Dong Ding

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Nan Tou County in Taiwan is home to the Dong Ding mountain and tea growing region

Pictured are the spent leaves of a medium oxidation, light roast Taiwanese Dong Ding tea. Unlike the bright green spent leaves of an unroasted oolong, these leaves range from deep olive to yellow olive. They are more broken as a result of roasting and some leaves also have a crinkly, crepe-paper texture. The roasting also hides the red marks along veins, stems, and edges that would otherwise indicate the level of oxidation. Click for larger view.

Dong Ding (冻顶 or 凍頂), sometimes spelled Tung Ting, is grown on Dong Ding mountain in Nan Tou, Taiwan. The tea grown here is believed by some to have been transplanted from Wuyi mountain in Fujian, although Dr. Lee states that Dong Ding tea originates from Tie Guan Yin of Anxi mountain. This is based on the idea that striped oolong came from Wuyi mountain primarily to northern Taiwan, and rolled oolong of Anxi was transplanted to central Taiwan in accordance with their geographical proximity.^[1]

Today it is common to see Dong Ding tea in two styles; low oxidized and unroasted (jade) or lightly oxidized and roasted.

References

1. ↑ Lee, Guang Chung. "The Varieties of Formosa Oolong". The Art of Tea No. 1 (November, 2006)