When talking about Dongding Oolong, many tea drinkers will recall the mellow taste of their childhood. The origin of Dongding Oolong is in Lugu Township, Nantou, where many tea-making families make a living by making Dongding Oolong. However, it is a pity that high mountain tea has been popular in Taiwan since the 1980s. The local people are pursuing tea products that are lightly fermented and have a light fragrance. In order to cater to the market, many tea factories have changed the original mellow and rich tea to imitation high mountain tea production methods. This makes the taste of authentic frozen oolong slowly forgotten. Today, I will introduce this tea that was once popular in Taiwan and learn about its true taste.

Tea making process

The characteristic of making frozen top oolong tea is that after the tea leaves are dried, the tea leaves are wrapped and rolled into a hemispherical shape. The fermentation and baking processes are also very important. Different levels of fermentation and baking will produce different tea products with different characteristics and flavors. Traditional frozen oolong also uses relatively mature leaves as raw materials, which is suitable for moderate fermentation and baking. Tea farmers will first ferment the tea leaves to the state of "green leaves with red edges", and then conduct a roasting process based on the characteristics of the tea leaves to add flavor and charm to the tea.

Dry and wet tea leaf types

As mentioned just now, since the production process includes the rolling action, the dried leaves of Dongding Oolong are all hemispherical. The high-quality Dongding Oolong has a full and complete appearance and an oily dark green color. The intensity of rolling and the tenderness of the tea leaves will affect the size of the ball. Therefore, there is no uniform regulation on how big the hemispheric tea leaves should be, as long as they are of equal size.

(High-quality Dongding Oolong has a full and complete appearance, an oily dark green color, and the balls are of equal size.)

As for the form of wet tea leaves, after the tea leaves are soaked and stretched in hot water, you can see the characteristic of "green leaves with red edges". A circle of fermented red edges surrounds the leaves. After brewing, the leaves should remain intact and there should not be too much broken tea. Some people think that tea with tea stems is not good tea, but this statement is only half right. Tea stems are the source of the sweetness of oolong tea soup. Some tea farmers will retain part of the tea stems during the production process to make the tea soup more sweet. However, some tea merchants deliberately replace tea leaves with tea stems for profit. Too many tea stems not only reduce the flavor of tea, but also make the tea soup taste worse.

(You can see the characteristics of "green leaves with red edges" in wet tea leaves. After brewing, the leaves remain intact, and the retained tea stems make the tea soup more sweet.)

The aroma, taste and texture of tea soup

Different levels of fermentation and roasting will give different aromas and flavors to the tea. The moderately fermented and roasted Dongding Oolong has an elegant aroma between floral and ripe aromas, which is long-lasting. The color of the tea soup is golden to amber, clear and bright. The complete tea making process is the reason why Dongding Oolong tea has rich flavor and long tea flavor. Its tea quality is mellow. After the tea soup enters the throat, you can feel the comfort of salivation and sweetness.

(The color of the tea soup is golden to amber, and it is clear and bright. After entering the throat, you can feel the production of fluids and comfort, and the sweetness comes back in waves.)

Matching tea sets and tea snacks

There are many tea sets suitable for brewing oolong tea, whether it is a tureen, a purple clay pot or a glass, you can brew a cup of fragrant tea. For those who are new to the art of tea, a white porcelain tureen is a more suitable and easier-to-control choice because the true color of the tea soup and the condition of the tea leaves can be seen in a white porcelain tureen. For those who have some experience in tea tasting or are fans of purple clay teapots, purple clay teapots can help spread the aroma of tea and at the same time enhance the taste of tea soup to another level. Dongding Oolong has a mellow aroma and tea flavor, and is very suitable for brewing in a purple clay pot. However, it should be noted that although the purple clay teapot helps to distribute the aroma of tea, the mud of the purple clay teapot also has the property of absorbing the flavor. Therefore, when making tea in a purple clay teapot, it is generally recommended to "use one pot for one tea", or one pot for each tea. Make tea with the same aroma to avoid the purple clay pot absorbing different aromas and affecting the tea brewing.

Dongding Oolong has a mellow tea flavor and a moderate aroma, making it a perfect match for some Chinese pastries or cheesecake with a delicate texture and a slightly lighter taste. Coinciding with the Mid-Autumn Festival, this tea is also suitable to be tasted with Custard Mooncakes. The mellow tea soup neutralizes the sweetness brought by the milk king, and the tea flavor does not cover up the mooncake fragrance. The two complement each other.

(The frozen oolong tea has a mellow flavor and is suitable to be tasted with Custard Mooncake.)

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