Eco-Farmed Heavy Roast Oolong Tea
US$5
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Flavor: Deep woodsy aroma. Mellow, tangy/sweet, mineral notes. Subtle smoky, fruity aftertaste.
Garden: This source is the most innovative and progressive tea producer we know. A husband, wife and son team cooperate with neighboring farmers to produce an impressive array of organically cultivated tea in the historical tea growing region of Songbolin in Nantou County. From wild and heirloom tea strains to modern hybrid cultivars of tea, they have researched and developed eclectic processing methods to make some unique styles of tea. This tea type is perhaps their most novel that we've come across in terms of its processing and curing methods.
Harvest: About three years of roasting/resting completed in summer 2023, Songboling
Elevation: 400m
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This batch of tea is a combination of Four Seasons Spring, Tsui Yu and Jin Xuan tea leaves that undergo medium-heavy oxidation in their processing upon being harvested. This combination of hybrid teas offers a broader, more balanced range of character, especially when undergoing these unique curing methods.
The proportionately mixed batch of tea leaves are then aged for one year to allow for post-production oxidation. The repeated roasting and resting process takes three years to complete! After a year of aging, they undergo an extensive roasting process. The leaves are roasted at low temperature for over 20 hours per session, for a total of three roasting sessions, with at least 3 months of "setting time" between each roasting.
After the batch of tea leaves has been roasted to the desired result, it is then aged again for one year to mellow and "settle" in its composition. Finally, the leaves are minimally roasted at low temperature to deplete any acquired moisture content before being vacuum sealed in preparation for sale. It offers a mellow, aged character with tangy/sweet and mineral notes, and a hint of smoke in the finish.
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Mr. and Mrs. Xie, and now their son manage their cooperative of certified organic farms in a way that we that combines tradition with an eclectic knowledge of tea production. They have an integrated understanding of what works in terms of tea cultivation and processing as well as consumer market trends. After visiting them numerous times in their home and gradually learning of their overall production from their humble representation that would only be offered when warranted by our relentless questions, we discovered this tea type that is unique in our knowledge of tea making.
This artisan has taken tea making to another level. These processing and curing methods are unique in that they are an integration of various traditional and modern tea-making methods to produce a character of tea that is reminiscent of Muzha Tieguanyin from Northern Taiwan. It is not comparable, however, given that the tea types used and even the processing methods are quite different. It is simply the character and flavor notes that are experienced in brewing a pot of these tea leaves that bring a traditional Taiwanese Tieguanyin Oolong to mind.
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Mug: 8g tea in 350ml 95°C water. Steep for 3 minutes. Drink and add hot water as desired. Adjust to taste.
Cold Brew: Use 6g of tea per liter of water. Brew tea at room temperature for 2-3 hours, and enjoy. Or you can put your cold brew bottle in the fridge to brew overnight and be ready to drink the next day.
Gongfu Brew: Start with a 1:15 leaf to water ratio. Use boiling temperature water and brew for about 50 seconds. Increase brewing time with each successive brew. The leaves can be brewed 6-7 times. Adjust to taste.
This tea is rolled (loose pearls) and the leaves unroll as tips less than 2 inches long. While it is 'Heavy Roast' is is neither high acidity, nor smoky. It seems like a very pure tea with a rich flavor. I really enjoy this tea in teh morning.
A toasted, wood and grass parfumed, super tasty
My first purchases from Eco-Cha were: Eco Farm Heavy Roasted Oolong, LUGU COMPETITION DONG DING, AND ROASTED TSUI YU OOLONG.
I did a side-by-side comparison of the three, steeping 4 grams of each tea in 10 oz of just below boiling water. I let them all cool slightly because I can’t recognize the flavors at too high a temperature. I also tasted each when cooled to room temperature.
Here are my observations:
Lugu Competition Dond Ding:
Subtle woody aroma. Full body, rich, full mouth feel, very bold flavors. Smoothest of the 3. As it cooled, floral oolong notes came out.
Eco Farm Heavy Roasted Oolong:
Very similar in aroma to Competition. Bold woody taste. Mouth feel is narrower, it doesn’t explode like the competition. It’s a little more astringent. When cooled, floral notes weren’t present.
ROASTED TSUI YU OOLONG:
WOODY AROMA WITH DEFINITE Spicy notes. The woody taste is more subtle, balanced out by other flavors like licorice, cardamon, and vanilla. All in all, more nuanced. The only drawback was it was a
I think my order of preference is; ROASTED TSUI YU OOLONG, COMPETITION, AND FINALLY THE ECO FARM. HOWEVER, THEY WERE ALL EXCELLENT. I WOULDN’T HESITATE TO PURCHASE ANY OF THEM AGAIN.
I grew up in Taiwan drinking oolong tea everyday. I got used to drinking coffee since living abroad. Somehow, the calling of tea is so strong that I have switched back to drinking tea of late. I like the fresh light aroma the tea leaves in the mouth. I was fortunate to come across Eco-Cha, that sources organic tea farms in the Taiwan's high mountain area. The heavy roast oolong tea I ordered makes me smile in the morning.
I love roasted oolongs, but a lot of them disappoint because they are too lightly roasted despite the label of "heavy roast" or "medium roast". When I think "heavy/dark" roast I think of Wuyi oolongs roasted and aged Hong Kong style, and this one hits close enough to the mark to deserve an account signup and a review. At the price of a daily drinker, it has the rich oh-so-subtle "sour" of a quality roasted-and-aged oolong along with the smooth mineral taste I'd expect from a Da Hong Pao. The characteristic Taiwanese "smoothness" of their best oolongs is present here, rounding out a flavor in a way only the best Wuyis do (in comparison). I'm gonna tuck away one of the vacuum sealed pouches to age for a few years, since the tightly-bound oolong pellets tend to age far better than loose, twisted-leaf tea.
Thanks so much for your detailed review! This is very similar to what we feel about this tea. Did you happen to read in the product page how it is made? It’s quite an extensive process! This grower has been researching processing more than anyone we know in terms of varying the standard procedures and tweaking things to achieve interesting results in many ways. We feel proud to represent this tea. It truly is unique. We’ve never heard of anybody doing what he does in order to reach the results he does with this tea type. Thanks again, and feel free to contact us directly with any questions you may have!