What Is Rock Tea?
Rock tea, or Yancha (yan = rock, cha = tea), is an oolong tea that is grown and processed on Wuyi Mountain in Fujian Province, China.
Rock tea received its name not only because it grows in this incredibly rocky, mountainous area, but also because it inherits an unmistakeable “rocky” taste, thanks to the soil which is known to be rich in minerals, and the precise roasting process which it goes through. (Read more)
Wuyi Yancha Tea Processing
One of the things that makes Wuyi Rock Tea different from other oolongs is the roasting process it undergoes. This process is not only one step, but a few distinguished steps.
When yancha is only in the first stages of processing, it's still quite vegetal and floral, much like a green tea. Only at the end of the processing will it gain its characteristic taste that we all love.
Not all teas are roasted using the same techniques. For Wuyi Yancha roasting masters use charcoal and hot ashes.
Tea masters carefully manage the charcoal pits, covering the glowing coals with white ash to control the temperature. A single roasting session over these prepared pits typically lasts 8 to 12 hours, providing steady, gentle heat to the bamboo baskets above.
To roast the yancha leaves, special bamboo baskets are used. They are thin enough to allow the heat to touch the leaves but thick enough not to burn them. Furthermore, anywhere from 5 to 8 pounds of tea leaves are roasted at one time to prevent burning.
Now, this is where the hard part comes in: during the 12 hours, the tea leaves get flipped every 30 minutes to ensure an even roast. This is a reminder to us that as soon as the tea season starts, there is practically no rest for the tea farmers.
Working in a hot room of 50 °C (122 °F) the tea masters need to flip all of the 5-pound plus tea baskets carefully, each time brewing and tasting the new batch of tea to check if the roast has reached the right level. The first thing to look for is the disappearance of the characteristic grassy taste that non-roasted green teas possess.
Most oolongs are categorized by three stages of roasting: light, medium, and heavy (or dark). While light-roasted oolongs refer to teas that have undergone minimal 12-hour rounds of roasting, heavy oolongs can undergo multiple rounds of roasting over several months. Between each 8-to-12-hour roasting session, the tea must rest for several weeks or even months to allow the "fire flavor" to dissipate and the moisture to redistribute.
How Oolong Tea Is Processed: The Roasting Of Rock Tea in 5 Steps
- The tea leaves are harvested
- withering, then 'Bruising' (做青 – Zuo Qing ) to induce partial oxidation, then high-heat fixing (杀青 – Sha Qing), and rolling (揉捻 – Rou Nian). After an initial bake to remove moisture, this unfinished tea is known as Mao Cha (毛茶) or "Rough Tea".
- Special charcoal is burned for over 12 hours until it is pure white
- Oolong is roasted on the residual ash heat in rounds, up to 36 hours, in large bamboo baskets
- The tea leaves are flipped every 30 minutes, and the tea is tasted to see if it has reached the proper roast
What Determines How Long An Oolong Will Be Roasted For?
Aside from popular demand and the personal preferences of the farmers to determine the roast time, there are also certain guidelines that are followed.
The level of the roast is determined primarily by the specific tea cultivar and the desired flavor profile. Thick-leafed, robust varietals traditionally receive medium or heavy roasts to develop their deep, fruity character, while highly aromatic, thinner-leafed varietals receive lighter roasts to preserve their delicate floral notes.
Although some people prefer fresher flavors, many tea connoisseurs who have been drinking tea for a long time opt for heavy roasts, slowly unraveling them and paying attention to each subtle flavor within the many layers.
The ever-so-precise and long roasting process of Wuyi rock tea is what leaves us with the yan yun (charming rock rhyme) that we all crave for. Only after the roasting process is finished will the tea leaves take on their final form, which we can recognize as quality yancha.