Oriental Beauty vs Imperial Topaz

Hi ‘Manila’,

I am happy that you posted the question here at Tea Guardian. I know this is very confusing. Tea categorisation really should be easier to understand. I shall talk to Leo about this same question which has been asked a few times before you did. Hopefully he will write more to clarify that.

As for why Oriental Beauty is an oolong, it is really a complete oolong process and beyond. The oxidation in our selection is deeper than some others but not unusual. A complete oolong process is composed of withering under the sun, shading to regain water, rattling the leaves before oxidation, repeating the process, killing green, rolling, resting and baking dry. In black tea processing, such as that for Imperial Topaz from the Himalayas, the oolong steps are omitted and only the shorter black tea steps make the tea. You can see the comparison in Leo’s articles in:

oolong production

black tea production

The degree of oxidation in black tea production varies from very light, like in Himalayan Finest Flowery, or some Darjeeling, to very thorough, like in Red Plum Classic or Dianhong Golden.

So the process determines the category, not the degree of oxidation.

Hopefully that clarifies it and you enjoy either tea without the puzzle!

• This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by Siu PB.
• This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by Tea Guardian.
• This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by Tea Guardian.

Both are excellent teas. I much prefer OB too!

I bought Imperial Topaz from Tea Hong after seeing this post. It tastes very good. I like it but not as much as good Oriental Beauty.

The differences between a “Black tea” and a “Oolong” are much more than simply the degree of oxidation. In this argument I am using the term Oolong as a synonym for Oriental Beauty:
In my opinion the most important are the commonly practised processing steps.
There is the rather standard way of making a black tea the “British Style”: withering-rolling-fermenting-drying. However, as mentioned in an earlier post, Darjeeling First Flush is also oxidized only 45mins and sold as a black tea even though the greenish appearance and grassy Cup. Technically this tea could now be called Oolong because it is indeed not fully oxidized. But hence the processing steps are the same as for Black Tea (no killing green) it is in fact not being called Oolong.
Once the planters of Darjeeling use small rollers (imported from China/Taiwan) and invest lots of manual work in order to make small batches of curly-shaped teas, therefore following still similar production steps but in a smaller scale, very freely the tag “Oolong” will be given to that batch. The same thing happens in Nepal. This is also being done in order to receive higher sales Prices in Export (Both countries are exported-oriented when it comes to high quality). Any tea that carries the name Oolong simply sounds fancy and made with utmost care, etc…
Secondly the cultivar is an essential factor of making Oolong. The Nepal Topaz is indeed made in a traditional fashion and follows the steps of Oolong-making, but I am convinced that Nepal does in fact not have so much Wulong-cultivars but rather go for Sinensis in highgrown areas and Assamica-cultivars in lower elevations. Some (organic) gardens are experimenting with Yabukita, TieGuanYin, etc. but that is still considered to be experimental.

I doubt this Imperial Topaz follows traditional oolong processing. Also Darjeeling teas are not oolongs at all. They are just lightly oxidized black tea. Detail explanation of the difference already covered in Leo’s writing in this site.