefully you) like it.
Posted by Edward
Since the invention of North Fujian Water Sprite Oolong Tea in 1821, this oolong tea has been considered one of the best floral oolong teas. It also has rich and fruity flavours.
The original Water Sprite tea tree variety was found in a cave around Tai Lake, and the name of the cave was called ‘Zhu Xian’ (meaning: prayers to the gods). Mr. Su, the person who found the bush, picked the tea leaves and made the tea, following the oolong tea production method. The result was stunning. The flavour of the tea was rich and floral. The locals named the tea after Shui Xian flowers because of the similarity of pronunciation between ‘Zhu Xian’ and ‘Shui Xian’ (Shwey Shien), which is flowery with light and refreshing fragrance.
The leaves of North Fujian Water Sprite trees are thicker and more vivid in their green hue compared to other species of oolong tree varieties. The trees’ flowers are also very large. Because Water Sprite tea bushes root deeply, the volume of the soil required is large, and the bushes cannot be planted too close to each other. These bushes have to be trimmed and looked after regularly otherwise they easily attract insects and bacteria which causes disease.
The trees can be picked throughout four seasons: Spring (2 or 3 days before Chinese Spring Monsoon), Summer (3 or 4 days before the longest day of the year), Autumn (3 or 4 days before the beginning of autumn in Chinese Lunar Calendar), and Winter. The interval of each season is around 50 days.
Generally, the making method of this tea is similar to the making of other Wuyi oolong teas, apart from the technique of kneading and rolling which is typical of that of the oolongs of Southern Fujian. The oolong teas from Northern Fujian are normally twisted into strips only. The shape of Water Sprite is believed to resemble ‘the head of a dragonfly and the legs of frogs’.
North Fujian Water Sprite used to be one of the largest tea exports from China. During the end of 18th Century and the beginning of the 19th, a total of 500 tons were exported each year to a variety of destinations including Hong Kong, Macau, Southern Pacific Islands, Singapore, British Colonies and San Francisco in the USA.
Nowadays, the production of this tea accounts for 60% to 70% of the total oolong tea production in the North of Fujian.
Today we look at the stories behind one of our Fujian Oolong teas, Yellow Gold Oolong Tea.
The Mandarin name for Yellow Gold Oolong is “Huang Jin Gui”. Huang Jin means Yellow Gold in Mandarin and Gui refers to the Osmanthus flower. The name originated from the appearance and the flavour of this tea, as it produces a golden infusion and the nose is similar to the smell of Osmanthus flowers.
Yellow Gold Oolong Tea
Huang Jin Gui is picked from Huang Dan, a specific species of oolong trees. There are two schools of thought on where this tea originated:
Some believe that this tea was originally invented around A.D. 1860 by a tea farmer who found the Huang Dan plant and took a branch back to his farm to plant. The unique flavour of the tea leaves that sprouted from this original tree attracted the attention ofthe farmers’ neighbours and the tea soon developed a wide following.
Others believe that the Huang Dan plant came to be cultivated in a slightly more romantic fashion. In the region where Huang Dan grew naturally, An Xi county in Fujian province, it is a traditional custom that a newly wed bride brings “green” to her husband’s house. The “green” which the bride brings to her new home is seen as a good omen for fertility, wealth and the future.
The “green” is usually brought in the form of sprouts or shoots of plants. So in a marriage in the spring of 1960, a young bride, Wang An Dan brought a wild young tree bush to her husband’s house and planted it on a hill nearby. She looked after the tea tree bush carefully day after day, until she had a farm of them. It is said that the tea tree was still alive until 1967, and produced 5 to 8 kilos of fresh tea leaves annually.
Today, the picking season for Huang Jin Gui is slightly earlier compared to other oolong teas’. Normally picking takes place in mid-April; 7 to 10 days earlier than , and 12 to 18 days earlier than the picking of Tieguanyin Oolong tea. When the tea leaves sprouts, tea farmers pick the shoots from the top leaves of the bush as they are just beginning to open. The timing of the picking is very important, as the youngest leaves tend to make bitter infusions and the older leaves produce a weaker flavour.
The picked leaves are then hand processed and rolled. The resulting tea combines the full-bodied flavour typical of oolongs with the wild mountain grass freshness and sweetness found in young green teas.
Posted by: Wendy
Our new stock of Big Red Robe Oolong tea recently arrived so we thought we would share a few of our photos of the terroir from our last trip there and the story behind one of China’s most famous Oolong teas.
Wuyi Mountains
The Wuyi Mountain terrior (placeness) in China, is historically speaking, the world’s first tea terrior for oolong and black teas and no tea from Wuyi is more celebrated than the Big Red Robe (Da Hong Pao in Chinese). The scenery is breath-taking with mountain gorges, red mountains rising steeply into the sky and incredibly varied and lush plant life.
The first Big Red Robe tea trees are now more than 400 years old. Big Red Robe is a unique cultivar of tea tree; its leaves are almost always used to produce a moderate to high fired oolong tea. Its rich, complex and deliciously warming, nourishing flavour is extremely well liked in China.
Acer tree in Da Hong Pao gorge
The original Big Red Robe trees found their name after a Ming dynasty mandarin attributed his survival of a serious illness to their curative powers. He was travelling to Beijing via the Wuyi Mountains and fell ill. He rested in a small hut and was tended to by a Buddhist monk living in another hut a few feet away. The monk picked leaves from three tea trees growing above them on a cliff. He made tea from the leaves and the mandarin drank the restorative liquor daily and made what was considered to be a miraculous recovery. The Mandarin then returned to Beijing and related his experience to the Emperor.
The original Da Hong Pao trees
The Emperor deeply loved and respected the Mandarin, and sent his imperial scarlet robe to be draped over the bushes. These same three trees still survive today. Leaves are picked from them every year and made into tea – perhaps only a few kilos depending on the weather conditions. Many consider these trees to be too old to produce good quality oolong tea but it is still amazing to visit these trees as a living part of history. The setting is stunning and countless Chinese tourists visit the trees and the local area every day.
Big Red Robe makes a great autumn or winter tea, with one of the most distinctive and accessible flavours of any Oolong tea. Our new stock is a great example of this famous tea, which if you haven’t yet tried, we would highly recommend.
