The Making of Oolong Teas

Rebecca Sheeran — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 11:07:00 -0700

Now that I have traveled to two tea producing countries during first flush (spring picking) tea processing, I can really see the differences they talk about in all of my certification classes. Last year in India I saw big rolling tea fields with major factories for processing. This year in Taiwan I saw lots of spotted areas of little tea fields and families each processing their own picked tea. India produces some of the worlds best black tea while Taiwan some of the worlds leading Oolong teas.

Black teas are 100% oxidized and Oolongs are partially oxidized. The oxidation levels are one of the reasons you get such different tastes in the different types of teas. While each type takes many people and lots of time processing, Oolong teas really require time and attention. Processors alternate between a short firing and rolling process—sometimes 20 times—staying up until the wee hours in the morning. This was in the Nantou region where the processing and shape of the tea is very different from the Pinglin area.

During my trip to Taiwan, I met Jackson Huang, former tea association chairman. He took me to Nantou to see tea processing on Tung Ting Mountain. After parting ways I decided to try my luck in Pinglin, which is famous for Pouchong Oolongs, which have a lighter taste than other oolongs and are not rolled.

I had to take the underground MRT and then a bus from Taipei. This was a bit of a challenge because all of the buses had the Chinese characters for Pinglin. After showing the map to many other bus goers, I was on my way.

Pinglin was full of tea farms, very quiet and peaceful with sounds of the river and birds. I headed for the tea museum and had gongfu style tea in the tea house at the museum. It obviously had good feng shui. It felt peaceful as I drank my tea by the fountain and viewed many flowers and a huge statue of Kuan Yin. My intuition told me that almost very one in this town knew someone or had something to do with tea and that it wouldn’t be hard to find my way onto a plantation. I asked a young lady at the counter if her family had a tea garden. After about 20 minutes of trying to talk because one of us spoke only English and one spoke mainly Chinese, and we were just learning how to use a translating computer, a gentleman showed up whose family owned a tea farm. He happened to speak English and was happy to let me help process tea. He couldn’t understand why I would want to do this because to him it was boring. He kept asking me if I was sure and then agreed.

I was escorted from field to field as we discussed the intricacies of tea. I was shown hand plucking fields vs. machine cutting. I learned that unlike black teas you don’t pick oolong tea when it is raining because they are partly solar withered. In India where they produce mainly black tea, they have big withering troughs that blow air through them to dry the tea, so it’s okay if it’s picked during the rain. Withering is an important part of the processing: the tea has to be dried perfectly, neither too quickly nor too slowly. The taste is completely changed if, for example, the withering was too hard.

I was able to learn how to pick tea leaves. What I really learned was that it takes up to a year to really know how. I was corrected many times on where to pick and how to pull it off. It was also nice learning that the workers I was with enjoyed what they were doing. I asked them if they liked their job and they responded with smiles saying “we love picking tea, we can be with our friends and talk about our families all day.”

After seeing all the fields we went to his home where they did all the processing. Withering can take 10 to 12 hours, and depends on the weather conditions. During this time there were lots of talks and food. I had tea leaves that were exactly two leaves and a bud lightly breaded. It had a nice crunch and a slight bit of astringency at the end.

Withering doesn’t just consist of the leaves sitting in the sun for 10–12 hours. First, they are solar withered for about 2 hours then they are placed in round flat baskets for about two hours, then shaken, left for another 2 hours, shaken again, then left for 2- 3 hours and then put into a tumbling machine to ensure even drying for about 4 minutes, then back in the baskets for another 3 hours, re-tumbled for 10 minutes and given a final 3 hours to finish withering. Whew! It’s a process. And just think, we are only paying $5-15ish for 50 grams. I am continually impressed with all of the work that goes into our cups of tea.

After the tea is withered, it’s fired for about 6 minutes (280-320 degrees Celsius (?)). Then rolled (actually squishing the leaves to break open the cell walls, which helps the smell and taste) for 2-3minutes. Then the tea is tumbled again to loosen the tightness of the leaves. Next they are baked in a machine that just passed the leaves through heat for about 5 minutes at 100 degrees Celsius. Finally, the leaves are put in another baking machine where the leaves just sit and bake for 1-2 hours at about 75 degrees Celsius. This is quite a process. I was very happy to participate in the processing and again grew to love tea more. Seeing the work behind the drink I enjoy everyday deepened my appreciation for it.

Tea Grotto Blog: The Making of Oolong Teas

The Making of Oolong Teas