INFO: Decoding Tea Labels
Overview
You should know what you’re drinking. Whether it’s to track down similar teas in the future or to justify pricing, once you enter the premium oolong game there is a baseline set of information you should have before purchasing any tea.
Below I’ll walk through these pieces of information-- which just so happen to be on all our packaging labels ;) -- and I’ll share why these attributes are important clues to understanding your oolong’s identity. Enjoy!
Origin
Also known as terroir, the specific location or distinct ecosystem where the tea is grown. We’re looking for country, county, and mountain. If folks don’t want to share the specific tea garden’s address, I can’t knock ‘em for that - it’s one of our trade secrets.
Cultivar
The cultivated variation of the camellia sinensis plant used to create your oolong. Each cultivar has specific qualities or traits that make it more suited to particular climates, processing styles, and goals (for example, high yield).
The Taiwanese government has been particularly active over the past 40 years in conducting significant research to develop new tea cultivars. Some famous examples include the jinxuan varietal, prized for its creamy, milky flavor (which we use for our milk oolong and black oolong), and ruby #18, a spearmint flavored black tea that is a hybrid of an indigenous taiwanese and assam tea plant.
Elevation
The metered height above sea level where the tea is grown. Elevation impacts flavor.
Low-lying tea growing regions tend to be hotter and more humid, causing the tea plants to grow faster and result in more frequent harvests. Depending on the origin and cultivar selected, these teas are more often processed into delicious black teas or commodity teas.
High mountain tea growing regions tend to sit at or above the cloud layer, causing dramatic swings in both temperature and direct sunlight. As a result, the new growth takes longer and the leaves and the resulting teas have less astringency than their lower-elevation siblings. Tea plants grown at high elevations have infrequent harvests, sometimes only 3-4 harvests/year.
Oxidation
This is the critical and defining characteristic of transforming tea leaves into an oolong tea. Sometimes oxidation is referred to as ‘withering’, which is certainly a more inclusive term as it is possible to create oolongs in oxygen deprived environments e.g. GABA tea is created by using nitrogen instead of O2.
Once tea leaves are detached from the tea plant, oxidation commences. Two things are happening here: (1) the leaf slowly dehydrates as moisture is released, causing the cell walls to break down and make the leaves more pliable, and (2) without the cell walls to act as natural barriers, the enzymes present in the leaf are able to interact with raw plant material, transforming themselves and the plant material into flavorful compounds that we love to drink!
It’s worth remembering that creating an oolong is an art form, so our tea masters will be looking to control or regulate the oxidation process by way of time and sun exposure in order to achieve their desired flavor.
We mark our oxidation level by %. An oolong that has been oxidized 10% has barely experienced flavor change, whereas an oolong that is at 90% is both considerably dehydrated and has allowed the active enzymes to interact with raw plant material for a considerable amount of time. Different strokes for different folks!
Roast
In order to halt the flavor changing process, we’ll flash-roast the tea to kill off the active enzymes. This is called ‘kill green’ or sha4qing1 (殺青).
Beyond that, depending on the flavor profile we’re striving to achieve, we may choose to continue roasting our tea leaves. We can roast tea leaves in any style (green, red, or black oolong). The trick is how long & at what temperature.
Flavors
Because we aren’t drinking these teas together in person, I provide tasting notes to act as a simple tool selection process. They are ~ vibes ~ and certainly not gospel :) Feel free to come up with your own!
Water and temperature tend to greatly affect flavor, so if you’re ever looking to experience a tea as closely as my tasting notes, just know I use poland spring water whenever a new harvest arrives :D
Oolong names and their meanings
When naming our teas, we lead with processing style so that you have an immediate understanding of which section of the flavor spectrum to expect.
A green oolong will be more marine, floral, or vegetal.
A red oolong will be more like a toasted wheat/hay or nutty.
A double red oolong extends into leather, tobacco, or a stout beer.
And a black oolong tends to be more malty or chocolatey.