High Heat Oolong Tea
High heat oolong tea is oolong that has been given a heavy roast, a prolonged low-and-slow firing at elevated temperature applied after the leaf has already been through the normal oolong process of withering, bruising, partial oxidation, fixing and rolling. The roast is a separate manufacturing stage rather than a drying step, and it is what distinguishes this material from the green, lightly fired oolongs made from the same cultivars.
Roasting drives a set of chemical changes that a light oolong does not undergo. Maillard and caramelisation reactions between amino acids and sugars generate pyrazines, furans and furanones, giving the roasted, nutty, caramel and dried fruit character. Catechins are partly degraded and epimerised, which softens astringency, while theaflavin and thearubigin type polymers increase, deepening the liquor colour. Chlorophyll breaks down and the leaf goes from green to dark brown or near black. Caffeine is largely unaffected, since it sublimes only above the temperatures used.
The finished leaf is dark, tightly rolled or twisted, with a toasted aroma and very little of the floral top note that light oolong carries. The liquor is amber to deep orange-brown, low in astringency and thick in body. Heavily roasted oolong is markedly more stable in storage than green oolong because the residual moisture is low and the more reactive catechins have already been consumed, and it is one of the few teas that many buyers regard as improving over several years of ageing.
We source bulk High Heat Oolong Tea from top China manufacturers for our partners. The manufacturer is in Shaanxi. A smaller requirement can ship in a combined container with other ingredients.
Please send the grade you need, the volume and your destination port, and we will come back with a solution and a price.
or call +86-21-6858 0751
- Function
- Plant extract
Specifications
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Source | Camellia sinensis, partially oxidised and heavily roasted leaf |
| Appearance | Dark brown tightly rolled or twisted leaf |
| Liquor | Amber to deep orange-brown, clear |
| Aroma | Roasted, nutty and caramel, free from burnt or scorched notes |
| Moisture | ≤ 4.0% |
| Water Extract | ≥ 32.0% |
| Total Polyphenols | ≥ 18.0% |
| Pesticide Residues | Complies with destination market limits |
| Lead | ≤ 2.0 mg/kg |
| Arsenic | ≤ 1.0 mg/kg |
| Total Plate Count | ≤ 10,000 cfu/g |
| Yeast and Mould | ≤ 500 cfu/g |
| E. coli | Negative in 1 g |
| Salmonella | Negative in 25 g |
Common Markets Grades
Grading is by roast level, by cultivar and by leaf standard. Roast level is described on a scale from light through medium to heavy or full fire, and in practice is defined by the number of roasting passes and the cumulative hours rather than by a single measured value; a heavy roast may involve three or more passes with resting periods between them. Cultivar matters because the traditional heavily roasted styles come from particular plants: Tieguanyin and other Anxi cultivars, the Wuyi rock oolong cultivars such as Shui Xian and Rou Gui, and the Dan Cong cultivars of Phoenix Mountain.
Below that, lots are graded on leaf appearance and uniformity, on stem content, since stems are usually picked out of the higher grades, and on the presence of any charred or burnt notes, which is the defect that separates a skilled heavy roast from a scorched one. Charcoal roasted material is traded separately from electrically roasted material and at a premium. Vintage or aged heavily roasted oolong is a distinct commercial category with its own pricing. Broken leaf, fannings and dust from the same production go into tea bag and extract grades.
Applications
- Loose leaf tea for traditional gongfu brewing, the primary and highest value outlet
- Ready to drink bottled oolong, where the roasted profile survives sterilisation better than a floral one
- Milk tea and bubble tea bases, where the toasted character stands up to dairy and sugar
- Tea bag blends needing depth and body without astringency
- Instant tea and tea extract production, using broken leaf and lower grades
- Bakery, confectionery and ice cream flavouring, where the roasted notes come through as caramel
- Savoury cooking and tea-smoked dishes in Chinese cuisine
- Aged tea trade, where heavily roasted lots are stored and re-roasted periodically
- Cold brew products, since the low astringency suits long extraction at low temperature
China Manufacturers of High Heat Oolong Tea
Top High Heat Oolong Tea manufacturers in China.
Company names and logos are the property of the manufacturers themselves. They are listed here because our own directory records them as producing this ingredient. A listing is not an endorsement by them, and we do not represent them or speak on their behalf.
Regulatory Status
Tea is a conventional food with an established history of consumption everywhere it is traded, and roasting does not change that status. In the United States tea is regulated as a food under the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and by the Import Milk Act framework applicable to tea importation, and imported tea is subject to inspection for purity and fitness. Pesticide residues are controlled through tolerances set by the Environmental Protection Agency, and residues in imported tea are one of the more common causes of detention. Products sold as supplements on a polyphenol claim are dietary ingredients under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act.
In the European Union tea is a conventional food and is not a novel food. Pesticide maximum residue levels are set for tea as a dried commodity under Regulation (EC) No 396/2005, applied directly to the dry leaf rather than to the infusion, which makes tea one of the more tightly controlled commodities in practice. Contaminant limits, including those for heavy metals and for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons where direct-fired or smoke-contacting processes are used, apply under the contaminants Regulation, and this is a genuine consideration for charcoal roasted tea, where the leaf is exposed to combustion products. Codex maintains general standards for contaminants and a code of hygienic practice applicable to tea, and the international trade relies on the ISO standards for oolong tea and for the determination of water extract in tea.
Manufacturing Process
Production follows the oolong route to begin with. Fresh leaf is plucked to a standard of one bud with three or four leaves, withered in the sun and then indoors, and bruised by repeated shaking or tumbling, which ruptures the leaf edge and starts enzymatic oxidation. Oxidation is allowed to reach a partial level, typically 20 to 60 percent depending on the style, then halted by fixing, heating the leaf in a rotating drum at around 200 to 300 degrees Celsius for a short time to denature the polyphenol oxidase. The fixed leaf is rolled or repeatedly cloth-wrapped and kneaded to shape it and to break down cell structure, then dried to a stable moisture content.
The high heat stage follows. The dried leaf is spread in baskets over a charcoal bed or loaded into an electric roasting oven and held at 80 to 130 degrees Celsius for several hours, with the temperature raised in stages. The leaf is then rested for days or weeks so that moisture moves out from the interior to the surface, and the roast is repeated, often two or three times in total, each pass driving the Maillard chemistry further and lowering residual moisture to around 3 percent. Charcoal roasting is done over longan or lychee wood charcoal that has been burnt down and covered with ash so that the heat is radiant and even rather than flaming. The finished tea is sorted to remove stems and yellow leaf, graded, allowed to rest again so the fire note settles, then packed with a moisture barrier.
