烏龍Wulong or Oolong means black dragon. ‘Doesn’t it look like a black dragon?’ Said the locals. It was named this because of the way it’s made: twist leaf, charcoal baked very dark. It had nothing to do with a legend involving a black dragon encircling the tea field, nor the Cantonese version where wulong means ‘confusion’. As most farm names go, the most simple and direct is the fact.
As far as Wuyi Yancha or Cliff Rock teas go, there are about 700-800 old and new varietals. Outside the area, it was all called ‘Big Red Robe’. It gave outsiders a headache to even attempt to understand all the different varietals. Could you tell the difference in those cups of teas above? Drinking each, one can tell a distinct difference. Looking at the leaves, even the tea master himself can’t tell the difference!
I said that’s ok, my customers still ask us ‘So is oolong a green tea or a black tea?’ Never mind there are dozens of major types of Oolongs, parsing down to 800 varietals of just Wuyi Rock oolong!
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