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Inaugural Organic Harvest: Oolong Tea Roasting Process – Part One.

The story, photos, and video from Mr. Lin’s factory as we roast the first batch from this inaugural harvest.

Blog & Photos:
http://eco-cha.com/blogs/news/15845256-inaugural-harvest-the-roasting-process-part-one

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8pUg67QkFc&feature=youtu.be

Mr. Lin’s Inaugural Harvest: Roasting, The Final Chapter!

The roasting process is complete! After six separate sessions for a combined total of almost 40 hours of roasting, the leaves are ready to be vacuum sealed to lock in the flavor of both lighter and heavier roasted batches.

The heavy roast batch of tea was roasted for 26 hours overall, and yet it still remains a mild, full-bodied, complex brew that represents a classic Dong Ding Oolong. The later stages of roasting also brought out notes of honey flavor that indicate the leaves were affected by the green leaf hopper insect that is responsible for the making of Concubine Oolong.

This subtle complexity of flavor and well-balanced composition is hard to come by, and is undoubtedly rooted in the fact that this tea is organically cultivated.

So, at long last, we are ready to package the tea and send it off to the supporters of this project!

p.s. There’s more to the story behind this roasting, read it all here:
http://eco-cha.com/blogs/news/16061092-inaugural-organic-harvest-oolong-tea-roasting-process-the-final-chapter

Well, here we are at long last, drinking the brewed tea leaves that grew, were harvested, and processed since we visited the farm with the organic certification inspectors three months ago. It’s been a meaningful journey that we will be sharing a lot more about soon. But for now, the tea!

As a new crop of organically cultivated hybrid oolong tea, it is a new relationship with the leaves being formed in the making of the tea. There is a balance of oxidation before the leaves are dried and roasting afterward to be foreseen in their processing. This, in effect, is what makes it an artisan oolong tea, and how the leaves respond to roasting is one of the most interesting and intricate aspects.

The first batch was roasted twice to bring out a balance of sweet overtones with a clean astringent finish. The aroma of the brewed leaves is reminiscent of warming spices and roasted vegetables. The brewed tea tastes like toasted grains with hints of floral and leafy notes. It has a subtle yet broad range of flavor that continues to unfold as the leaves are brewed, and organic tea keeps brewing for a while!

The second batch was also roasted twice initially, but starting at a slightly lower temperature. This resulted in this batch having a more distinct aroma and fragrant aftertaste. This tea also brewed just a tad less transparently than the first batch, and the flavor was perhaps less balanced or substantial. These factors made our tea advisor Lisa Lin decide to roast this batch further – to bring it more balance and stability in shelf-life.

On its third roasting Lisa started at an even lower temperature than the initial roast and slowly increased it over the next eight hours until it attained a full, substantially roasted yet mild flavor. At the end of that roast, Lisa felt satisfied, but when she brewed it again the next day, she felt differently. The flavor begged of something that could be brought out even further, and she decided to pursue it by another six hour roasting session. At this stage, the tea leaves produced a subtle yet distinct honey quality that suddenly revealed the characteristic bug-bitten, or Concubine Oolong flavor, after all that roasting! The tea has a woodsy, autumn, straw aroma with a hint of smoky, charcoal roasted sweet potato flavor, and a clean, lingering dried-fruit aftertaste.

We find the two variations in roasting to be representative of a classic organic flavor that is mellow yet substantial, and the brewing capacity of the tea leaves is considerably more than a conventionally grown oolong. They are both very satisfying brews that have a relaxing yet long-lasting energizing and clarifying effect.

We working hard to get the tea all packaged up with all the perks and send them off to you, so please be patient and know that we are on it!

Thank you once again for all your support!

Taiwanese media interest in “Promote Sustainability – Get Great Tea”

A major component of our mission for this campaign was to show the local (Taiwanese) tea industry that there is international demand for oolong tea that is produced using sustainable, hands-on methods.

Thanks to YOUR support, we’ve taken another step towards that goal.

The success of this campaign has made Taiwanese news media take note. This Friday we’ll be joined by local news crews on Mr. Lin’s farm to show them around and discuss all aspects of the campaign. Of course Mr. Lin will be there too to share his vision for organically produced oolong tea.

This major step in sharing this story with the Taiwanese tea industry was made possible by your support.

We’ll be snapping some behind-the-scenes photos and video to share with you all soon. We’ll post links to the published stories as well.

In tea,

Andy, Nick, & Steve.

Eco-Cha.