Ageing oolong

In my understanding of aging roasted oolongs they must be reroasted every year. I don’t think it is as simple as putting one away like puerh.

I have had some that are roasted once before being aged and not re-roasted, I find that these have a much earthier and at times sour taste compared to the re-roasted ones. If you do want to go the roasted route though, I know that little personal sized roasters exist…either electric ones or candle powered ones, they are a but of a pain to find, but my candle one works great for freshening up my roasted oolongs.

Aged oolong can definitely be done without re-roasting. Re-roasting is done to essentially reduce the water content of the tea but it also makes the tea behave more like a roasted oolong than an aged oolong.

The once roasted ones if they get too much humidity (and aren’t re-roasted) will turn sour like @soggeyenderman notes. However… if they are well-stored then they develop a really nice sweet, aged, plummy note. Usually any tartness or sourness is considered negatively (although drinkers may be oK with mild tart notes).

I vastly prefer the un-reroasted. There’s a lot on Marshaln’s blog on this subject. Unfortunately, there’s a real lack of availability in the west for above-average ones. Floating Leaves and J-Tea have some OK ones, but some are a little wet and they’re not cheap…

Hopefully some of the teas in LiquidProust’s group buy will showcase how good aged oolongs can be.

As far as aging the stuff it’s pretty different from pu’erh and may actually be a lot easier in the west. Essentially you want something airtight, i.e. fill a tin all the way to the brim and set it aside for 20 years..

Since we’re generally in less humid climates there’s less of a chance to the tea getting slightly wet and messing up the storage.

Choosing the teas is tricky and I don’t have a ton of non-theoretical experience. Personally, I’d just choose some decent mid-fired teas and set them aside..