Two axes, four corners
Lightly oxidised and unroasted gives the green floral style: Baozhong, jade Tie Guan Yin, Taiwanese high-mountain. Lightly oxidised and roasted gives Dong Ding and traditional Tie Guan Yin. More oxidised and heavily roasted gives Wuyi rock tea. Heavily oxidised and unroasted gives Oriental Beauty, which sits close to black tea. Naming the corner predicts the cup better than naming the country.
A route through it
Tie Guan Yin first, then a Taiwanese high-mountain oolong for more thickness. Then Dong Ding, which introduces roast gently. Then Rou Gui or another rested Wuyi tea, which is where roast becomes the leading character. Oriental Beauty can slot in anywhere and is the easiest crossing for a black tea drinker. Dan Cong last — it is the most aromatic and the least forgiving.
Rolled and twisted leaf brew differently
Ball-rolled oolong — Anxi and Taiwanese — needs a long first steep of twenty to twenty-five seconds purely to begin opening, and expands enormously, so use far less leaf than looks right. Twisted-leaf oolong — Wuyi, Dan Cong — opens immediately and wants very short early steeps at full boiling water. Applying one style’s timings to the other is the commonest fault in the category.
Roast fades, and that is worth planning for
A freshly roasted Wuyi tea can taste almost entirely of charcoal, and the same tea six months later is far more expressive. Roast character continues to settle over a year or two. This means a disappointing rock tea may simply be young, and it means the same purchase can taste like two different teas across a year.