GABA Oolong – gamma aminobutyric acid enhanced oolong was a mainstay and very popular tea when I was operating my first physical shop called Linvers Atelier. Taiwan is where the best GABA tea comes from, and though it can be very funky as a tea style, this GABA tea was chosen because of its loveability and easy drinking nature. To be frank, I don’t have a lot of this tea, I brought it in to go on Carino’s tea menu because it’s a pretty useful food pairing tea.

When following the recipe: 1g:56mL (5.8g:330mL), 2 minutes 21 seconds. I would describe this teas fragrance and flavor as a mixture of the following 3 things:
80% puffed wheat squares (not far away from Sugar Crisp cereal, just a bit more bitter)
15% dental antiseptic iodine wipes (like when they wipe your mouth before they freeze your gums)
5% antique wood varnish when wet

If the ratio is slightly stronger, (1:55) and the time is slightly longer (2m30s) you’ll push the flavor in the direction of honey. It will be rounder, fuller, sweeter, but less distinctive. I feel like many people would enjoy this more though, but I’m going to say that for myself, I enjoy the 1:56 2m21 recipe instead.

While we don’t have many of these options on our menu at the restaurant, some alternative suggestions for food pairing would be: Takoyaki, Okonomiyaki, Yakisoba, Mitarashi Dango, Pork Kakuni, Pancakes, French Toast, Bacon, Breakfast Sausages. I think if you consider what all these foods have in common from a flavor angle, you’ll be able to visualize what GABA tastes like as an average.

GABA, when taken  as a supplement or ingested through tea is thought to increase the GABA content in our brains. It’s important to note that our bodies naturally already produce GABA, mostly when we’re sleeping, but if our lives are proving to be too stressful and full of anxiety, perhaps we may need more than is being produced naturally. The simple answer is probably to recommend you get more sleep, but if that isn’t viable, GABA tea can be an enjoyable way to get it and to promote relaxation in general. If you’re big into GABA tea, I’d say this is middle of the road in terms of fermentation, and middle of the road when it comes to baking level. You could probably compare it to Dong Ding.

It was observed that teas from higher elevations have a higher content of GABA than teas from lower elevations, Japanese scientists were able to deduce that it is the air composition (low oxygen, high nitrogen) which is responsible for this phenomenon. These scientists later supposed that if freshly picked tea were put into a sealable container with the oxygen removed and replaced with nitrogen, that GABA would increase — and it did. This is how GABA tea is made.

It can of course be made with any tea base, but I haven’t tried a GABA green or white tea yet, and haven’t liked any of the GABA black teas that I have tried. I seem to be very picky when it comes to GABA teas, because their potential for funkiness is quite high.