Exploring Taiwan’s Tea Culture: Chang Chia-lun Delve into the Essence of Oolong Tea

Golden Mountain Bay Area Mom’s Classroom hosted its first event of the new year on January 3rd (Friday), inviting Jayme & Tea Co. founder Zhang Jialun to speak on the art of tea, with the theme “Journey of Terroir: Exploring the Flavor of Taiwanese Oolong Tea, Experiencing the Sensory Beauty from Tea Garden to Tea Cup.” During the lecture, the attendees sampled three distinct Taiwanese Oolong teas.

Coming from a family of tea makers in Nantou, Taiwan, Zhang Jialun is a young tea expert. Her family grows high mountain Oolong tea at an altitude of two thousand meters on Qilai Mountain, with a charcoal roasting studio at Dong Ding where traditional Longan wood charcoal roasting techniques are used to carefully craft rich and unique flavors of Oolong tea.

Her works have won second place in high mountain Oolong tea roasting competitions and secured two gold medals at the Leafies tea competition in the UK. Moreover, she has collaborated with Michelin-starred restaurants to promote Taiwanese tea culture worldwide through using tea as a medium.

During the lecture, Zhang Jialun shared the long history of her family’s tea-making and her rediscovery of Taiwanese tea during her backpacking trip in Europe after high school graduation. In 2020, upon returning to Taiwan due to the COVID-19 pandemic, at the age of 22, she decided to embark on a career in tea-making to prove that women can also be excellent tea artisans. She detailed the hardships and learning process of tea-making and stated that tea is not just an art form but also a cultural bridge. She expressed, “I hope to present these artistic treasures from Taiwan in the form of premium products to people around the world.”

Zhang Jialun first introduced the flavor profile of tea, including smooth, rough, astringent, bitter, or sweet tastes. She explained that the flavor of tea is greatly influenced by fermentation and roasting levels: low-fermented green tea gives off bean and grass aromas; high mountain Oolong has a delicate floral fragrance; highly fermented Dongfang Meiren combines floral and fruity scents; and fully fermented black tea exhibits citrusy fruity acidity. Additionally, roasting adds depth to tea; light roasting releases sweet aromas, medium roasting has nutty notes, and heavy roasting can produce rich flavors akin to coffee fruit acidity.

Zhang Jialun introduced the main factors influencing tea flavor, including terroir, tea tree varieties, and production techniques. Terroir refers to the geographical environment of the tea garden, including altitude, slope orientation, location, climate conditions like temperature, rainfall, humidity, and sunlight exposure. Furthermore, soil structure, mineral content, and drainage qualities also play a vital role in the flavor of tea leaves. The cultivation methods, harvest timing, and processing techniques of tea farmers also profoundly affect the quality and flavor of tea leaves.

Taiwan currently has 26 tea tree varieties, among which Qingxin Oolong, Jin Xuan, Hong Yu, and Si Ji Chun are the most common. Tea leaves from different tree varieties, processed through various techniques, can be transformed into six major types of tea: green tea, black tea, Oolong tea, white tea, pu-erh tea, and yellow tea. Through different processing techniques and terroir conditions, tea leaves can exhibit various flavors such as floral, fruity, or honey notes.

Zhang Jialun mentioned that different tea tree varieties have unique aromas and tastes, suitable for producing different types of tea. For example, Qingxin Oolong with floral and fruity aromas is an ideal choice for high mountain tea; while Hong Yu has distinct mint and cinnamon scents, making it perfect for making black tea.

Later, Zhang Jialun elaborated on the various steps in tea production, including picking, sun withering, indoor withering and twisting, killing the green, rolling, machine shaping (lasting 12 hours), drying, and roasting. She noted that tea-making is a physically demanding task as transporting a large quantity of tea leaves is a significant challenge, and enduring temperatures as high as two to three hundred degrees Celsius when stir-frying tea leaves. Moreover, she likened tea to art, where each batch of flavor is unique, and even if made by the same person, tea produced at different times would have subtle differences.

During the lecture, Zhang Jialun carefully selected three distinct-flavored Oolong teas to share with the participants. These included a lightly fermented light-roasted high mountain Oolong made from Qingxin Oolong picked at an altitude of 2,000 meters on Qilai Mountain; a heavily fermented light to medium-roasted Red Oolong made from Jin Xuan picked at an altitude of 400 meters in Lu Ye, Taitung; and a traditionally processed medium-fermented medium-roasted Oolong made from Si Ji Chun picked at an altitude of 400 meters in Mingjian, Nantou. Through these three tea varieties, the participants were able to experience the multi-dimensional charm of Taiwanese tea culture in depth. ◇