Recently, several tea friends have asked Xiao Qiao: "When you mention Taiwan oolong tea, everyone will think of frozen top oolong, so is frozen top oolong the best oolong tea in Taiwan?" Is there a better oolong tea than it? ”
To say that the frozen top oolong is not the best, we must first understand it, and then make a comparison.
Frozen-top oolong medium fermented tea, with a fermentation degree of about 40%, is a hemispherical bag tea. Produced in Lugu Township in the southwest of Nantou County, at an altitude of about 700 to 1200 meters, Zhangya Village (Frozen Top) at an altitude of 700 meters is here, because it is planted in Frozen Peak Mountain, and it is processed with Green Heart Oolong Bud Leaves, so it is called Frozen Top Oolong Tea.
Frozen top oolong soup is golden and bright, rich in aroma and mellow in taste, and is a characteristic oolong tea with both aroma and taste, and its reputation is far and wide.
Many tea lovers think that frozen top oolong is the representative of Taiwan's oolong tea, in fact, in addition to frozen top oolong, Taiwan also has several kinds of high-quality oolong tea, more than it is.
Wenshan bao planted tea
The fermentation degree of Wenshan Baozhong tea is the lightest in oolong tea, about 20%, and the tea garden is distributed in the mountainous area above 400 meters above sea level, known as "North Wenshan, South Frozen Peak", it can be seen that Wenshan Bao species are not inferior to frozen top Oolong.
Good Wenshan bao seed tea, dry tea tight knot, natural bending, emerald green and lustrous color; the aroma is clear and floral, the tea soup honey green bright, lively and mellow, there are "fragrant, strong, mellow, rhyme, beauty" five characteristics. If you want to experience the feeling of being able to fly happily at once, Wenshan Baozu Tea is a good choice.
Oriental Beauty Tea
Oriental beauty is a specialty tea in Beipu, Emei and other places in Hsinchu County, Taiwan, in the semi-fermented tea is the deepest degree of fermentation of a tea, the general fermentation of 60%, some even as much as 75% to 85%, a variety of characteristics similar to black tea.
Oriental beauty appearance is gorgeous and colorful, red, white, yellow, green, brown five colors, ripe fruit flavor or honey aroma, tea soup is bright amber color, in 1900 ~ 1940 has swept Europe and the United States, became the British royal tribute, by the Queen of England named "Oriental Beauty".
Some researchers have done aroma analysis on three kinds of Taiwanese oolong tea, Namely Wenshan Bao, Frozen Top Oolong and Oriental Beauty, and identified 54, 51 and 62 aroma components respectively.
Through comparison, it is found that Wenshan bao species are closer to the aroma components of frozen top beauty, but they are quite different from the aroma components of oriental beauty.
In addition to Wenshan Bao seeds and oriental beauties can compete with frozen-top oolong, Taiwan's alpine oolong tea is also a rare oolong tea treasure.
Alpine oolong tea
We usually say that Taiwan alpine oolong tea does not refer specifically to tea produced in a certain place, but to oolong tea produced in tea gardens above 1000 meters above sea level.
Except for a few species of heavy fermentation (about 70%), alpine oolong tea generally belongs to mild (20% to 40%) fermentation. The main production area is Chiayi County and Nantou County in south-central Taiwan, and most of the tea gardens in these areas have the characteristics of low temperature, high humidity and cloudy fog.
It is these characteristics that make the buds and leaves more tender, and are conducive to the formation of amino acids and aromatic substances, so alpine tea has the characteristics of long-lasting tea aroma and fresh and mellow taste.
Some researchers analyzed and compared oolong tea from different altitude production areas in Taiwan, and through sensory evaluation, they found that the higher the altitude, the more mellow the aroma and taste, and the higher the overall score.
Among them, The highest altitude of Lishan Oolong is the highest in aroma, soup color, taste, and total score.
In addition, they also conducted a comparative analysis of the biochemical components of these teas.
The results showed that with the increase of altitude, the content of caffeine and tea polyphenols gradually decreased, while the content of amino acids gradually increased, among which the caffeine and tea polyphenols of Lishan Oolong at an altitude of 2200 meters were the lowest, and the amino acid content was also higher.
As we all know, the phenol-to-amino ratio is an important indicator to evaluate the degree of fresh alcohol taste of green tea, in the case of high content of tea polyphenols and amino acids, the smaller the phenol-to-amino ratio, the more fresh and mellow the tea soup tastes, in fact, the same is true for oolong tea.
Therefore, the higher the altitude of oolong tea, the more refreshing the taste.
It can be seen from the above figure that Taiwan's alpine oolong is higher than the frozen-top oolong in terms of sensory evaluation and contained substances, especially the highest elevation of Lishan oolong.
Among the alpine tea producing areas in Taiwan, there are well-known tea areas such as Alishan Tea District, Shanmuxi Tea Area, Yushan Tea Area, Lishan Tea Area, etc., and among them, the Lishan Tea District has the highest altitude and can best represent the characteristics of Taiwan's alpine oolong tea.
The Lishan tea area can be divided into Lishan alpine tea and Dayuling alpine tea, let's understand it separately.
Pear Hill Alpine Tea
Lishan is 2200 meters above sea level, the main production area is the Lishan area of Taichung County, Taiwan, surrounded by primary forests, the environment is clean, no pollution.
Because of the long-term cloud shroud, the temperature is cold and the snow falls in winter, the growth period is long, creating the characteristics of the leaf flesh of the tea leaves, its taste is mellow, the taste is fruity, the tea color is honey green and yellow, the taste is mellow, smooth and soft and resistant to brewing, the tea soup can be condensed after cold, which is a treasure in Taiwan's alpine tea.
Dayuling Alpine Tea
In general, Dayu Ridge is considered the best source of alpine tea in Taiwan.
Dayu Ridge is located in Taiwan's Hehuan Mountain, just at the intersection of Nantou, Taichung and Hualien counties, with a maximum altitude of about 2600 meters, which is currently the world's highest growing altitude oolong tea production area.
The unique altitude makes the temperature difference between day and night here extremely large, and the climate is cold, the tea plant grows slowly, and the tea leaves produced are tender, mellow in taste, fragrant in aroma, and endless in aftertaste, which is recognized as the top alpine tea in Taiwan.
The above is the well-known oolong tea varieties in Taiwan that we introduce for everyone, if you like Taiwan's oolong tea, then in addition to the frozen top oolong, the above several are also very good oolong tea. #中国茶韵 #