Thursday, October 4, 2018

What is Red Oolong ?



A customer of ours sent in two samples with almost identical labels.
 ‘Red Oolong’ confused and bothered her.

I don’t refuse such a ‘treat’ to test taste two fine teas.

For farmers in Taiwan, Red means higher oxidation. But how much higher ? How to compare and what to compare ... that will be very critical.

Apparently these are extremely fine Oolongs. Both are Chinsing Oolong cultivar, according to labels, the left one is from Lishan and the right one is from ShanLinSi.
We need to do a comparison Cupping and find the FACTs.

(Wow... both are excellent teas !)

But, the color and appearance of dry leaf already could be easily identified the difference.
After (3g, 210F, 6min ) infusion - aroma and color in bowls apparently present very different. The flavors are also very much apart from each other.

The one on the left is Quei-Fei Oolong, or Paoli Tung-Ting.
The one on the right is Taitung Oolong. (aka. Cognac Oolong)
In Taiwanese, farmers meant to classify their teas as:
紅水烏龍 / 紅烏龍 (L/R)
When translated... both became ‘Red Oolong’. Confusion then initiated.

Who’s fault?

‘Oolong-Sense’ is for tea professionals to clear all these non-sense.

 


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