The Many Types of Oolong: How to Unlock Their Flavors & Aromas

Oolong is a broad category of teas that range from virtually unoxidized (resembling green teas) to almost fully oxidized (getting very close to black teas) and everything in between. It offers something for every palate.

 

In this guide, you'll find all the info you need to embark on your personal journey exploring each of the types of oolong tea in this diverse genre.

 

Wuyi Yancha, also called rock oolong tea, from Fujian province

The oolong continuum

Oxidation is essentially how long tea leaves are allowed to darken after plucking and before processing is finished. As oxidation occurs, tea leaves transform and develop new flavors and aromas. The defining characteristic of all oolong teas is that they undergo partial oxidation after being harvested. 

Compared to other teas you may be more familiar with, like green tea or black tea, this gives oolongs a much wider range of tasting notes. 

Additionally, other unique elements like shaping the leaves during processing (balled or twisted into strips by hand) and roasting add even more delicious nuance to oolongs.

 

 

A Dancong oolong from Guangdong province with evident red oxidation on the leaf

 

Rock oolong tea or Yancha from Fujian, with brewed soup on the lighter end of the spectrum

Wuyi Yancha (Rock Oolongs)

Yanchas, or rock teas, are oolong teas produced in the Wuyi mountain range of China's Fujian Province.

The name "rock tea" comes from the mineral character of yancha oolongs, which relates to their origin in the rocky, mineral-rich soil of the Wuyi mountains.

They are allowed to reach medium oxidation levels after plucking, then hand-shaped into thin strips. After shaping, yanchas are roasted over charcoal and can be low-, medium, or high-fired.

One of the most popular yanchas is rougui (cinnamon) tea, which features a complex roast profile, layered tasting notes of soft spices and candied fruit, and rich aromas.

But we would be remiss if we didn't mention Stone Milk, a rarer Wuyi Yancha with an enticing, creamy fragrance and flavor, a thick, mineral body and a robust roast profile.

If you're a jaded tea snob or like to dive straight into the premium bracket, OBSX is a laocong (old bush) shuixian rock oolong varietal sure to delight with its depth and savory-sweet balance.

 

Wuyi Yancha in a porcelain gaiwan for a gongfu tea session

How to brew Wuyi Yancha

Rock oolong is best experienced gongfu style to appreciate the complex, multilayered flavors and aromas. You'll add 5-6 grams of tea to a gaiwan with 100 ml (3.5 oz) capacity, no rinsing required. In fact, with our Yancha, you can set aside the intitial rinse to drink after the session, it’s usually the best steep!

For yancha with a medium to high roast level, full boiling water (100°C/212°F) is the best way to coax out the full range of notes. For lighter-fired yancha, you can scale back the temperature to 95°C/203°F to explore the more delicate nuances.

Start with short steeps of just a few seconds. The tea will tell your taste buds when it's time to steep longer. Reinfuse 6-10 times, increasing the duration as needed. Be sure to nose the leaves, gaiwan lid, and cup after each steep. Oolongs excel at aroma, so take your time and enjoy the experience. 

If you're brewing western-style in an infuser, the same temperature guidelines apply, but you can use 3-5 grams of tea per 250 ml of water (about 8 oz) and start with an infusion of 1 minute. Reinfuse 2-3 times for 3-5 minutes each time. For best results, ensure your tea infuser is large enough to allow the rolled leaves to fully expand.

 

Dancong oolongs ready to be compared in a side-by-side gongfu session

Phoenix Oolong (Fenghuang Dancong)

Fenghuang Dancong are a category of oolongs that hail from the Phoenix Mountain region of Northern Guangdong Province, China. 

Dancong oolongs range from medium to high oxidation levels and are hand-shaped into twisted strips. They can be unroasted, lightly roasted, or heavily roasted. 

The bold, intense aromas of Dancong oolongs set them apart from all other teas. The flavor profiles of Dancong teas feature floral, fruity, nutty, woody, or creamy notes, usually accompanied by sweetness but sometimes by light bitterness and astringency.

For a daily drinker or affordable entry into the category, our light-roasted classic Daily Duck Shit is the go-to. Ya shi xiang translates to "duck shit fragrance," but contrary to the quirky name, it's actually floral with a long-lasting sweetness. 

White2tea's Dancong Oolong Chatou is our most budget-friendly option of all because it's made with the leftover leaves and stems from high-end productions. What this tea sacrifices in visual beauty it more than makes up for in value. It's fantastic tea, and every session is unique.

On the higher end of Phoenix teas, Apricot Blossom Dancong boasts bright florals balanced with stone fruit notes and excellent steeping endurance. Heaven Dancong is a premium oolong with pure flower notes and room-filling fragrance.

 

A white2tea original, we often press Dancong into bricks for aging

How to brew Phoenix oolongs

Gongfu style is the best choice to experience the full range of aromas that Dancong teas offer. Use 4-5 grams in a gaiwan with 100 ml (3.5 oz) capacity. No rinsing needed.

As with other oolongs, we recommend starting with very short infusions using full boiling water and increasing the duration with each subsequent steep. 

If you find boiling steeps slap you in the face with too much fragrance and flavor, try 95°C/203°F instead. You can also mellow out the profile by steeping for less time or using less leaf in your gaiwan. Dancongs are notorious for being tricky to steep perfectly, but using less leaf and a slightly lower temperature should help in your quest to avoid too much intensity.

If you opt for Western style, add 3-5 grams of leaves to 250 ml (8 oz) of water. Begin with an initial infusion of 1 minute at 95°C (203°F), then ramp up to 3-5 minutes over 2-3 more infusions and increase to boiling to extract all the goodness. Ensure your infuser has enough capacity to allow the leaves to expand.

 

A brewed gaiwan of Tieguanyin, also called the Iron Goddess of Mercy

Tieguanyin (Iron Goddess of Mercy)

Tieguanyin or Iron Goddess of Mercy is a lightly oxidized or "green" oolong hailing from Anxi, Fujian Province, China. The leaves are hand-rolled into tiny balls that unfurl as you steep.

Lighter oxidation places tieguanyin closer to green tea compared to most oolongs. Unroasted and lightly roasted tieguanyin offers vegetal, light floral, citrusy, briney, and astringent notes, while heavier roasting introduces hints of honey, roasted almonds, toffee, and cooked peaches and calms down the astringency a bit.

We prefer a traditional-style roasting and processing for tieguanyin, which includes light oxidation on the edges of the leaves, rather than the ultra green modern style of processing. Tieguanyin Old Style is a great starting point if you're new to the category, with a pungent roast giving way to a brothy, briney tea with plenty of complexity. 

For a workhorse daily drinker, Long Haul Tieguanyin packs a hearty, roasty, thick-bodied wallop, with enough endurance to last all day in a mug or thermos.

Our TGY Type A is a traditional-style tieguanyin that's light-roasted to highlight the nuance of the leaves, with confectionary fruity and floral notes and a smooth tea soup.

TGY Type C is another exemplary traditional-style tieguanyin with heavier oxidation than is typical for the category today, bringing heavy-duty flavors and aromas of fruit and flowers and a sticky, lingering mouthfeel. 

 

Tieguanyin ready to be steeped for a gongfu tea session

How to Brew Tieguanyin Oolong

First, give your tieguanyin one or two short rinses (steep briefly, then discard the water) to help the tightly balled leaves "awaken" and begin opening for best flavor.

Short gongfu steeps—plenty of leaves, not much water—with boiling hot water work best here. The key is to use short steeps at first, then increase the duration to coax out more flavor nuance.

Boiling water is the fastest way to learn the true nature of tieguanyin, but you can scale back to 90-95°C (194-203°F) to tone down astringency or roasty notes.  

Roasted tieguanyin also shines in a grandpa mug or thermos. Just throw a small handful of leaves in, add boiling water, sip when ready, and refill when necessary. Be careful, a small amount of tightly rolled Tieguanyin will open up to reveal a lot of leaf. It’s a common beginner mistake to accidentally fill an entire thermos unintentionally.

For western-style steeping, a quality TGY will give you 4-6 satisfying infusions. Try an initial steep of 1 minute at 90°C (195°F), then add a minute per steep after that, also increasing the heat each time.

If you're using an infuser and steeping Western-style, the usual caveat about infuser size applies doubly here, because balled leaves expand tremendously as you steep.  

 

A Wuyi Yancha oolong with a heavy charcoal roast

Heavily roasted oolong teas

A heavy roast transforms oolong in unexpected ways and shoves the roast profile front and center of your tea session. 

An excellent example is Canton Canton, a tieguanyin made with an older style of intense charcoal roasting that has fallen out of popular favor but is still beloved among older people in Guangzhou and Hong Kong. 

The charry notes are predominant, with the typical tieguanyin profile detectable in the background. Highly recommended as a soothing brew for fall and winter, yet surprisingly refreshing cold-brewed in summer.

Disciples of the flame should also study white2tea's Bantianyao, a deeply roasted yancha that is intensely herbaceous and woody with a resinous, thick-bodied soup.

Aged and pressed oolong teas

Many high-quality oolongs transform and improve with age, and we at white2tea find that pressing them into cakes or bricks along the lines of puer tea is convenient and practical for this purpose.

The 2023 Yulan Maocha Brick is a minimally processed Dancong with stems and large leaves left intact. It brings heavy juicy fruit and floral notes and leaves behind a lingering sugar-cookie sweetness. 

 

A Hybrid tea, white2tea Blood Moon is at a level of oxidation that technically makes it an oolong tea

Hybrid oolong teas

Traditional oolongs derive from centuries of careful craftsmanship. But with tradition comes rules, and it turns out rule-breaking makes for damn good tea.

While some purists may not consider these experimental hybrids to be oolongs in the traditional sense, they fit the broad definition of oolong: teas processed with partial oxidation. 

 

A gaiwan of our Dark Peony, another hybrid style that fits in the oolong tea type

Dark Peony is a genre-defying pressed cake that is best characterized as a cross between black and white teas. The Yunnan leaves are processed along the lines of a Fujian white tea but then allowed to oxidize. The result is a tea with the bright chords of a fresh white tea and the ripe stone fruit depths of a black tea.

Blood Moon is another Yunnan leaf hybrid experiment. It's processed as a moonlight white tea with traditional shade drying, then oxidized to 50% (halfway to black tea) and pressed for aging in storage. It's got bright, clear soup, velvety softness, and unexpected notes of red berries and grassy honey.

Sunskate is a not-quite-black tea cake produced from a large-leaf Yunnan varietal usually reserved for raw Puer. Think of it as a strange-yet-wonderful oolong with brighter aromas than you'll typically find in black tea. Delicious while fresh, but we're eager to discover how it ages in the coming years.