auraTeas Blog: Brew Baihao Oolong in glassware

Formosa Imperial Oolong, Oriental Beauty, Dongfeng Mei Ren, all indicate the same tea produced in Taiwan-Baihao Oolong. We've talked a lot about Baihao Oolong and the tea bugs in other articles.

Most of Baihao Oolong are made from a varietal of tea called Chingsin Oolong (or Cingsin Oolong), and harvested only in summer. Baihao Oolong is the deepest oxidized Oolong Tea produced in Taiwan. It is a good tip to know the deeper oxidization, the smoother the tea is to your stomach. As it obtains "warm" character when it get into your stomach.

However, this "warm" character is yet another thing to "strong tea character". Compare to other varietals, Chingsin Oolong is stronger in tea characters, and also tea harvested in summer is said to be stronger than other seasons. Thus it is not recommended to drink Baihao Oolong before going to bed. And for such strong-in-character tea, lower water temperature is recommended. Just like green tea, which also obtain stronger tea character because of non-oxidization, lower water temperature will make the tea smoother.

For Oriental Beauty, it is better to choose teaware easy to conduct heat and to release heat, such as glassware or porcelain. Below is a demonstration of brewing Baihao Oolong with our special "Personal Brewer". Glassware is a good one to see the tea dancing around. What I like about this Personal Brewer is it yields perfectly for one person's drink. And you can sit the infuser on the glass lid for next infusion.

1. put about 1.2 teaspoon of tea in the infuser sits in the glass. 2. Pour in 150c.c. of 80°C hot water. 3. Steep the tea in water and observe the tea leaves. 4. Tea leaves starting to unroll. 5. You can clearly see the white buds (Baihao) of tea. 6. Infuse for 1-1.5 minute, and you can start enjoy this golden honey liquor. Baihao Oolong can be infused for 3-6 times, after the 6th infusion, the tea taste will get lighter and lighter, but still with the fruity aroma.