Formosa oolong in America: What happened?

Semi-oxidized tea
User avatar
mbanu
Posts: 962
Joined: Fri May 03, 2019 3:45 pm

Sun Jan 10, 2021 11:11 am

So the U.S. never had any trade conflicts with Taiwan, as far as I am aware, like the 20-year trade embargo between the U.S. and the People's Republic of China. It's never had any wars with Taiwan, like WWII with Japan, although Taiwan was a Japanese colony at the time. And for decades and decades, America drank all the oolong it could get from Taiwan, being the largest export market for oolong in the world.

During the U.S.-China trade embargo, this tea-relationship strengthened, with Taiwan producing their own versions of teas like Lapsang Soucong and Keemum to substitute for the embargoed teas.

But today, American tea-drinkers don't seem aware of this relationship. Some older stores will still carry Formosa oolong, but there does not seem to be any special attention paid to it. Old FDA reports mention that it was more popular before World War II, typically in New England and especially in Boston, but not what changed.

So what happened?

The British tea-writer Denys Forrest seemed to suggest it was neglected in a failed attempt to become a contender in the black tea industry, maybe blindsided by the end of the trade embargo with China.
It was expected that as part of its modernisation programme Taiwan would step up its production of commercial Blacks, into which considerable effort had been put during the Japanese occupation before World War II. But this has not exactly happened. After a peak of some 13,605 tonnes of Black out of 20,120 tonnes exported in 1965 the proportion of Black to Green and other teas began to fluctuate at much lower levels, bottoming out at 386 tonnes out of 21,112 in 1976.
However, this also suggests that this was seen as a point of concern even before World War II. Did something happen that caused tastes to change in the U.S.? Or was this related to internal issues in Taiwan? Or something else?

In the early 80s when the American tea-revival started, there was apparently still interest in good Formosa oolong, but I don't know if this was a hipster's attraction to rarity or if there was still a living American oolong culture then that died out afterwards.

Does anyone have any clues?
User avatar
LeoFox
Posts: 1777
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2020 4:01 pm
Location: Washington DC

Sun Jan 10, 2021 11:16 am

Have you tasted "formosa oolong"?
If so, how does it compare to current taiwanese oolong?
If not as good, then what is the concern?

If just as good, what is the concern?

If much better, how is it better?

Hojo sells something called high mountain formosa oolong:

https://hojotea.com/item_e/o02e.htm
Once upon a time, legend has it that a farmer had left his tea garden unattended as he was too busy to look after it. His tea garden was terribly attacked by a large number of green flies. All the bitten tea leaves changed into yellow in color. Nevertheless, he still processed the tea leaves as he could not afford to give up his tea. To his surprise, the tea processed from insect bitten leaves gave a very strong fruity flavor. Coincidentally, a European tea merchant noticed this tea. He loved its quality very much and named it as Formosa Tea. It is believed that this is the prototype of Oriental Beauty. High Mountain Formosa is made following the basic technique of making Oriental Beauty but with further development. In Taiwan, this is not even known among the locals. It can be said that it is introduced to the overseas market for the first time.
If this is formosa oolong, then is it comparable to guifei oolong? I actually have a sample of this from hojo but haven't tried it yet. His marketing spiel is a bit over the top:
Flavor is a very sweet and reminds us of ripe mango. Some customers describe its taste like as if being trapped in a beehive. The flavor is beyond reach of your imagination.
Last edited by LeoFox on Sun Jan 10, 2021 12:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
mbanu
Posts: 962
Joined: Fri May 03, 2019 3:45 pm

Sun Jan 10, 2021 12:13 pm

I have tasted it, but it does not seem to be a consistent style, other than not being a green oolong. Forrest mentioned this being an issue in the 80s:
Mention of the United States reminds us that that is one country where a 'connoisseur-ish' taste for 'Formosa Oolongs' still lingers. Mr James Pratt is quite lyrical on the subject of a certain US $70 a pound Fancy Formosa Oolong -- 'certainly one of the most beautiful teas I have ever tasted'. One suspects, nevertheless, that not all the quite considerable weight of Oolong which flows across the Pacific (1,048 tonnes in 1983) is in the US $70 category.
One of the Formosa oolongs with the widest availability, for example, is the Harney & Sons version, which is almost like a Taiwanese version of an oolong stems tea. Others are more tea-like, and originally Formosa oolong had a reputation for being the premium alternative to Chinese oolong; it had the old slogan "the champagne of teas".

Looking into this slogan, another possibility might be that this tea was out-marketed by Darjeeling tea, as that slogan is more commonly associated with Darjeeling now. I'm not sure how that would have worked, though, as after World War II Taiwan no longer had the support of the Japanese tea marketing board, and India no longer had the support (I don't think) of the British tea marketing board. Maybe the ad battles happened before World War II? It would have to have been in the 1920s-1940s then, as in the 1910s I think that Formosa oolong still had awareness with many Americans. (In the 1910s, Lipton offered Formosa oolong alongside its Ceylon teas.)
User avatar
LeoFox
Posts: 1777
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2020 4:01 pm
Location: Washington DC

Sun Jan 10, 2021 12:31 pm

mbanu wrote:
Sun Jan 10, 2021 12:13 pm
I have tasted it, but it does not seem to be a consistent style, other than not being a green oolong. Forrest mentioned this being an issue in the 80s:
Mention of the United States reminds us that that is one country where a 'connoisseur-ish' taste for 'Formosa Oolongs' still lingers. Mr James Pratt is quite lyrical on the subject of a certain US $70 a pound Fancy Formosa Oolong -- 'certainly one of the most beautiful teas I have ever tasted'. One suspects, nevertheless, that not all the quite considerable weight of Oolong which flows across the Pacific (1,048 tonnes in 1983) is in the US $70 category.
One of the Formosa oolongs with the widest availability, for example, is the Harney & Sons version, which is almost like a Taiwanese version of an oolong stems tea. Others are more tea-like, and originally Formosa oolong had a reputation for being the premium alternative to Chinese oolong; it had the old slogan "the champagne of teas".

Looking into this slogan, another possibility might be that this tea was out-marketed by Darjeeling tea, as that slogan is more commonly associated with Darjeeling now. I'm not sure how that would have worked, though, as after World War II Taiwan no longer had the support of the Japanese tea marketing board, and India no longer had the support (I don't think) of the British tea marketing board. Maybe the ad battles happened before World War II? It would have to have been in the 1920s-1940s then, as in the 1910s I think that Formosa oolong still had awareness with many Americans. (In the 1910s, Lipton offered Formosa oolong alongside its Ceylon teas.)
Is this tea good or bad?
User avatar
Bok
Vendor
Posts: 5782
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2017 8:55 am
Location: Taiwan

Sun Jan 10, 2021 6:51 pm

mbanu wrote:
Sun Jan 10, 2021 11:11 am
So the U.S. never had any trade conflicts with Taiwan, as far as I am aware, like the 20-year trade embargo between the U.S. and the People's Republic of China. It's never had any wars with Taiwan, like WWII with Japan, although Taiwan was a Japanese colony at the time. And for decades and decades, America drank all the oolong it could get from Taiwan, being the largest export market for oolong in the world.

During the U.S.-China trade embargo, this tea-relationship strengthened, with Taiwan producing their own versions of teas like Lapsang Soucong and Keemum to substitute for the embargoed teas.

But today, American tea-drinkers don't seem aware of this relationship. Some older stores will still carry Formosa oolong, but there does not seem to be any special attention paid to it. Old FDA reports mention that it was more popular before World War II, typically in New England and especially in Boston, but not what changed.

So what happened?

The British tea-writer Denys Forrest seemed to suggest it was neglected in a failed attempt to become a contender in the black tea industry, maybe blindsided by the end of the trade embargo with China.
It was expected that as part of its modernisation programme Taiwan would step up its production of commercial Blacks, into which considerable effort had been put during the Japanese occupation before World War II. But this has not exactly happened. After a peak of some 13,605 tonnes of Black out of 20,120 tonnes exported in 1965 the proportion of Black to Green and other teas began to fluctuate at much lower levels, bottoming out at 386 tonnes out of 21,112 in 1976.
However, this also suggests that this was seen as a point of concern even before World War II. Did something happen that caused tastes to change in the U.S.? Or was this related to internal issues in Taiwan? Or something else?

In the early 80s when the American tea-revival started, there was apparently still interest in good Formosa oolong, but I don't know if this was a hipster's attraction to rarity or if there was still a living American oolong culture then that died out afterwards.

Does anyone have any clues?
This statement of this Forest guy is wrong on so many levels...

What even locals didn’t know - sound like a white saviour kind of thing to say, only the outsider knew, yeah right. Maybe the locals didn’t want to talk to the superior feeling loud white dude??? Happens till this day I can tell you...

Secondly, bugs have bitten tea all along the history of making tea, up until pesticides were invented. So that “special” flavour used to be the norm, not the exception! It’s something that some old timers still require as one of their criteria of good tea. Chen Ah Qiaos famous Dongding has it as I can confirm first hand. Not a prerequisite of Gui fei or something.

Thirdly and that concerns oriental beauty in general. It’s without doubt the most expensive tea at the moment in Taiwan, not even affordable to most “locals” (heck but what do they know... ;) ), so good luck finding that abroad these days. Don’t think we’re gonna see a renaissance of US Formosa tea anytime soon, haha
User avatar
mbanu
Posts: 962
Joined: Fri May 03, 2019 3:45 pm

Sun Jan 10, 2021 11:34 pm

A report on the oolong industry in Taiwan from Tokutaro Sakai of Mitsui & Co., a Japanese firm that was a major packer of Formosa oolong in the 1920s, including some sales figures, growing regions, and some of the difficulties, such as lower sales in America due to the Spanish Flu pandemic and the difficulties finding work for returning WW1 veterans, the collapse of the Russian tea market caused by the Russian Revolution flooding the trade with a surplus of good black tea formerly destined for Russia, Java ramping up production of cheap black tea, and inconsistent plucking standards in Taiwan causing the production of more coarse-grade oolong. However, America still received 91% of Taiwan's oolong exports at the time, and I believe that in America the tea was drunk unblended compared to the oolong in other markets, so there should have been less substitution risk.
Attachments
Formosa-Oolong1923a.jpg
Formosa-Oolong1923a.jpg (412.05 KiB) Viewed 5880 times
Formosa-Oolong1923b.jpg
Formosa-Oolong1923b.jpg (465.9 KiB) Viewed 5880 times
User avatar
mbanu
Posts: 962
Joined: Fri May 03, 2019 3:45 pm

Mon Jan 11, 2021 12:15 am

An American perspective from the same journal in 1925. The suspicion seems to be advertising, in that there were apparently no popular package-branded Formosa oolongs, they did not have a catchy slogan like "orange pekoe" (I guess "champagne of teas" came later? Earlier?), and many younger Americans did not know about Formosa oolong (although why this would be is an interesting question).
Attachments
Formosa-Oolong1925a.jpg
Formosa-Oolong1925a.jpg (417.22 KiB) Viewed 5878 times
Formosa-Oolong1925b.jpg
Formosa-Oolong1925b.jpg (472.75 KiB) Viewed 5878 times
Formosa-Oolong1925c.jpg
Formosa-Oolong1925c.jpg (490.28 KiB) Viewed 5878 times
Formosa-Oolong1925d.jpg
Formosa-Oolong1925d.jpg (497.7 KiB) Viewed 5878 times
User avatar
Tillerman
Vendor
Posts: 446
Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2017 4:58 pm
Location: Napa, CA
Contact:

Mon Jan 11, 2021 1:02 pm

@mbanu, @@Bok - fascinating thread here. My own research strongly suggests that "Formosa oolong" and what we now know as "Oriental Beauty", are not the same tea at all. The latter came to be only around 1934/35 and wasn't called "Oriental Beauty" until the early 1980s. For a good description of earlier way that "Formosa oolong" was produced see James Davidson (The Island of Formosa, Past and Present, 1903) or William Ukers (All About Tea, 1935).
User avatar
LeoFox
Posts: 1777
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2020 4:01 pm
Location: Washington DC

Sat Feb 27, 2021 12:28 pm

LeoFox wrote:
Sun Jan 10, 2021 11:16 am


Hojo sells something called high mountain formosa oolong:

https://hojotea.com/item_e/o02e.htm
Once upon a time, legend has it that a farmer had left his tea garden unattended as he was too busy to look after it. His tea garden was terribly attacked by a large number of green flies. All the bitten tea leaves changed into yellow in color. Nevertheless, he still processed the tea leaves as he could not afford to give up his tea. To his surprise, the tea processed from insect bitten leaves gave a very strong fruity flavor. Coincidentally, a European tea merchant noticed this tea. He loved its quality very much and named it as Formosa Tea. It is believed that this is the prototype of Oriental Beauty. High Mountain Formosa is made following the basic technique of making Oriental Beauty but with further development. In Taiwan, this is not even known among the locals. It can be said that it is introduced to the overseas market for the first time.
Flavor is a very sweet and reminds us of ripe mango. Some customers describe its taste like as if being trapped in a beehive. The flavor is beyond reach of your imagination.
Finally decided to brew the small sample of Hojo's high mountain formosa oolong that came with my order last year.

The dried leaf is very tightly rolled and fragrant, smelling strongly like honey and green oolong. This is 5 grams in an 85 mL gaiwan. The balls look tiny to me:
IMG_20210227_123912_928.jpg
IMG_20210227_123912_928.jpg (90.99 KiB) Viewed 5598 times
Brewed like this: boiling water
Rinse
40s
30s
40s
50s
1min
1min5s
1min10s
1min20s
1min30s
1min40s
2min
3min
5min
Dropped in pint glass and steeped it out

As those parameters suggest, yes very high stamina!

First infusion was filled with honey sweetness. This sweetness was slightly reduced in the second and third infusions. Then it was reduced a lot but remained present at a similar level - sweet and enjoyable.
The flavor is like a winter harvest gaoshan mixed with honey. The honey is not cloying and reminds me of an artisanal avocado flower honey. Hojo mentions ripe mangoes. Not sure I get that. Overall, It is quite refreshing. Price is high relative to other concubine style teas available. However, a small amount can truly be infused a lot. Not too much complexity - just easy drinking.

Hojo: $0.52/g
TTC gui fei: $0.21-0.25 /g
Eco cha gui fei: $0.32/g
Mei leaf: 0.29/g


Btw, this thread seems redundant since there is already this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=942&hilit=Formosa
Attachments
This is after a few infusions. The tiny balls expanded so much they were popping out of the lid. This looks like more leaf than when I used 6 grams of da yu ling.
This is after a few infusions. The tiny balls expanded so much they were popping out of the lid. This looks like more leaf than when I used 6 grams of da yu ling.
IMG_20210227_124323_384.jpg (142.95 KiB) Viewed 5598 times
This is first infusion. The tea soup is thick and honey sweet. Am I trapped in a bee hive?
This is first infusion. The tea soup is thick and honey sweet. Am I trapped in a bee hive?
IMG_20210227_124213_346.jpg (123.54 KiB) Viewed 5598 times
After rinse
After rinse
IMG_20210227_123953_203.jpg (94.48 KiB) Viewed 5598 times
User avatar
Bok
Vendor
Posts: 5782
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2017 8:55 am
Location: Taiwan

Sat Feb 27, 2021 5:37 pm

@LeoFox that background story is utter bs.

Back in the days ALL teas had bug bitten notes! Simple as that, they did not invent pesticides yet, so no way to prevent the bugs. And at lower altitudes where Oriental beauty and co are grown, it’s hotter, so more bugs.

Chen Ah Qiaos Dongding which I had a while back had some bug bitten notes, so even in his time pesticide use was still kind of rare it seems... not a conscious decision I believe as the kind of environmental thinking was pretty much not existent then.

Today, many of the half wild and wild teas have it. It’s a good sign to tell if a tea is really organic or not.

“Not even the locals know” that sounds like some white saviour supremism crap to me.
User avatar
LeoFox
Posts: 1777
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2020 4:01 pm
Location: Washington DC

Sat Feb 27, 2021 5:56 pm

Bok wrote:
Sat Feb 27, 2021 5:37 pm

“Not even the locals know” that sounds like some white saviour supremism crap to me.
In this case, Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere supremacism. :lol:

In any case, I wanted to shift things away from this pseudo history and into the tea hahaha.
User avatar
Tillerman
Vendor
Posts: 446
Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2017 4:58 pm
Location: Napa, CA
Contact:

Sat Feb 27, 2021 7:22 pm

Nice reposte @LeoFox. :lol:

I'm agnostic on @Bok's claim about all teas being bug bitten in early days. However, it is A) virtually certain that there was nothing that we would recognize as OB prior to 1933/34. B) that the Hojo story is complete BS, and C) if the tea is good it's only old pedants like me who care about the rest.
User avatar
LeoFox
Posts: 1777
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2020 4:01 pm
Location: Washington DC

Sat Feb 27, 2021 8:44 pm

Tillerman wrote:
Sat Feb 27, 2021 7:22 pm
Nice reposte LeoFox. :lol:

I'm agnostic on Bok's claim about all teas being bug bitten in early days. However, it is A) virtually certain that there was nothing that we would recognize as OB prior to 1933/34. B) that the Hojo story is complete BS, and C) if the tea is good it's only old pedants like me who care about the rest.
https://tillermantea.net/2017/11/orientalbeauty/
At this time, it would seem, Formosa Oolong was produced much in the manner of Wuyi teas albeit with somewhat lower oxidation and roasting
User avatar
Tillerman
Vendor
Posts: 446
Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2017 4:58 pm
Location: Napa, CA
Contact:

Sat Feb 27, 2021 9:20 pm

Yes, I @LeoFox, I stand by the first comment but I have no evidence to counter the claim @Bok made.
User avatar
Bok
Vendor
Posts: 5782
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2017 8:55 am
Location: Taiwan

Sat Feb 27, 2021 11:14 pm

Tillerman wrote:
Sat Feb 27, 2021 9:20 pm
Yes, I LeoFox, I stand by the first comment but I have no evidence to counter the claim Bok made.
I don’t have definite proof either, but deduction would have it so. Bug bitten is not really a method, just the absence of using pesticides, so if none are used, bugs will come. This can be observed in all contemporary yefang and yesheng teas in Taiwan. More so in certain seasons and lower altitude, but also in higher plantations.

Agreed, no OB that we would recognise. What makes oriental beauty is mostly the processing. Lower quality can have no bug bitten flavour at all. The more they let that happen the more expensive these teas also become due to the very small yield. 1K/600g anyone???
Post Reply