'A HISTORY OF...'//'CASE STUDY: TWININGS'//OUGD504-SUMMER

TWININGS:
http://www.twinings.co.uk/about-our-tea/twinings-tea-tasters/oolong-chinese-green-tea-twinings-tea-tasters

OOLONG CHINESE GREEN TEA - TWININGS TEA TASTERS

WHAT IS OOLONG TEA

Oolong tea is really interesting. Like wine this tea has many 'terroirs' and to put it into the wine world context, you might say it's like a Rose Wine [black tea resembling a red wine and a white tea resembling a white wine] as this Oolong tea is part way between a green tea and a black tea.  The secret of Oolong tea, and what makes it unique is the level of oxidisation that it's gone through during processing.  So the oxidisation levels for an oolong tea can be anything from 10% up to about 70% oxidisation.  A higher percentile oxidisation gives a darker Oolong and a lighter percentile oxidisation gives a greener Oolong. A young, green Oolong gives some very vibrant, fruity flavours. 

Interestingly, Oolong tea is gathered in the same way as green and black teas. It's withered, meaning it's allowed to dehydrate and then it's allowed to oxidise in whole leaf or cut leaf form for anywhere between eight and 18 hours. Eight or nine hours will give a light Oolong, whereas 18 or 19 hours will give a very dark Oolong. After oxidisation, the tea is rolled and then filed and dried. It's a similar method to the way that black tea is produced; it's just that the oxidisation takes place before the rolling typically, as opposed to after rolling, as you'll find with black tea.

WHERE THIS TEA IS FROM

This is our dark Oolong, coming from the Fujian province of South East China. Even though it's dark, looking like a black tea, it's actually a green tea. Oolong tea is probably not drunk much in the UK but for us, it's one of our favourites. You'll get a slightly different experience each time you drink this tea. We are going to taste this tea looking at some of the taste profiles to see what's really interesting about it. 

MAKING YOUR TEA

We're going to have a taste using tasting crockery, this is what we use here at Tea Tasters, we recommend you use a good heaped teaspoon into your cup. If you've got a teapot at home, you should use the same amount of tea as you would for any other tea: that's one heaped teaspoon per person and one for the pot. People will tell you that you should use different temperature waters for different teas. That's probably a good way of thinking (and probably the way we would make our teas) but if you feel happier to do so, let the water boil and allow it to cool down for about five minutes. That will leave the right temperature water for you to brew this dark Oolong tea. The water should be around 75 to 80 degrees. Give it three and a half minutes and then see what delights this tea holds. 

Once brewed (about 3 minutes), the colour of this diffused tea is absolutely gorgeous. It's like a deep cherry black, if there was ever such a colour. It's really beautiful and there are some deep smells coming from our teas. We're going to have a taste of this now!

TASTING OUR TEA

As you taste, straight away the head notes come through revealing blackcurrant and cherry. The body flavour has a lot more depth and it's fuller. It's oakier with a stronger vegetative flavour profile to it. The tea is not overly bitter or strong as you would find with black teas but it has a real depth of flavour and character that makes it really, really different. 

CHINESE TEA DRINKING

Looking at how this tea drink might typically be drunk in China we have a 'Gaiwan', which is a Chinese brewing vessel.

We have added a scoop of 'Wu Long' tea into the Gaiwan. Now typically, when you look at the way tea is prepared and drunk in China and South East Asia, you'll find it's a little bit different to the way that we prepare tea here in the UK.

Primarily the tea is brewed very strong. There is a lot of tea used, and the infusion time is left in the Gaiwan over multiple infusions. So the first infusion might be just 20 or 30 seconds, with future infusions going up to two, three or four minutes.

There are many nuances in the way the Chinese tea ceremony goes but primarily, it's all about respecting the tea. It's the sound of the water pouring on the tea; it's the aroma; it's the flavour to name a few. A lot of hot water is used in this. It's what the Chinese know as the 'spiritual cleansing'.  

Using our hot water, we heat up the tea tasting bowl.

Then give your tea a quick wash - splash some hot water into the Gaiwan, then drain. Even at this stage the aromas really start to come through.

Add you hot water to the Gaiwan and the freshly washed tea to make the first infusion, which you leave to brew for just 20 to 30 seconds.

As you drink your tea, increase the infusion times up to a couple of minutes to get many drinks of a similar strength.