Eco-Cha Tea Club: 106 - Eco-Farmed GABA Oolong Tea | Eco-Cha Teas

Batch 106 of the Eco-Cha Tea Club is an Eco-Farmed GABA Oolong Tea, hand-picked in July of this year. We tasted it a couple weeks after it was made, and immediately asked if we could procure enough for our tea club. It was a very small batch, and we got first dibs! The appearance of the leaves shows how GABA tea is similar to Black Tea in that the leaves are effectively fully oxidized. However, GABA tea is made using Oolong Tea processing methods. So the fundamental difference between GABA and Black Tea is that GABA tea leaves are not rigorously rolled to tear the leaves and expose the constituents within the leaves to air — like they are in Black Tea processing. GABA tea leaves are simply wilted and oxidized extensively — to the point of being fully oxidized. This, along with the fact they are wilted and oxidized in an oxygen-free atmosphere — namely, a vacuum-sealed steel drum. So this anomaly of tea processing is what produces this unique type of tea. Learn more about the story of this tea in our sourcing blog here: https://eco-cha.com/blogs/eco-cha-tea... 00:00 - Introduction 00:24 - GABA Oolong 00:58 - GABA Oolong History 01:55 - GABA Oolong Production in Taiwan 02:31 - Our Source of GABA Oolong 02:48 - Organic Farming 03:25 - Neighbors Following Example 03:34 - Son Taken Over After Father's Passing 04:09 - Hand-Picked vs. Machine Harvested 05:12 - Brewing Notes 05:43 - Leaves Not Tightly Rolled 07:04 - Fruity Flavor 07:28 - Tanginess 08:00 - Visual Inspection of Brewed Tea 08:52 - Passionfruit Flavor 09:50 - Oxidation Notes 10:20 - Making of GABA Oolong 10:33 - Vacuum Drums 10:55 - Extensive Tumbling 11:30 - Little Rolling 13:44 - This Batch Fresher than Most 14:05 - Conclusion #ecochateas #taiwantea #oolongtea #teaclub