Can a GABA tea be an oolong?

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Tillerman
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Wed Apr 04, 2018 7:21 pm

In the April opinion piece, I contend that GABA teas are a category unto themselves ( https://tillermantea.net/2018/04/gaba-tea/.) What's your view?
Last edited by Tillerman on Wed Apr 04, 2018 9:20 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Teachronicles
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Wed Apr 04, 2018 8:08 pm

Great read tillerman, I'm just a novice tea drinker so don't have much of an opinion but based on the definition you mentioned (categorized based on processing) it makes sense that gaba should be its own category. But from what I've read new tea categories don't easily come to be and there's usually much debate.

Also, the link is broken, sends you to a no results found page but the recent articles had your gaba article right under it.
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Tillerman
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Wed Apr 04, 2018 9:21 pm

Teachronicles wrote:
Wed Apr 04, 2018 8:08 pm
Also, the link is broken, sends you to a no results found page but the recent articles had your gaba article right under it.
Thanks for mentioning this. Should be fixed now.
John_B
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Tue Aug 17, 2021 5:39 am

I was looking for something else and came across this. Even back when this was posted, in 2018, gaba black teas were around, and they seem to be more common now. It's the same question, if gaba black teas can be considered the same thing and the same category as the rest of black teas.

I'm not so into categories, or people hanging on fixed definitions, so I really don't care. I don't care if pu'er is hei cha or not; other people can use their words as they see fit. I don't like gaba teas, in general, so that makes it even less relevant to me. I think I'll be reviewing a gaba sheng pu'er in the next few weeks, the second of which I've tried, which raises some other questions, which I probably won't get around to even asking.

Someone mentioned gaba shu not long ago, which sounds unlikely to make any sense, or probably ill-advised if it even is possible. I'm not sure what some people have against conventional oxidation transition, or why they like that narrow flavor range, sour, and flat gaba processing outcome. If it ain't broken then don't fix it.
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Quentin
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Tue Aug 17, 2021 8:16 am

I’m no tea production expert by any means, and I know even less about competitions - but I think if you’re tying to categorically define teas by flavor, then it’s going to be a really hard and subjective thing to parse out.

Like at that point, should Jin Xuan oolong still be called an oolong even though it’s a different cultivar with a distinct taste? Or should smoked black teas still be considered black teas because they taste so different?

For competition, I’d think it makes the most sense to treat teas almost like Japanese greens. Even though they are all green teas, the way they are produced changes the flavor and their “Category”. It would be hard to objectively judge a sencha and a gyokuro against each other, for example.

For personal clarification, I think more descriptors is usually better. If you’re describing a tea to me on the forum, just calling it a GABA tea is less helpful than calling it an GABA oolong tea; much in the same way that simply stating you’re drinking a red wine can leave room for misunderstanding.

Of course, all this is to say each case is different - not every conversation needs you to explain the origins and production practices of the things you’re talking about. Sometimes a red wine should simply be a red wine.

That’s my opinion anyways, I could be completely off base here. Interesting to think about though!
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Bok
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Tue Aug 17, 2021 8:19 pm

Quentin wrote:
Tue Aug 17, 2021 8:16 am
I’m no tea production expert by any means, and I know even less about competitions - but I think if you’re tying to categorically define teas by flavor, then it’s going to be a really hard and subjective thing to parse out.

Like at that point, should Jin Xuan oolong still be called an oolong even though it’s a different cultivar with a distinct taste? Or should smoked black teas still be considered black teas because they taste so different?
I think you are confusing things here, what makes a tea Oolong or not is the processing, not the cultivar. Oolong is made of hundreds of different cultivars.
Quentin wrote:
Tue Aug 17, 2021 8:16 am
For personal clarification, I think more descriptors is usually better.
Definitely. I think what makes most sense is to have it in descending order:
_Processing (defines type of tea)
_degree of processing, if applicable
_Origin
_Cultivar (if known)

something like that.

Flavours and such are more generally descriptive terms and highly subjective, and some teas have atypical ones for their class of tea.

So, back to Gaba, it is a kind of processing and I dislike it profoundly no matter if it is made in hybrid-oolong-black-or-else style
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Tue Aug 17, 2021 11:22 pm

Bok wrote:
Tue Aug 17, 2021 8:19 pm
So, back to Gaba, it is a kind of processing and I dislike it profoundly no matter if it is made in hybrid-oolong-black-or-else style
+1
What is Gaba? I don't remember. I tried it years back, a few of them. Hated it enough to know I could comfortably decide never to bother with Gaba again.
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Wed Aug 18, 2021 3:03 am

They process the tea in a nitrogen environment so the normal reactions associated with oxygen, oxidation, don't occur. According to a comment on Tillerman Tea's post the equivalent chemical reaction of nitrogen with enzymes can still be called oxidation, since it relates to a comparable chemical reaction, just not a form based on oxygen as an input.

Gaba, the one compound produced as a result, is the same compound as one used by the nervous system to regulate function, leading people to think it should be calming. Maybe it is; I can't tell from drinking it, but then I'm not great with noticing caffeine effect or whatever else "cha qi" is either. Probably that has no effect, and people expecting to be calmed might only tend to feel that due to the expectation.

It's hard for me to think of another category of tea that's so universally bad as gaba processed teas of all types are, in relation to my preference.
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Quentin
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Wed Aug 18, 2021 7:07 am

Bok wrote:
Tue Aug 17, 2021 8:19 pm
Quentin wrote:
Tue Aug 17, 2021 8:16 am
I’m no tea production expert by any means, and I know even less about competitions - but I think if you’re tying to categorically define teas by flavor, then it’s going to be a really hard and subjective thing to parse out.

Like at that point, should Jin Xuan oolong still be called an oolong even though it’s a different cultivar with a distinct taste? Or should smoked black teas still be considered black teas because they taste so different?
I think you are confusing things here, what makes a tea Oolong or not is the processing, not the cultivar. Oolong is made of hundreds of different cultivars.
After re-reading my post, I see I was a bit unclear. That was exact point I was trying to make, and was responding to this part of the article:
From this perspective, GABA tea, with its unique method of incubation rather than conventional oxidation coupled with its distinct flavor profile, must be considered its own class of tea. GABA tea, no matter what it may look like physically, is fundamentally different than an oolong and cannot profitably be classified as one. I suggest, therefore, that there are at least 7 categories of tea: white, green, yellow, oolong, red (black), dark (heicha) and GABA.
I read the article”s argument as, “Since GABA oolong tea involves an extra production step, and tastes different, it can’t be called an oolong tea.” What I was trying to say, is that to me, GABA tea should be thought of something closer to smoking, rather than an entire category unto itself like black and white tea are.

Oolong tea is already super diverse. With so many different cultivars and growing conditions, one tea can taste wildly different from the next, Jin Xuan being the example I mentioned. With so many different tasting teas, the thing that links them together in my mind is the similar processing of oxidation and twisting/balling. Since GABA oolong seems to still include these steps, just with an additional nitrogen incubation, then it makes sense to me to call it GABA oolong.

Hopes this helps clarify my opinion instead of making it messier.
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Bok
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Wed Aug 18, 2021 7:59 am

@Quentin pretty clear and I think we have the same opinion on this.
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Thu Aug 19, 2021 3:57 pm

Great read, as always.
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