Oolong Tea, also known as Qingcha or semi-fermented tea, is a distinctive category among the major types of Chinese teas. Oolong tea is made through processes such as killing green, withering, shaking green, fermentation, and baking, resulting in a high-quality tea. Characteristic oolong tea has red edges on the leaves and a green center, with a yellowish-red Infusion, rich flavor, and unique floral and fruity aromas that linger long after tasting.
Famous oolong teas include: Fujian Tieguanyin, Phoenix Dancong tea, Dongding Oolong tea, and Wuyi Dahongpao. “The pot is the father of tea, water is the mother of tea, charcoal is the friend of tea,” when it comes to brewing tea, the Teapot is extremely important. So, what kind of purple clay pot is suitable for oolong tea?
In terms of clay material:
The infusion color of oolong tea is mostly orange-yellow or golden yellow. Based on this characteristic, suitable purple clay pot materials for oolong tea can be selected from duan clay, original green clay, zuni (red clay), and red clay.
The taste of oolong tea is full-bodied and its aroma is rich, which is one of the most significant features of oolong tea: its high aroma. Therefore, you should not choose clay with strong absorption properties, as it would affect the aroma of the oolong tea. Thus, duan clay and original green clay are not suitable. Brewing with zuni or red clay purple clay pots, smaller sizes are better. Zuni and red clay have high crystallinity, quickly extracting and enhancing the aroma, making them most suitable for highly aromatic teas like oolong.
In terms of pot shape:
Oolong tea is a semi-fermented tea, with the dry tea in a curled ball shape, so the pot shape needs to provide space for the tea to unfurl. The brewing of oolong tea also emphasizes pouring from a height and pouring out low, where “pouring from a height” means pouring boiling water into the purple clay pot along the edge of the pot from a certain distance, allowing the hot water to quickly penetrate the bottom of the pot and raise the tea foam, better stimulating the aroma in the tea leaves.
Therefore, shorter and wider purple clay pots can more quickly and smoothly release the tea charm and floral fragrance of oolong tea.
In most areas of Fujian and Chaozhou, Guangdong, Gongfu tea is very popular, and the tea brewed in Gongfu tea is mainly oolong tea such as Tieguanyin, Dahongpao, or Dancong tea. When choosing a purple clay pot based on the characteristics of Gongfu tea, which pursues less water and more tea for a concentrated infusion, focusing on quality rather than quantity, the pot should definitely be small rather than large.
In addition, smaller purple clay pots can maximize the possibility of pouring out all the water without leaving any residue at the bottom, separating the tea from the water promptly. This allows for effective control of the concentration of each pour, enabling a more accurate tasting of the mouthfeel of the infusion under different pouring frequencies.
Therefore, when brewing oolong tea, a small-capacity purple clay pot of around 80-180cc is most suitable, and the specific size can be determined according to the actual number of people drinking the tea.
In summary:
The most suitable purple clay pot for oolong tea is a small pot made of zuni (red clay). The pot shape should be short rather than tall, capable of expressing the tea's aromatic qualities and smoothly releasing the tea charm and floral fragrance of oolong tea.
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