Oolong Time Ago
An Oolong-Agave Cocktail Infusion
When I ordered my lapsong souchong tea last month, I also threw in a sample of ti kuan yi, an oolong tea from the Fujian province of China. I drink mainly green tea, and I thought all oolong was the same. I am ashamed as a beverage affectioniado that I was very wrong on this matter.
What is Oolong Exactly?
Oolong tea is a traditional Chinese tea made from Camellia sinensis leaves, the same plant used to make green tea and black tea. There are many theories about how this tea was discovered, but my favorite and the one I am sticking too, is that a gentleman named Wulong, or perhaps Sulong or Wuliang, let his tea oxidize after being distracted by a deer. How relatable! I hope to make a groundbreaking discovery because I was distracted by wildlife.
There are many types of oolong, and its flavor is determined by how long the leaves oxidized. The five most famous are dan cong, tie guan yin, da hang pao, gaoshan, jin xuan and ti kuan yi.
I love ti kuan yi because it smells like lilacs and has grassy flavor that evokes the classic 90’s fragrance “Grass” from the Gap. Did this fragrance attract bees? (I was reading a story about a woman who put on Chanel Mademoiselle and was immediately swarmed by wasps and stung 3 times. Did this happen when you wore this scent? It straight up smelled like real grass.) It is discontinued and runs of $300 a pop on eBay, so I will never be able to walk out into my garden and see if the bees will come to me or kill me. If heaven smells like their scent of the same name, I will be pleased.
Oolong in Cocktails
I worked on making more of a spiked iced tea at first, and while I like the grassy flavor, I struggled to get it to work as a cocktail. However, when I made a simple syrup by infusing the tea leaves in water and agave nectar, this was a game changer. Ti kuan yi is also known as the “Iron Goddess of Mercy” after a poor tea farmer discovered a tea shoot in a temple for the goddess as a thank you for caring for her temple. I have made this cocktail about five times already, and it is now a household favorite. I named it the Rum Goddess of Mercy because we should introduce some new gods to the mix. Anything would help us at this point!
Rum Goddess of Mercy
2 ounces white rum
5 frozen cherries
1 ounce fresh lemon juice
.5 to 1 ounce of oolong-agave syrup (recipe below)
Oolong-Agave Syrup
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup agave nectar
1 bag of oolong tea (I used ti koan yin) or 1 tsp loose tea in an infuser basket
Heat water and agave nectar at low-medium while giving a gentle stir. Remove from heat and place tea bag or infuser in saucepan making sure tea is covered in liquid. Let seep for 10 minutes and remove tea. Let cool before using.
https://www.borntea.com/blogs/tea/complete-guide-to-oolong-tea?srsltid=AfmBOootUpYr2uPLoTHOZrExzJZ2u4udcjpZ9Ycl4aFrs9kdFhfMZfOE