Dear Ablecha,

I would argue with a couple of points and would be able to compare with different commodities as well:

1.Tradition/History: In China, where most tea is being consumed, people drink mostly Green Tea while cupping the same infusion many times a day. The tradition of making Oolong and finding out about proper fermentation-methods came much later in the overall Chinese tea-history. Drinking Green tea all day long works probably better for your tummy as well. Further it doesn’t really get bitter.
In India (as a leading consumer of Black Tea as a country -not per head consumption) very strong black tea is being brewed in Milk. You can’t really make Oolong in Milk, Sugar, and spices I guess 😉 Also the British started the Black Tea Production in many Colonies without really getting into the whole Oolong business. I guess Black Tea simply was loosing less quality during the months and months journeys to reach England via the sea. A Oolong would have lost all the magic I am sure.

2.Convenience: After the invention of the tea bag and “convenience solutions”, there was no way someone would try to squeeze the large Oolong leaves into a bag. Even today pyramid-bags don’t really allow a Oriental Beauty or DongDing to fully open and “bloom” in the cup. The common drinking habits of today has no time for a 4-6 time brew 😉

3.Water quality: Not everywhere on the planet there is the same water quality. I would argue that in some waters you wouldn’t be able to taste the fine details of an Oolong. There are filters and all available, but a large part of our population are not able to afford water filters or even have access to proper clean water supply.

4.Money: Similar to the issue No.3 simply not all people can effort Oolong. Making proper Oolong takes much more time than other tea, it is more labour intensive, cultivars carry less yield, barely anyone who is capable of making Oolong anymore, you cant harvest with machines, etc.pp. This results in mostly high-pricing for Oolong teas. which is fully deserved in my opinion.

5.Knowledge and passion: Even though there are rich countries and communities which are drinking a good amount of tea, many wouldn’t even be able to distinguish a Keemun from a Yunnan…

Just some ideas from brainstorming…
Jan

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.