Oolongs, and especially roasted Oolongs, make great Kombucha.
And, so is the case with this super delicious Black Oolong that comes from Taiwan.
Since Black Oolong is a bit unknown, let's take a look at this tea.
The tea comes from eastern part of Taiwan, East Rift Valley to be exact. It is from Fall (Autumn) of 2019.
Deerland Tea, the company that we got this tea from, describes Black Oolong as this:
"Teas that are cultivated in this region tend to naturally taste bitter and astringent when they are low-oxidized due to the high temperature and low altitude of its growing environment. Black Oolong was developed by Taiwan's national Tea Research Institute, the TRES, under the cooperation with the local farmers to specifically target this problem. By raising the oxidization level close to black tea, Black Oolong loses some of its floral notes, but usually contains more aromatic ripe fruit notes and tastes less astringent; the sweetness of black tea has wonderfully mixed with the freshness of oolong and further results in aromas similar to Rosé or herbal liquor in the Black Oolong."
So, although the floral notes that we love so much in Taiwanese Oolongs are gone, the warm, complex fruity notes (like from dried fruits and raisins) are there, with some bits of honey, and caramel.
They are strong enough to make this tea stand out.
Not surprisingly, those notes become even more pronounced through fermentation and they make this Black Oolong Kombucha even more delicious.
The leftover sugar accentuates the honey-caramel notes, and a bit of acidity brings out the the already existing dried apple-raisin taste.
Angie from Deerland Tea wrote the following, about this Kombucha:
"It's very fruity and has beautifully transformed the signature aroma profile (ripe fruit, nectar, plum, pineapple, apple) of our black oolong through fermentation and given it an extra layer of bubbly sourness. At some point I thought I was drinking Riesling Sekt."
This particular Kombucha has a great potential for aging, and we can't wait to try some bottles again after 6, or even 12 months.
Ingredients: Filtered and Revitalized Water, Live Kombucha Cultures, Unrefined Brown Sugar, and Taiwanese Black Oolong