Organic Spring, Taiwan Wulong Green Tea

A Green tea from Taiwan wulong cultivars

The choice of tea tree cultivar is instrumental for delivering a specific taste profile. This is particularly essential in oolong production. That is why one sees most vibrancy in cultivar development in oolong regions. Take Taiwan, for instance. The tieguanyin and Wuyi shuixian cultivars that they brought over from Mainland China over a century ago have all long since evolved into the many locally adapted cultivars that make the different Taiwan oolongs.

Re “cultivating” the Old World

Generally the taste profiles of oolongs produced in Taiwan are gentler and easier to understand than their counterparts from Mainland China. Since things from Taiwan are also more marketable in China, many larger scale oolong farms in the Mainland are switching their cultivars to those developed in the small island state. Some of these farms are owned or partially owned by Taiwanese producers.

Similar kind of cultivar and production switching has happened in some Chinese green tea regions for Japanese green tea. Tea traders from Japan has been the main initiative and the products are still majorly for the Japan and the export markets. Besides the advantage of cheaper land and labour, China also provides options for farm areas that are much higher in altitude and deeper into the mountainous regions. This means the option for bigger temperature difference between day and night, less direct sunshine, and all other micro-climate conditions that a producer can use to their advantage to maximize the horticultural conditions for higher quality in the green leaves.

Wulong Cultivars in Huangshan

To Chen, a native Taiwan tea farmer, however, developing a tea farm in Mainland is a great opportunity to enter the China market with the kind of Taiwan oolongs he has been producing for 40 years. His rolling fields in Huangshan, Anhui now cover much larger areas than his home farm in Taiwan, populated with Siji-chun, Jing-xuan, Qingxin, and Cuiyu — those wulong cultivars that he has been so familiar with — are vibrant and healthy. And even certified organic by some accredited EU body.

Besides popular oolongs such as Paochong, Dongding and Jingxuan, Chen also makes a green tea from the same leaves. He calls it Taiwan style green tea. It seems a little misleading to us because there are many other varieties of green teas produced in Taiwan.

We give it a generic name Organic Spring, because the plucks are from early Spring. We cannot call it by any cultivar name because it is a mix. It should not be called a wulong green either, because people are already very confused with the subcategory of green oolongs, which are green colour oolongs, not green teas. Perhaps some marketing people can give it a more beautiful name. Or some other scholars can share a better idea.

Mild Nature

The yields of Taiwan wulong cultivars are typically milder in taste than their Chinese counterparts. Yet mildness alone is not enough to differentiate this particular green tea.

Without going through the fermentation (oxidation) process of oolong production, the rich catechins in the leaves are not turned into the sugars and aroma substances that make the oolongs flavourful. Instead, they remain as green tea polyphenols that characteristically taste bitter on first impact.

Bitterness is generally more of a concern for better quality green teas because of higher proportion of catechins, in particular EGCG, which is one of the more bitter ones of all the tea catechins, yet the most important one for health contribution. In most classical green tea production, certain processes transform the balance of the leaf biochemistry to deliver taste profiles that generally subdue this bitterness.

One example that is very generally used is to raise the amount level of amino acids (1) for savory (umami) tastes. It is natural for the leaves to accumulate more such substances when they are the first flush grown in a higher altitude on a lesser sunlit side of the mountain, or under shaded growth before plucking, as in the production of gyokuro.

Another example is the use of heat to caramelize the trace amount of sugars in the leaves, or turn the more complex ones into their sweet-tasting forms. Such as in most classical pan roasted teas.

A Low Fire Tea

Processing with low heat, minimal oxidation and no raising of amino acids relies heavily on the natural biochemistry of the green leaves to deliver the final taste result. The famous Lu’an Guapian and Taiping Houkui are such teas. The natural biochemistry of the leaves is more decisive than other production factors.

Chen’s green tea of Taiwan wulong trees has now entered the same class. It is similar to Guapian and Houkui in that the leaves are not plucked when they are really young, and still pointy shoots, but rather quite open and spread. This proportionally reduces the dry weight of the bitter catechins. The crucial factor that deliver the mild and yet fresh tasting profile is the original nature of the cultivar itself: higher pectin and sugars content. They are equally important taste factors in popular Taiwan oolongs such as the Paochong that these same leaves are also made into. They are important here in the green tea Organic Spring.

Taste Profile

The silkier texture and sweetness of the tea are there to form a smooth and mild body with the other characteristics of a typical low temperature green tea: the notes of kombu (2) and mung bean (3). Fine Taiwan oolong character of floral aroma and fruity sweetness have also somewhat made their way into the tea, perhaps because of slight degree of oxidation during withering.

The result is very pleasing, with enough elements to hold its distinctive character, yet not too strong to command attention like many other fine teas do. People who needs calmness and focus and something to remind them of their own bodily existence will find this tea useful and enjoyable.

footnotes

1. Amino acids are the building blocks for various forms of proteins. Amino acids in tea are not only taste elements but also health contributors.

2. The sea is an important source of food that many still have to learn about. Meats like fish, octopus or sea urchins aside, vegetables from the sea have been important food items to many cultures. What is generally labelled as seaweeds may refer to various plants each with its own name and distinct tastes. Kombu is a romanization of the way the Japanese call a broad leaf kelp that is quite thick and can grow to over 10 ft long. It is a traditional food item in many cultures in the Far East. It is used in soup, sweet soup, salad, stir-fry, dim-sum, barbecue etc. Koreans and Chinese also use it in various health enhancement recipes.

3. A small bean, olive-green in colour, that is a very common ingredient in China and Southeast Asia. Some in India believe that this is a fertility food.