A charming cup

By 2009-3-27 13:53:48

Tillerman Tea's David Campbell enjoys oolong.

Young or aged, Taiwanese oolongs delight

Produced in China and Taiwan, oolong teas are incredibly diverse and can range in flavor from light, sweet, intensely floral and vegetal to rich, nutty, woody, and smoky. Often described as semi-fermented, they are, in fact, semi-oxidized to varying degrees. Lighter teas are referred to as jade oolongs, 'bright fragrant' is a greener, fragrant style with a beautifully-oxidized red rim around the leaf and blue-green teas are highly oxidized and well roasted.

David Campbell, proprietor of Tillerman Tea at Oxbow Public Market in Napa Valley, CA, sources tea for the company and believes oolongs from both countries are wonderful, "they are just different, like comparing French wines to California wines." Campbell has sourced a collection of Taiwanese oolongs that illustrates the many styles and the complexity found in the highest quality teas. Lightly-oxidized Taiwanese oolongs are characterized by jasmine and gardenia aromas balanced with the taste of green vegetables and a hint of cinnamon spice. As the amount of oxidation increases, aromas and flavors of honey, orange peel and dried stone fruit like apricot can emerge. Long-aged teas can exhibit aromas of bitter chocolate, toasted nuts and robust, smoky flavors.

Winter harvest Alishan oolong; the leaves are rolled to create a pearl shape.

The 2008 winter harvest from Alishan, one of Taiwan’s three most famous tea mountains, has strong aromas of jasmine and gardenia followed by the unique cinnamon spice for which Taiwanese oolongs are known. In one stunning example, Alishan Oolong Winter Harvest, tea master Chen Huan Tang gave his tea a lower degree of oxidization and lighter firing to preserve and enhance the natural florals of the vintage. This tea is one of Campbell's personal favorites, "Chen is a very traditional producer whose family has been in the business for generations so he can experiment; his darker teas tend to be highly-oxidized and beautifully roasted in a style known as blue green or blue verte."

This aged oolong has rich, dark flavors of chocolate, toasted almonds and wood smoke.

Aging an oolong typically involves re-firing the tea every few years to burn off any stale taste and to recondition the tea but some oolongs are aged naturally. While the floral and sweet flavors of re-roasted styles are burned away, what remains is a rich, full-bodied, nutty tea. Campbell's aged oolong from Taiwan has complex flavors of dark chocolate and toasted almonds and, like most aged oolongs, is very strong with hints of charcoal and smoke with perfectly-balanced, robust flavors. Only the highest grade oolong teas are aged and he has sourced a reserve oolong from tea master K.C. Chen of Bih-lu, Taiwan, who ages this oolong for over a decade without any firing or processing. Chen's teas naturally develop unique spicy, toasty aromas and flavors of toasted almond and wood smoke. "It is possible to find aged oolongs with vintage dates but they are relatively rare," cites Campbell who asserts that properly roasted oolongs can age from 15 to 30 years not unlike the pu-erh teas of Yunnan.

Campbell, who has over 25 years in the wine industry, is fascinated by the parallels between tea and wine and readily applies the concept of terroir to tea, "The knowledge of a tea's origin and cultivation, craftsmanship and culture greatly enhance the tea drinking experience."

From examiner.com