Darjeeling = Black Tea True or False

A couple of weeks ago there was a discussion on linkedin regarding Darjeeling black tea and whether or not it should be classified as a black tea.  This discussion was under the group Tea Enthusiasts and Entrepreneurs.  If you are a linkedin user you can ask to become a part of this group and participate/follow in any discussions they have.

The argument was that Darjeeling tea is not a fully oxidized tea, and therefore should not be classified as a black tea.  I learned this in my tea course when we tasted the tea from Darjeeling.  They dry leaf, more so in the FF, but also present in the SF was a mixed bag of colour - from green to dark brown.

FF Darjeeling

Some of the contributors stated that Darjeeling tea should be classified as an oolong tea since it is only partially oxidized.  Others argued that oolong has to do with varietal, origin and processing so Darjeeling's don't fall into the oolong category either and perhaps they should be in a class on their own, noting that other areas such as Nepal and Newara Elia also follow similar processing methods.

The rebuttal to the above was:  if it's reclassed to oolong, then we're creating instability to the 'system', and starting to confuse what exactly the two classes are.

There was also discussion around why there is a difference in oxidization levels.  Darjeeling teas are grown at high altitude, and the FF in particular is a slow growth.  The plant has been in a dormant stage for a period of time and it's growth up to the FF plucking is slow.  The tea plants in Darjeeling are also a mix of the Chinese variety sinensis sinensis and the Indian variety sinensis assamica.  All these factors create a very delicate complex flavour to the tea.  In order to capture those subtle nuances in the flavour, the tea is not fully oxidized.

 The discussion goes into much more depth, and I encourage anyone with interest to follow the conversations.  What do you think?  Should Darjeeling black tea be classed into another category?  Or should it be in a category all on its own?

From my limited experience, I know that the big differential about black tea is that they are fully oxidized.  But the Darjeeling, and perhaps some other teas as mentioned above are not.  The tea classes are all about the processing method, and if we are saying that the Darjeeling is not a true black tea because the processing differs, then from what I understand, it can't be an oolong either because there are still differences in the processing methods used.

I've also read the the tea classifications evolved before tea was being processed in the Darjeeling region, so perhaps it is time to add a new class to the standard group and give these groups of high altitude teas a class all their own.  Based on the processing method - not the growing regions.

Does anyone have any comments they would like to share??