This reviews a Wawee Tea red oolong, or more oxidized rolled oolong version. It's a familiar type, but you really don't need to have any background with this tea type to get it. Better versions are very pleasant and approachable.
I compare it to a Bangkok Chinatown black tea version, from my favorite shop, Jip Eu. I don't think they still carry it, and I don't know the details of what it is, so the point is just highlighting how completely random Chinatown tea sourcing goes. It's a theme that gets covered in describing a recent Chinatown shop visit to another place, to K. Mui Kee Tea. I'm fairly certain that this is from China, not local, and that's about it.
I can cite some of a description of a Wawee Tea version that may or may not be identical, since it's last year's, from their Shopee site (but now sold out):
Ruanzhi Oolong Red Tea, Spring 2025, Ruby of Wawee. This Oolong tea is 100% fermented, guaranteeing a sweet, fragrant, and smooth finish
Google thinks it knows what this is, based mostly on a Facebook page post:
Ruby of Wawee is a specialty red oolong (ชาแดงอู่หลงหร่วนจือ) produced by Wawee Tea from Doi Wawee in Mae Suai, Chiang Rai. It is crafted using traditional Ruan Zhi (Oolong No. 12) cultivars processed with a deep 100% oxidation technique, yielding a bright ruby-red liquor that bridges the gap between oolong and black tea.
#12 is really Jin Xuan, and what Ruan Zhi is turns out to be complicated. This is about how the tea is anyway, not all of that.
Related to value, that was selling 120 grams for 580 baht ($17.50), which is great value for a tea that good. This could be that 2025 version; I'm not sure what year it was from.
I should also mention that Jip Eu is still closed for building repairs, after a front awning section collapsed earlier. This would be a good time to buy some tea from them through a Shopee online platform storefront, if someone is in Thailand, to support them during this transition.
Or people might think that since I don't really love this black tea that makes less sense. Fair enough. I have had good luck with their Wuyi Yancha, Dan Cong, and jasmine white teas as tin-presented versions, which I don't buy often for myself now, more as gifts for others, since I've sorted out where to buy other versions I'm currently hung up on. Like Wawee Tea; I just ordered two of those, which I've already reviewed, as very exceptional sheng and black tea cakes.
Review:
Wawee ruby / red / hong oolong: it's not really opened yet, and won't be fully opened next round either, but this is very promising. Just the scent includes plenty of rich dried berry and spice, and the flavor does as well, but it's still thin. The fastest way to speed this along would probably be to use a rinse, then a long first infusion time, after letting the leaves rest a little between steps. I just started brewing it, not even using a rinse. I'll add more next round.
Chinatown / Jip Eu shop black: that's really unique. It includes a good bit of tartness, which I usually don't like in black teas, but this includes so much dried fruit that it gives off a strong cranberry effect, which kind of works. And there's quite a bit of cacao.
I'm not loving the overall effect, due to the tartness, but it's interesting, and still somewhat pleasant.
Wawee oxidized oolong #2: this is a great version of a "red oolong," or relatively more oxidized oolong. That oxidation level can overlap with normal black tea range, making it an interesting category. People sometimes use a percentage to describe it, but who knows how accurate or informative that would usually be.
Flavor still includes dried fruit, most centered around dried cherry, or possibly blackberry, with some cacao. The earlier spice edge has diminished and dropped back as a supporting input. It might be complex, a hint of cinnamon, combined with even stronger nutmeg. Sweetness, rich feel, and all the rest are very positive. This is good; well made, pleasant, and interesting tea, well worth talking about.
Chinatown black: flavors shift, but tartness remains the main flavor input. For people like me who dislike tartness as a primary black tea flavor this just wouldn't match with preference. Others would love that more, and for them it could be exceptional. Tones warm in this, so it comes across differently. It picks up a dark toffee sort of sweetness, and base mineral increases. The fruit reminds me more of a tart apple this round, although of course cranberry still works as a description of part of it. Cacao tastes like dark chocolate; often it's more along the line of hot cocoa.
Wawee red oolong #3: this is only now fully opened up. The flavors list is the same though: dried cherry, some berry, cacao, and spice. It's a nice mix of sweet, fruity and warm tones; it balances well. You could try a lot of "red oolong" and not discover a version this positive. But there's not much more to add in description here.
Chinatown black: the best it has been, since tartness is easing up. Warm tones enter in, maybe along the line of spice, or maybe even towards a dark rye bread flavor. If someone loves tart black teas this could be an exceptional experience. If they don't it wouldn't be good.
Oddly I can drink brewed roselle (a fairly tart tisane), and I'm fine with it. I need to add sugar, which offsets tartness being too strong. Maybe if I added a little milk and sugar to this I'd like it more, but I won't try that. It's fine that it's mostly a miss for me. If I had bought 100 grams of it I probably would explore that, and might drink most of it made that way. I only bought some samples one day awhile back, to try something different there.
Wawee oolong #4: the warm spice range picks up; it's as nice as it has been, and it was really pleasant before. This should brew a couple more very positive infusions, then you could keep stretching it.
To me this is an ideal tea version to get people started on tea. Everyone would love it, and you can't really screw it up by using the wrong brewing approach. It would work well light or brewed strong, and using really hot water or cooler infusion would be fine (but hotter would be better, I think; there is no astringency to brew around).
Chinatown black: the best this has been. It works for me, like this. Tea evolving to be better and better across rounds is a great sign for quality, but this related more to tartness fading, a normal aspects transition cycle. Still, it's pretty good quality tea, to be this intense and pleasant 4 rounds in, with earlier rounds brewed at kind of medium intensity.
I'll drop the note taking here. It will be interesting to see how three more infusions work out, but it won't be much of a story to tell.
Conclusions:
The Wawee Tea version was much better, but then that's not a fair comparison, since it's a relatively favorite type. In that other Chinatown shop visit post I mention that what you find in Chinatown shops tends to be all over the map, just random, and this black tea exemplifies that. Some people would love this, so the final result would be the opposite for them.
This Wawee Tea version is pretty solid as oolongs from Thailand tend to be. Often you can find pleasant enough versions, but they usually lack this distinctiveness, complexity, and balance. They often brew out a bit faster, not holding together as very pleasant through lots of rounds (the next two were also good, although it was thinning past that point). I could definitely recommend this, to almost anyone.
To many this "red or ruby oolong" might just seem like black tea, and the oolong part wouldn't make sense. My take is that it's processed similarly to oolong, from a cultivar used to make oolong (more often), in a rolled form like oolongs. Mixing the two categories in the naming works; lots of people would be familiar with the general type. It's closer to a mild, sweet, complex black tea than to oolong, as I've described.
No comments:
Post a Comment