About Oolong Tea
Oolong is a traditional Chinese type of tea somewhere in between green and black in oxidation, ranging from 10% to 70% oxidation. In Chinese tea culture, semi-oxidized oolong teas are collectively grouped as qingcha (literally blue-green tea). It has a taste more akin to green tea than to black tea: it lacks the rosy, sweet aroma of black tea but it does not have the stridently grassy vegetal notes that typify green tea. The best Oolong has a nuanced flavor profile. It is commonly brewed to be strong and bitter, yet leaving a faintly sweet aftertaste.Oolong tea leaves are often processed and rolled into long curly leaves or into ball-like form similar to gunpowder tea. It is commonly served in Chinese restaurants, to accompany dim sum and other Chinese food.
Oolong has a taste more akin to green tea than to black tea: it lacks the rosy, sweet aroma of black tea but it likewise does not have the stridently grassy vegetal notes that typify green tea. It is commonly brewed to be strong, with the bitterness leaving a sweet aftertaste. Several subvarieties of oolong, including those produced in the Wuyi Mountains of northern Fujian and in the central mountains of Taiwan, are among the most famous Chinese teas.Oolong tea leaves are processed in two different ways. Some teas are rolled into long curly leaves, while some are pressed into a ball-like form similar to gunpowder tea. The former method of processing is the older of the two.
According to the “tribute tea” theory, oolong tea was a direct descendant of Dragon-Phoenix Tea Cake tribute tea. Oolong tea replaced it when loose tea came into fashion. Since it was dark, long and curly, it was called the Black Dragon tea.According to the “Wuyi” theory, oolong tea first existed in Wuyi Mountain. This is evidenced by Qing dynasty poems such as Wuyi Tea Song and Tea Tale . It was said that oolong tea was named after the part of Wuyi mountain where it was originally produced.
According to the “Anxi” theory, oolong tea had its origin in the Anxi oolong tea plant. A man named Sulong, Wulong or Wuliang discovered it.Another tale tells of a man named Wu Liang (later corrupted to Wu Long, or Oolong) who discovered oolong tea by accident when he was distracted by a deer after a hard day’s tea-picking, and by the time he remembered about the tea it had already started to oxidize.