Alishan GABA Oolong

This Taiwanese oolong is made from freshly picked leaves held for hours in a nitrogen-filled chamber with the oxygen taken out, then rolled and oxidized in the usual way. The result is a rounded, fruit-forward cup with honey and a gentle tartness. Brewed at 95°C.

Origin & Story

In the 1980s a research team in Japan, led by Tojiro Tsushida at the National Research Institute of Tea, found that fresh tea leaves kept in an oxygen-free chamber filled with nitrogen for six to ten hours turn most of their glutamic acid into another amino acid, gamma-aminobutyric acid, GABA. The tea made from those leaves was sold in Japan as Gabaron.

Taiwan carried the idea further. In early 1994 a researcher from the Tea Research and Extension Station, Mr. Tsai, was sent to Japan to learn the method, and Taiwanese makers began to apply it to oolong, alternating rounds of rolling with anaerobic stages and sometimes finishing with a roast. In Chinese the tea is called jiayelong, 佳葉龍茶. To be sold as GABA tea the leaf is expected to hold more than 150 mg of GABA per 100 g of dry tea.

The cup is not that of an ordinary oolong. A research panel described the improved tea as a little sour and sweet, with umami, a fresh feel and an obvious floral note, and in some samples honey and dried fruit. Sellers talk of baked apple, dark honey, caramel and prune, and when the leaf is roasted the cup picks up a toasted edge. This one is made from Alishan leaf.

The oxygen-free step leaves the caffeine as it was: the Japanese team reported no change in either caffeine or catechins, so a cup is an ordinary oolong in that respect.

Steep 3 g of leaf in 240 ml of water at 95°C for two to three minutes, and keep the leaf for a second and a third infusion.

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