Common Name for Coffee and Green Coffee Name: Shiguping Oolong Aroma

Shiguping oolong comes from a remote village in Bu County in the Phoenix Mountain area, made from an ancient variety that may be an ancestor of Minnan and Taiwanese oolong. It is fermented more deeply than most oolong, giving a mature honeyed and fruity aroma with a round, full mouthfeel, and it carries less bitterness than Shuixian-family teas.

Compared with Wenshan Baozhong and Phoenix Dancong, Shiguping shows a softer, smoother soup and sometimes a faint wine-like note, though its floral lift is quieter than Shuixian. Local production is small and the tea is scarce. The same naming confusion that surrounds tea also affects coffee, where the common name for coffee rarely matches the botanical green coffee name.

Shiguping, also written as Shiguping or Shiguping, is a little-known village in Bu County in the Phoenix Mountain area. The oolong tea produced here has an ancient and unique variety, and is even considered one of the origins of Minnan and Taiwanese oolong tea. Compared with Phoenix Dancong and Wenshan Baozhong, Shiguping oolong is more deeply fermented, with a more mature aroma, honey and fruity notes, and a round, full mouthfeel. This article will guide you through the true characteristics of Shiguping oolong, its aroma type classification, and its differences from Wenshan Baozhong and Phoenix Dancong, and explore why this traditional fine tea is now scarce in production. Front Street Coffee recommends that you savor this rare oolong forgotten by time.

Shiguping, also written by some as Shiguping, and according to some textual research as Shiguping, actually refers to a village under Bu County in the Phoenix area. Those familiar with the situation know that not many people actually make oolong tea from the local ancient oolong variety, but the variety itself is extremely unique and may even be the common ancestor of Minnan and Taiwanese oolong tea.

Differences Between Varieties

The main varieties of Wuyi oolong and Phoenix oolong come from the Shuixian family, namely the famous Dahongpao, Shuixian, and the Phoenix Dancong that tea lovers talk about with great enthusiasm. Oolong made from Shuixian, when the quality is right, indeed has a more prominent aroma, but a bitter and astringent feeling is also almost unavoidable. Even so, many tea lovers are still deeply fond of it, including myself. Tea made from fresh leaves of the oolong variety family, by contrast, has noticeably less bitterness and astringency, a smoother soup-like texture, and sometimes even a slight wine-like fragrance, only the floral aroma is not as showy as Shuixian. Some people also prefer this style.

Shiguping Oolong

Starting from Phoenix Town, instead of going north to Wudong, head east up the mountain, and in about half an hour you can reach Shiguping. This is a remote village, and tea production is far less prosperous than in other parts of Phoenix. Continue about half a kilometer along the dirt road, and you reach Liaocuoya — the legendary birthplace of that oolong tea.

Deeper Fermentation Than Most Oolong

Unlike most producing areas in Taiwan or Minnan, Shiguping oolong undergoes a much deeper oxidative fermentation. In the finished tea, the grassy green note is not obvious, and the aroma leans more toward a "mature" profile, with the sweet fragrance of honey and fruit. The flavor is relatively fuller and the layers are more complex.

Previously, I saw a claim on many Chinese tea blogs that Shiguping oolong's leaves are thinner than those of Shuixian. This is just like what happens in other fields on the Chinese internet: once a sentence spreads, it is copied and imitated by countless writers or administrators who think they are smart enough not to need originality, and who even refuse to truly understand the facts. Thus, in the virtual world, this sentence quickly becomes "truth" through constant repetition.

Thicker Leaves, More Laborious Processing

But in reality, Shiguping oolong's leaves are thicker than those of most Phoenix Shuixian varieties. Precisely because of this, they can withstand the repeated shaking and bruising in the traditional process, that is, the "shaking" during oxidation. This more complex procedure gives the tea soup a longer, fuller body. I am not sure whether Taiwan or Anxi also has thicker-leaf varieties that can complete the same operation, but it is certain that they can at least do one or two more rounds in some picking cycles, thereby obtaining a better mouthfeel. Interestingly, in my experience in the tea industry, I have only seen the oxidation level in these producing areas become shorter and shorter.

Comparison of Shiguping Oolong, Phoenix Dancong and Wenshan Baozhong

If Shiguping oolong is compared with Phoenix Dancong and Wenshan Baozhong, I think Dancong's aroma is sweeter, Wenshan and Shiguping are more fragrant in mouthfeel, and Shiguping's flavor is sweeter. In terms of mouthfeel complexity, Dancong ranks first; in terms of roundness, Shiguping stands out most; and as for Wenshan Baozhong, it is the smoothest and easiest to drink.

Traditional Quality Will Eventually Reveal Its True Radiance

The people who make this oolong tea made a very unusual decision: to respect tradition in quality, rather than follow the crowd in reducing oxidation and roasting levels, using extra floral aroma and fresh green mouthfeel to please less experienced tea drinkers.

For tea farmers, this means more labor and higher costs. Even within the Phoenix oolong tea system, Shiguping oolong's production is already very small, and persisting in producing it for fewer and fewer knowledgeable tea drinkers carries a rather high opportunity cost. However, because fewer and fewer people know about this tea, these tea farmers can never charge the high prices that Wudong tea farmers do. This is why very few people still make this oolong tea today.

A Good Tea

Shiguping oolong is a rare, delicate, round, and excellent-tasting oolong tea produced in the Phoenix area. For those used to dazzling Dancong, it is an outstanding alternative. For an old tea drinker like me, it brings a tremendous change of pace, yet its subtle complexity and lasting clean sweetness return leave even my rather picky palate with nothing to complain about.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.