greetings to a new Tea Buddy

While going through my Spam folder, I found a recent comment about a post I wrote last autumn (you pay more for appearance) about golden-tipped leaves and their curious pricing. Which tells me two things: check my spam folder carefully and don't forget that there are still so many interesting tea people out there that I haven't met yet. I'm going to introduce you to one right now.

Here was the comment I found that almost was lost in the rubbish bin of history:

I am enjoying your blog! Came across this post on Assam Teas. My father was a tea planter and I grew up in a remote tea plantation in Assam. The gold tips in good quality Assam are the buds which turn golden after oxidation. Tippy teas are expensive teas. TGFOP “Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe" is the highest grade of Assam and fetches top prices in Arab countries where it is drunk pure (without milk). TGFOP contains roughly one fourth tips. Tea afficianados joke TGFOP stands for “Too Good For Ordinary People”!! Tippy teas are also more flavorful and have higher caffeine content. Very fine tippy teas are entirely hand processed and blankets are used to trap the tips. I have lots about Assam tea on my blog.

Isn't that a great comment? I really enjoy meeting new tea people, and want you to know about her too, so here's:

Tea Buddy: Shona Patel's blog about Tea, Writing and Life

My kind of people. Without a doubt.

I particularly liked her Photo Gallery of Tea Garden Bungalows.

isn't that a great smile? 

So, greetings Shona. I'm sure we'll be talking about Assam and other tea in the future. 

what's oxidation?

Had an enjoyable chat with tea people on Google+ Hangout the other night. There was discussion about Oolong that I won't even attempt to go into here, but one of the things I was curious about was how the others explained what Oolong was to people new to tea.

That's a fair question, right? I get it all the time.

People know black tea and green tea, but mention of Oolong leaves many people looking a bit befuddled.
So how to explain it?

And as you know, I'm normally looking for the most concise description. That's ridiculous of me to even say, isn't it? Would I really be looking for the most intricate and detailed description? Not here I wouldn't.

Simply put, green tea is not oxidised and black tea is fully-oxidised. Oolong falls somewhere in the middle between the two. Some Oolong is lightly oxidised, some is allowed to oxidise much more but not fully. Next question for someone who's curious and whose eyes haven't glazed over already:

Uh...what's oxidation?

Well, here's an article you probably won't even bother clicking over to: Oxidation & Fermentation in Tea Manufacture

And the article uses the same very simple example of oxidation that the above-mentioned tea people did. If you cut an apple in half and let it go brown, that's exactly the same chemical process that tea goes through when it oxidises.

The specifics of the process of letting tea oxidise is certainly very complicated and the most sought after Oolong was very likely tended by a highly experienced tea master.

Although this is rather basic information when it comes to tea, I am asked this question often. Do you have any other ways that you explain oxidation? I'd love to hear them.