Thanks, Ripon. Could you tell us more about the difference between
traditional method and ancient China method? Sounds intriguing. Also, what
are the names of the teas using the ancient China method and are they
available for mere mortals to buy?

Winston
"Ripon" wrote in message
om...
Livio is very much right about "oxidation and roasting are unrelated".
I will start from this point-

Oxidation process can also make some Oolong more roast and flowery
fragrant. Oolong tea can undergo 20-60% oxidation. When they pan-fry
some oolong teas- timing can vary. That gives Oolong more roast or
more flowery flavor. Some Oolong teas pan-fried longer then others.
When they talk about "medium or dark roast"- they mean the timing of
pan frying. But again oxidation level has an big impact on Oolong
taste. Darjeeling Oolong, Bai Hao and some other Oolong undergo
through less oxidation. Miang Xiang Oolong undergo through higher
oxidation and also pan fried longer time. So the straight answer of
your question is- yes you Ti Guan Yin can be medium and dark roasted.

Ti Guan Yin can be many types. I have tried more then 15 types. If you
try different kinds of TGY, you will see they can be also marked as-
Ti Guan Yin, Monkey picked Ti Guan Yin, TGY 1st grade, TGY K100,
superior, tei baoota, top confou etc. etc. Ti Guan Yin can have
different taste- some has more roast flavor and aroma, some are more
floral, some can be very aromatic or even can be mild aromatic. All
this happened for the processing- Oxidation or roasting timing.

High grade Oolong processing is still considered as one of the Chinese
tea master's secret. Oolong can be processed in two different ways-
one is the traditional method, another is ancient China method. You
can tell this if you carefully take your infused oolong tea leaves
under magnifying glasses(That's another topic).

Their is no straight forward answer about Oolong processing. Hope I
have answered your question, Thanks.

Ripon
Vienna,VA

"Livio Zanini" wrote in message
Another question here about oolong teas that I'm hoping someone can
answer:

Is the roasting of oolong related to oxidation level?

For example, especially with China Ti Guan Yin, some packages/vendors
note
"medium roast", "dark roast", etc.
I was always under the impression that Ti Guan Yin was a lightly
oxidized
oolong. So, I'm wondering where a "dark roast" fits in - is it more
oxidized
that other Ti Guan Yins?

Thanks for any clarification.

Winston


Oxidation and roasting are two complitely separate phases of oolong tea
processing. After picking and withering, tea leaves are left to oxidize
to
the wanted degree of oxidation and then fixated by a first firing. The
indication on roasting you found are related to the final process which
is
done in the rifining of oolong teas in order to add a "roasty" taste and
in
some case also to decrease astringency. So oxidation and roasting are
unrelated and you can find teas with combination of different degrees of
these two precesses.
L