Oolong Tea
This is a semi-fermented tea that is somewhere in between green and black tea in terms of fermentation. An oolong can have a bright orange color, similar to that of green tea. Other oolongs are darker and taste more like black tea. Oolong teas often have a flowery aroma.
If you look at the leaves after you have prepared your tea, you can see the level of fermention. You can also see that the oxidation has begun where the leaf fibers have broken, due to the rolling process during production. When the juice starts to react with the oxygen in the air, the leaf becomes darker in these parts and developing the flavor.
It is mainly the bigger and slightly older leaves that are used for oolong tea. Those leaves contain less theine (caffeine) than the younger ones that are often used for green tea. This is why oolong contain a relatively small amount of theine, particularly if the fermentation process has been short. If the leaves, however, go through a longer fermentation, more caffeine is released into the tea cup (see black tea). Oolong normally contains a little more caffeine than green tea.
Why is it Called Oolong?
The word oolong (or wulong) is Chinese and translates to "black dragon". It is not fully known from where the name originates, but there are old legends that tell stories about its origin.
A man named Wu Liang was distracted by a deer when he had worked all day in the field. He neglected the tea leafs for a while and they started to oxidize. The tea therefore became semi-fermented. The man's name was later changed to Wu Long or Oolong.
In another story a black snake scared the owner away from his tea estate. When he returned a few days later the leaves had already started to oxidize.
Oolong could also have been named from what the leaves look like when you pour hot water over them. Some people think that they look like small black dragons that come to life.
Oolong tea was developed during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) in the Fujian province in China. Farmers then spread the knowledge about how to produce oolong to Taiwan, when some of them emigrated there. Both China and Taiwan are big producers of oolong tea, and it is still a very popular beverage in Taiwan. In China it is produced mainly in Fujian and Guangdong in the southern parts of the country where the climate is hot.
Preparing Oolong Tea
The water temperature should be 85-95 degrees Celsius and the leaves can be used 3-4 times. Use one tablespoon per cup and let it steep for two to three minutes.