AGED TEA (Exclusive Edition)

Zealong’s Aged Tea is part of Zealong's Exclusive Edition and is a semi-oxidized tea is repeatedly roasted over several years and aged in clay urns for flavors to mellow. Charcoal headnotes reminiscent of roasted chestnuts develop into very clean flavors and a sweet aftertaste.

A highly roasted, aged oolong that boasts head notes of roasted nuts and a sweet cleansing after taste.

Zealong's hand-picked teas offer a premium flavor and nutrient profile.  Certified organic and cultivated in the renowned Waikato region on New Zealand's North Island, the colder environment forces the flavor and nutrients into the newest growth, which Zealong meticulously harvests by hand-picking only the top three leaves.  These award-winning teas are free from artificial flavors, oils, or additives.  

Available in loose-leaf only.

Each pack is fully traceable to the date and block it was picked.  The state-of-the-art processing facilities adhere to a strict HACCP ISO22000 food safety regime, eliminating any risk of contamination and free from harmful chemicals.  

More About Aged Teas:

There are no hard and fast rules as to how old tea must be to be considered ‘aged,’ but what we have seen for sale in Asia suggests that tea needs to be 5 years of age or older before it qualifies as ‘aged.’ Aged teas can be 20, 30, 40 and more years of age. These rare beauties must be stored under good preservation conditions so that the tea can rest, change, and become more complex and astonishing in flavor with time.

Do not confuse aged tea with ‘old tea.’ Old tea is just that – tea that is old, past-its-prime, lifeless, flavorless and not worth drinking. Not every tea can age well: most oolongs, Pu-erh and some black teas, assuming that they are good quality tea to begin with, will age successfully, although, for instance, oolongs age differently and require different storage conditions than Pu-Erh.

Tea for aging is chosen based on qualities that the tea possesses when it is young. Aging tea is about future potential, and the young tea must show signs that it is able to fulfil the promise that it will mature and develop into something even more wonderful. This is similar to the judgement that a wine aficionado makes when evaluating which young bottles of wine will age best after a decade or so of rest in a wine cellar. As with wine, tea that is of poor quality or that is disappointing in flavor when young will not improve with age.

Oolongs can age for 40 and more years under good storage and with proper periodic re-roasting to eliminate any moisture build-up in the leaf. Some tea connoisseurs believe the ‘older the better’ with oolongs.

Aged oolongs may lose some of their floral and fruity ‘high note’ aromas as they age, but the reward is an increase in flavor depth and complexity, and a fine, smooth finish.