Unforgettable flavor of Taiwan's oolong tea

By Mehru Jaffer

JAKARTA (JP): When Lie Mei Chu first came to Indonesia more than two decades ago what she missed most about her native Taiwan was, tea.

From a family of farmers that has lived off tea for at least four generations, Lie felt like a fish out of water without her daily cup. Extremely eager to please and wishing his pretty, young bride to feel at home, Sumarno Lohardjo at first offered her tea in every color and flavor. After all, Indonesia is one of the largest exporters of tea.

But Lie was still unhappy as the tea she pined for was no ordinary tea, but the semi-fermented leaves of oolong, or the black dragon, considered the finest by connoisseurs and exclusively produced for centuries in Formosa, now Taiwan.

In Jakarta, her sizzling love for oolong soon cooled down under the cold-blooded load of multiple domestic chores and round the clock joys of motherhood. Eventually the children grew up and she found more leisure time. As she sat down to rest one day, she felt that a single sip of oolong would be like a magic potion and she was surprised to see her long lost love boil back to the surface.

This time Lie did not just sit and cry but traveled to Taiwan and got some oolong which she shared with her family and friends. As the number of those floored by the brew grew within her social circle, Lie decided to bring the same tea in bulk and to sell it at an outlet she named Teh Enam Tiga.

From 10 kilos, the sale at Teh Enam Tiga has swelled to two tones every month in less than five years, the number of outlets around the country having reached 40. Since Lie strongly believes that charity begins at home, the first to convert was of course Sumarno, her husband. He consumes about three liters of the liquid today.

"I prefer oolong to water," he says adding that the drink keeps him feeling fresh and alert but he swears by it mainly because he is cured of diabetes.

Today, tea is the second most consumed beverage in the world after water. Each day, over one and a half billion cups of tea are consumed on the planet. It is the soil and climate that plays a big role in determining the final taste of the tea. For all these reasons, the best oolong tea comes from Taiwan and is famous for its beautiful bouquet and intoxicating aroma, accounting for one fifth of the tea consumed in the USA.

After plucking the leaves oolong tea is withered in the sun for up to an hour and then further withered inside at room temperature. In between this process natural fermentation takes place, turning the leaves red and developing the typical fragrance that is arrested forever by a quick fry in the pan.

After the first frying the leaves are rolled, fired a second time and fried again for partial fermentation and the result is a flavor that many say is good enough to die for.

Flavors

All true tea comes from the ever green shrub called camellia sinensis. The flavors vary because of where the tea is grown and how it is processed. Black tea is made from leaves that are fermented or oxidized over heat. Oolong is only partly fermented and green tea is steamed and not fermented at all. The news from researchers is that tea, especially green tea, the kind that contains the most antioxidant have many health benefits.

Continued research reports in Taiwan, Japan and the USA all extol the benefits of tea drinking which is said to help fight cancer, the one benefit that drinks like coffee, beer and liquors don't have. It is catechu, the powerful anti-oxidant that fights cancers and is able to cut off the growth of blood vessels, in the early stages, preventing tumors from spreading.

Catechu in tea effectively neutralizes nitrous acid in meat, moving circulation, preventing possible arteriosclerosis and angiocardiopathy, strengthening bone chemical compounds that cause osteoporosis. The polyphenol content in tea which acts as an activated carbon helps sponge off fat and filter the liver. Perhaps, for all these reasons, the sale of tea in retail stores has doubled around the world between 1993 and 1997 to a current high of over US$ 4 billion per year. Premium quality speciality teas are increasing in popularity, a trend that is predicted to grow even more rapidly in coming decades.

It was about 1661 that the Taiwanese began to drink wild tea. By 1697 settlers of Formosa's Nantou county cultivated the first domestic bushes and Dutch ships carried the tea to Persia, the first known export of Taiwanese tea.

Tea was first discovered in China in 2737 at the time of the second emperor Shen Nung who sat enjoying a cup of boiled water one day when a leaf fell into it. Since the emperor was also a scientist, he watched it drain its juices in the water and quite enjoyed the taste even though it must have been a rather bitter beverage.

Later leaves from the same plant were pressed into tablets and bricks that helped them to be easily transported and at one point were even used as currency. Unfortunately emperor Hui Tsung between 1101 and 1125 is said to have become so obsessed with tea that he hardly noticed the Mongols who overthrew his empire and paved the way for the Mongolians to start a dynasty that lasted more than a century.

China is the main source of tea and the country spread it around the world through trade, sending it to the west through the Dutch East India Company. Five hundred years after the death of Christ, Turkish traders bartered for tea on the Mongolian border and soon the Europeans pined for it so much that the English began growing tea in India and later in Sri Lanka using the Chinese camellia sinensis and also discovering the camellia assamica, a wild tea plant grown in Assam, India.

Nobility everywhere made it a popular drink and it was poet Lu Yu, a Chinese sage and hermit, who wrote the first book of tea in 780 AD. He said that the best quality tea must have creases like the leather boots of Tartar horsemen, curl like the dewlap of a mighty bullock, unfold like a mist rising out of a ravine, gleam like a lake touched by a zephyr, and be wet and soft like fine earth newly swept by rain.

Besides, if oolong will keep all those who drink it looking as youthful and healthy like Lie herself then may my tea cup be never dry.