Hi my name is Dex and I’m really new to the world of loose leaf tea. I’m hoping that some of you wonderful Steepster members will help me. I am seeking tea lesson, I need to learn more about the different varieties of tea and their characteristics. Any help in this regard would be greatly appreciated.
I received this tea in my wonderful swap package from MissB Thank you so much for sending some of this my way.
This tea is beautiful, large dark twisted leaves with WHITE tips – not golden but pure white. It’s a nice mild, slightly astringent but well balanced black tea, there are some fruity and slightly sweet tones. This isn’t my favorite style of black, but am enjoying the sample I have. OH WAIT – this is an oolong – I’m so confused. This looks like a black tea, this smells like a black tea, this tastes like a black tea. There isn’t anything oolongish about it. I need some serious help…..
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This type of tea is also known as Oriental Beauty. It has a relatively high degree of oxidation hence some of it’s similarities to black tea. I am by all means not an expert ( I have 2 but the only one I’ve tried is a cheap box of a higher grade sea dyke brand one from the Chinese grocery store;), the other I haven’t touched yet). This article gives you some history and information about this style of tea though.
http://teamasters.blogspot.ca/2007/02/study-of-oriental-beauty.html
I had this experience with my first and, thus far, only Bai Hao recently! It was hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that it was indeed an oolong.
Thanks for the link yyz. I did read it, I now understand that the sweetness/honey notes come from the cricket bites on the leaves, I understand that it’s highly oxidized and therefore would be closer to a black than a green tea. I’ve had lots of highly oxidized oolongs and they all (other than Black Pearl Sumatra – but that’s another one that makes my head hurt) still have some oolongishness too them. If someone had just given me a cup of this I would have sworn it was a black… Oh well, thanks for the info, I’m going to file this tea under confusing and move on until I have a better grasp/understanding.
greenteafairy – that’s exactly how I feel. It looks like a black, it smells like a black, it tastes like a black….but it’s an oolong…
I remember when I bought this tea; the lady who sold it to me told me the history behind it, and had met the tea farmers face-to-face prior to buying it for her store. I wish I could remember more of the story, however it was (and still is) one of the most expensive teas I’ve ever purchased. I was curious as to what extra money bought (I know it sounds silly, however I really was curious) and so I grabbed 50g of it. The way they made it in-store blew my mind. Somehow it tasted like a black, yet was sweet and fruity like an oolong… I managed to get that out of it the last time I brewed it, however have yet to try again. If you’re really curious, I’m sure the folks at the Tea Centre in Courtenay, BC would be happy to talk to you about it ([email protected]; http://teacentre.ca/bai_hao_oolong.htm)
Maybe I’ll ask my mom to get me some of this for Christmas. :D
There is no doubt this is a beautiful high quality tea. It’s just so strange to me. Can’t comprehend how it can go so far against everything I thought I understood about tea.
I think sometimes that the categorization of teas is maybe a little more fluid than we sometimes like them to be here. I know that on Aliexpress that Dancongs, and Da hong Pao are often sold under black tea vs oolong.
OMGsrsly, I will give you the rest of what I have, if you’d like it
– or anyone else who would like to try some. Oolongs hate me right now, and as much as I love this tea, I’d rather it was enjoyed than just sit in my cupboard.
My mom only buys her tea from there, so if someone further away is interested, share with them first. :)
This type of tea is also known as Oriental Beauty. It has a relatively high degree of oxidation hence some of it’s similarities to black tea. I am by all means not an expert ( I have 2 but the only one I’ve tried is a cheap box of a higher grade sea dyke brand one from the Chinese grocery store;), the other I haven’t touched yet). This article gives you some history and information about this style of tea though.
http://teamasters.blogspot.ca/2007/02/study-of-oriental-beauty.html
I had this experience with my first and, thus far, only Bai Hao recently! It was hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that it was indeed an oolong.
Thanks for the link yyz. I did read it, I now understand that the sweetness/honey notes come from the cricket bites on the leaves, I understand that it’s highly oxidized and therefore would be closer to a black than a green tea. I’ve had lots of highly oxidized oolongs and they all (other than Black Pearl Sumatra – but that’s another one that makes my head hurt) still have some oolongishness too them. If someone had just given me a cup of this I would have sworn it was a black… Oh well, thanks for the info, I’m going to file this tea under confusing and move on until I have a better grasp/understanding.
greenteafairy – that’s exactly how I feel. It looks like a black, it smells like a black, it tastes like a black….but it’s an oolong…
I remember when I bought this tea; the lady who sold it to me told me the history behind it, and had met the tea farmers face-to-face prior to buying it for her store. I wish I could remember more of the story, however it was (and still is) one of the most expensive teas I’ve ever purchased. I was curious as to what extra money bought (I know it sounds silly, however I really was curious) and so I grabbed 50g of it. The way they made it in-store blew my mind. Somehow it tasted like a black, yet was sweet and fruity like an oolong… I managed to get that out of it the last time I brewed it, however have yet to try again. If you’re really curious, I’m sure the folks at the Tea Centre in Courtenay, BC would be happy to talk to you about it ([email protected]; http://teacentre.ca/bai_hao_oolong.htm)
Maybe I’ll ask my mom to get me some of this for Christmas. :D
There is no doubt this is a beautiful high quality tea. It’s just so strange to me. Can’t comprehend how it can go so far against everything I thought I understood about tea.
I think sometimes that the categorization of teas is maybe a little more fluid than we sometimes like them to be here. I know that on Aliexpress that Dancongs, and Da hong Pao are often sold under black tea vs oolong.
OMGsrsly, I will give you the rest of what I have, if you’d like it
– or anyone else who would like to try some. Oolongs hate me right now, and as much as I love this tea, I’d rather it was enjoyed than just sit in my cupboard.
My mom only buys her tea from there, so if someone further away is interested, share with them first. :)