The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea - Michael Harney [24]
The way BaoZhong is made, every step results in a lighter, gentler, and greener oolong. First harvesters pluck tender leaves that are larger than most green teas but not as big or tough as most oolongs. Then the leaves are withered in the sun, but only briefly (fifteen to thirty minutes), where they wilt and begin to develop some of their aromas. After withering indoors for an additional half day, the leaves are placed in a heated tumbler resembling a clothes dryer. The hot air almost completely fixes the leaves, preserving their green color. The partially fixed leaves are then rolled. Since they are so tender, they cannot withstand the pressure needed to twist them into the more common oolong ball shape (see “Ali Shan,” page 81). Instead, the leaves are rolled into tight coiled twists. The twisted leaves are left to oxidize, but only for a short time and only to 10 or 20 percent. Finally, the tea is fired only to stop the oxidation and to dry the tea for preservation, not to give it any smoky flavors.
One of the oldest Taiwanese oolongs, BaoZhong grows just outside bustling Taipei, the island’s capital. The gardens lie to the south of the city, in a quiet mountainside spot where the air is clear of urban smog and mist almost always cloaks the gardens. For over 120 years, almost the length of Taiwanese tea history, the tiny town of PingLing has devoted itself to making BaoZhong for Chinese expatriates around the Pacific Rim. When the Japanese occupied Taiwan during World War II, they sent BaoZhong from Singapore to Saigon to Manila, often in beautiful paper wrappings decorated with lovely, intricate stamps.
PingLing is so tea centered, it boasts several tea factories, a tea museum, and even streetlights shaped like teapots. Restaurants here serve wonderful foods cooked in BaoZhong tea: pork belly braised in it, fresh trout poached in it, even tea puddings sweetened with BaoZhong and condensed milk. Before you cook with it, get to know its delicate floral flavors. They are some of the most refined in the world of oolongs.
ALI SHAN Ali Mountain
Creamy, citrusy, floral, and fragrant, Ali Shan is a prime example of what are called high-mountain oolongs from Taiwan.
High-mountain oolongs first emerged in the early 1980s, after the lifting of the embargo against world trade with Communist China. During the embargo, Taiwanese tea makers made a fine living selling ersatz versions of Chinese green teas to Chinese expatriates throughout South Asia. With the collapse of the market for their inferior versions of Chinese teas, in the early 1980s, a few intrepid tea makers from the nearby Dong Ding growing area experimented in the high mountains that form Taiwan’s spine (see “Dong Ding,” page 84). They found that the higher altitudes led to creamier and more floral teas.
Why the altitude does this is still up for debate. It seems likely the cooler temperatures and reduced sunshine in the misty mountains stunt the leaves’ growth, concentrating their flavors. The cloud cover may also increase certain amino acids that give the tea its heavier, creamy body, a thickness in the mouth that evokes the coating feeling of heavy cream.
While Ali Shan now has competition from Li Shan, another high-altitude oolong grown on an even higher mountain a few hours away, Ali Shan was Taiwan’s first high-altitude tea and remains among the finest. Named for the steep five-thousand-foot peak in southern Taiwan, the tea has a surprisingly delicate flavor given the hard work required for its production.
The tea bushes grow in rows on the steep sides of the mountain, terraced between lines of betel nut palms. Those tropical palms remind you how close you are to the equator, how far south you are from the more temperate tea-growing regions of China and Japan. The harvesters negotiate the inclines with their tea baskets, plucking