stock man said

Darjeeling, black tea or oolong?

I have been drinking a cup of darjeeling this morning and I was thinking about this as there are some full oxidized leaves and other ones that look green…

What do you think?

15 Replies

Short answer: it can be anything

Darjeeling is a place in India just like Yunnan is a place in China.
Both produce a variety of tea variations, but they are known widely for specific types.
Darjeeling is generally refered to as a black tea; but it’s possible that you had an oolong, a black, or something from another dimension.

Excelsior said

Another dimension. Hmmm, is that like the place where they have the evil Spock and the evil Kirk?

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stock man said

Yes, I know that there are greens, oolongs and also white darjeeling teas, but comparing the darjeeling black teas with let’s say assam or chinese blacks the leaves seems less oxidized and zome of them look green.

This is true. I have yet to see a lighter shade of green than olive in say DianHong teas. I’ve had first flush Darjeeling (black) with silver needles in them with a lightly shaded green leaf when brewed. I’m going to say all the different plantations have their own way of processing it… unfortunately that’s an assumption with no answer :/

stock man said

I see…

That seems to be a debate like the ‘pu erh storage’ one, many answers and nobody knows which one is the correct. LOL

In every place I read something different.

Thanks for your answers Liquid Proust :)

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yssah said

there is a green darjeeling. maybe they just got mixed up :)

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Lindsay said

First flush darjeelings are less oxidized, so they retain more of the floral, green, spring-like flavours. So the leaves look greener and respond best to cooler-than-boiling water.
http://happyearthtea.com/blogs/blog/7784655-why-is-darjeeling-first-flush-so-green-in-appearance
http://hojotea.com/en/posts-29/
http://www.teatulia.com/tea-101/what-is-first-flush.htm

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Ginkosan said

Technically its an oolong going by Chinese standards, but its not a Chinese tea, so it’s whatever the producers label it as…

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stock man said

So, for what you say, first flush darjeeling can be considered ‘oolongs’ if we view it from a Chinese classification point of view.

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Ginkosan said

Yes, because oolong in the Chinese system means between 20-80 percent oxidation. Iirc, mot Darjeeling falls around 70 percent.

stock man said

So then, for what I have read in the links above and what you say, a first flush darjeeling would age as well as an oolong in an air tight container right?

Ginkosan said

I have no idea. Keep in mind that Darjeeling also tends to be made from smaller leaves and is not rolled or twisted extensively like Chinese and Taiwanese style oolong is. Not sure if that makes a difference, but I’ve certainly never heard of anyone aging Darjeeling…

Rasseru said

http://www.marshaln.com/2008/08/friday-august-22-2008/

http://www.marshaln.com/2011/02/aged-margarets-hope-darjeeling/

maybe of interest, apparently they can be aged, less bite, more fruit, less aroma.

Ginkosan said

Well there you go. Learn something new everyday.

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Psyck said

By looks, taste, and processing, Darjeeling blacks are equivalent to Chinese oolongs. Nilgiri and Assam blacks are…well, black; with Assam’s being a stronger black.

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