Darjeeling, black tea or oolong?
I have been drinking a cup of darjeeling this morning and I was thinking about this as there are some full oxidized leaves and other ones that look green…
What do you think?
Short answer: it can be anything
Darjeeling is a place in India just like Yunnan is a place in China.
Both produce a variety of tea variations, but they are known widely for specific types.
Darjeeling is generally refered to as a black tea; but it’s possible that you had an oolong, a black, or something from another dimension.
Yes, I know that there are greens, oolongs and also white darjeeling teas, but comparing the darjeeling black teas with let’s say assam or chinese blacks the leaves seems less oxidized and zome of them look green.
This is true. I have yet to see a lighter shade of green than olive in say DianHong teas. I’ve had first flush Darjeeling (black) with silver needles in them with a lightly shaded green leaf when brewed. I’m going to say all the different plantations have their own way of processing it… unfortunately that’s an assumption with no answer :/
First flush darjeelings are less oxidized, so they retain more of the floral, green, spring-like flavours. So the leaves look greener and respond best to cooler-than-boiling water.
http://happyearthtea.com/blogs/blog/7784655-why-is-darjeeling-first-flush-so-green-in-appearance
http://hojotea.com/en/posts-29/
http://www.teatulia.com/tea-101/what-is-first-flush.htm
Technically its an oolong going by Chinese standards, but its not a Chinese tea, so it’s whatever the producers label it as…
So, for what you say, first flush darjeeling can be considered ‘oolongs’ if we view it from a Chinese classification point of view.
Yes, because oolong in the Chinese system means between 20-80 percent oxidation. Iirc, mot Darjeeling falls around 70 percent.
So then, for what I have read in the links above and what you say, a first flush darjeeling would age as well as an oolong in an air tight container right?
I have no idea. Keep in mind that Darjeeling also tends to be made from smaller leaves and is not rolled or twisted extensively like Chinese and Taiwanese style oolong is. Not sure if that makes a difference, but I’ve certainly never heard of anyone aging Darjeeling…
http://www.marshaln.com/2008/08/friday-august-22-2008/
http://www.marshaln.com/2011/02/aged-margarets-hope-darjeeling/
maybe of interest, apparently they can be aged, less bite, more fruit, less aroma.
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